Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dijon waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Everything agreed with SC Bastia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
André-Franck Zambo Anguissa and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. AS Saint-Etienne will try again when the window opens; Olympique de Marseille may not be selling by then.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FC Villefranche waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match29 Jan 2028
Óscar Aranda wins it after the whistle should have gone
95 minutes played. Óscar Aranda found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Paris FC went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
A brace, and Óscar Aranda takes the afternoon — 9.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Óscar Aranda provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Saint-Etienne have done the hard part with Olympique de Marseille, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Barış Alper Yılmaz was one of the reasons people came, and $53.5M does not replace that by itself.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Saint-Etienne people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Inter did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $24.9M for André-Franck Zambo Anguissa, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Saint-Etienne will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
AS Saint-Etienne asked and Le Havre AC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Saint-Etienne will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Olympique de Marseille for Brice Maubleu was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Caleb Okoli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Add another name to the list: Valenciennes have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Florian Tardieu. The answer from AS Saint-Etienne has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Montassar Talbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
AS Saint-Etienne asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A 2‑0 win over Stade Rennais, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. AS Saint-Etienne have paid $29.0M for Facundo Torres, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Saint-Etienne will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Saint-Etienne people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Facundo Torres from Union Berlin for $29.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
AS Saint-Etienne have gone to Union Berlin with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Saint-Etienne will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
A brace, and Mahmoud Jaber takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mahmoud Jaber provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer went to Olympique Lyonnais this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Saint-Etienne can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Saint-Etienne have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Caleb Okoli wants continental football; whether AS Saint-Etienne can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Saint-Etienne will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against AJ Auxerre, and it could have been more.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Meïvyn Agesilas, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.02
A mark of 8.02 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Musa Al-Tamari wants continental football; whether AS Saint-Etienne can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Montassar Talbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Mickaël Nadé
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AS Saint-Etienne can tell you which week it ends in.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Le Havre AC left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Richard Lacroix to a room that had heard them before.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Saint-Etienne will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AS Saint-Etienne heard it as anything else.
Montassar Talbi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Le Cardinal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AS Saint-Etienne, and 4 appearances in 27 say he has earned the hearing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Saint-Etienne will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Montassar Talbi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Zuriko Davitashvili and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Richard Lacroix after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Saint-Etienne will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Caleb Okoli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Paris Saint-Germain defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Cameron Archer wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Cameron Archer found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and RC Strasbourg went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Richard Lacroix could afford to be generous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Saint-Etienne can pretend not to have heard.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AS Saint-Etienne, and 3 appearances in 23 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Patrik Carlgren: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Montassar Talbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑0 win over Stade de Reims, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Montassar Talbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Saint-Etienne, another week without a signature from Josh Keeley.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Richard Lacroix to a room that had heard them before.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether AS Saint-Etienne can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“I did not go to SC Bastia to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Saint-Etienne and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Richard Lacroix could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Rocco Ascone
João Ferreira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Mahmoud Jaber falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AS Saint-Etienne will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AS Saint-Etienne are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Barış Alper Yılmaz signs something — a contract at AS Saint-Etienne or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Zuriko Davitashvili is on it.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AS Saint-Etienne has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Montassar Talbi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every AS Saint-Etienne game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at CS Constantine runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Chico Lamba
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Saint-Etienne have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Montassar Talbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Saint-Etienne have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Le Havre AC moved on, Ebenezer Annan reports back to AS Saint-Etienne, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Barış Alper Yılmaz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahmoud Jaber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
AS Saint-Etienne asked and Stade Rennais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AS Saint-Etienne will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Saint-Etienne have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Up for the corner, and Pierre Ekwah delivers — 7.97
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Pierre Ekwah scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bourg-Peronnas moved on, Maxime Bernauer reports back to AS Saint-Etienne, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AS Saint-Etienne hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Saint-Etienne people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Barış Alper Yılmaz to Anderlecht has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AS Saint-Etienne with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
AS Saint-Etienne close the window on a squad of their own making
19 in and 21 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stade Brestois keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Montassar Talbi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Mahmoud Jaber falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Le Havre AC have kept their man, and AS Saint-Etienne go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Saint-Etienne have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, Stade Rennais were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Saint-Etienne, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Saint-Etienne have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's goal wins it for AS Saint-Etienne — 7.99
The offer from West Bromwich Albion for Barış Alper Yılmaz was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Saint-Etienne can pretend not to have heard.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ebenezer Annan had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The deal with Stade Brestois is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The offer went to Lokomotiv Moscow this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FC Fleury 91 waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Montassar Talbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Ebenezer Annan has come up in conversations AS Saint-Etienne were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I watch every AS Saint-Etienne game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at SC Bastia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Saint-Etienne, and it is not being withdrawn.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stade Brestois keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Musa Al-Tamari and AS Saint-Etienne agree another 3 years.
João Ferreira was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Le Cardinal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
AS Saint-Etienne asked and Olympique de Marseille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: OGC Nice have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Brice Maubleu. The answer from AS Saint-Etienne has not changed — yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Saint-Etienne can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Le Puy Foot 43 for Maxime Bernauer was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
FC Nantes have accepted the money. What AS Saint-Etienne do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AS Saint-Etienne hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
AS Saint-Etienne had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at RC Strasbourg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Musa Al-Tamari and AS Saint-Etienne agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
$380.0K was the most the club would pay and Olympique Lyonnais were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Montassar Talbi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Saint-Etienne they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Stade Brestois, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Barış Alper Yılmaz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
AS Saint-Etienne have gone to Olympique Lyonnais with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The offer went to FC Nantes this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The phone has started ringing about Maxime Bernauer again, and this time the name on the line is FC Fleury 91. AS Saint-Etienne are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
AS Saint-Etienne asked and Olympique Lyonnais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
AS Saint-Etienne have made the call to RC Strasbourg. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AS Saint-Etienne will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Saint-Etienne have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stade Brestois keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Montassar Talbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique de Marseille have kept their man, and AS Saint-Etienne go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Zuriko Davitashvili was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Meïvyn Agesilas and AS Saint-Etienne agree another 4 years.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Le Puy Foot 43 waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Saint-Etienne, and it is not being withdrawn.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monaco have kept their man, and AS Saint-Etienne go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and AS Saint-Etienne know which stage they are at.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Saint-Etienne, another week without a signature from Óscar Aranda.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Bradley Locko is in the works
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Saint-Etienne, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Barış Alper Yılmaz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
60 per cent sure, said the file that landed on the director's desk. Al-Ettifaq let him go, AS Saint-Etienne did not hesitate, and the scouting department has earned the right to a smug fortnight.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. AS Saint-Etienne have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. AS Saint-Etienne have paid $27.8M for Cameron Archer, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
AS Saint-Etienne and Al-Ettifaq have settled on $6.3M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CS Constantine waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leyton Orient have kept their man, and AS Saint-Etienne go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Saint-Etienne, and it is not being withdrawn.
Julien Le Cardinal and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $27.8M for Cameron Archer, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahmoud Jaber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$27.8M on the table at Southampton. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$33.3M was the most the club would pay and CSKA Moscow were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Queens Park Rangers have kept their man, and AS Saint-Etienne go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” US Boulogne had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AS Saint-Etienne hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“The easiest signature of my career.” João Ferreira and AS Saint-Etienne agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AS Saint-Etienne have gone to CSKA Moscow with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
AS Saint-Etienne asked and Paris FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Saint-Etienne can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pierre Ekwah and AS Saint-Etienne agree another 5 years.
Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Le Cardinal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
Barış Alper Yılmaz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Jaber is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
41 appearances and 19 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and AS Saint-Etienne have had the benefit of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Jaber is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Zuriko Davitashvili and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Barış Alper Yılmaz signs something — a contract at AS Saint-Etienne or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Zuriko Davitashvili is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Augustine Boakye has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jebryl Sahraoui trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Saint-Etienne have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Le Cardinal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AS Saint-Etienne, and 9 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Daylam Meddah is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Saint-Etienne, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Jaber is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Saint-Etienne, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AS Saint-Etienne. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Julien Le Cardinal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Mahmoud Jaber falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AS Saint-Etienne are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I watch every AS Saint-Etienne game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Paris 13 Atletico runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrés Vombergar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Saint-Etienne know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Saint-Etienne they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Jaber is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Something was said to Josh Keeley and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Barış Alper Yılmaz signs something — a contract at AS Saint-Etienne or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
19 goals in 39 games at Bristol Rovers — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AS Saint-Etienne updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Barış Alper Yılmaz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Mahmoud Jaber falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AS Saint-Etienne, and 5 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jebryl Sahraoui has his answer from AS Saint-Etienne; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Karim Cissé
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Saint-Etienne can pretend not to have heard.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AS Saint-Etienne are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Mahmoud Jaber falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Enzo Mayilla and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 18 combined actions and a mark of 7.46, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Musa Al-Tamari wants continental football; whether AS Saint-Etienne can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Beres Owusu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Saint-Etienne the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mamadou Konté is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Le Cardinal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AS Saint-Etienne are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Maxime Bernauer and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dennis Appiah has his answer from AS Saint-Etienne; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Strahinja Stojković is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahmoud Jaber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
70 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.68 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AS Saint-Etienne know it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AS Saint-Etienne hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Saint-Etienne they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
18 goals in 32 games at Bristol Rovers — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AS Saint-Etienne updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mahmoud Jaber falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AS Saint-Etienne are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ebenezer Annan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Saint-Etienne the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
João Ferreira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Marked 7.85 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, AS Saint-Etienne had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Richard Lacroix, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, AS Saint-Etienne have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Le Cardinal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Add another name to the list: Bourg-Peronnas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ebenezer Annan. The answer from AS Saint-Etienne has not changed — yet.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AS Saint-Etienne know it.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and AS Saint-Etienne are still learning each other
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Saint-Etienne have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.65 for the rest of it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
16 goals in 28 games at Bristol Rovers — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AS Saint-Etienne updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahmoud Jaber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
USL Dunkerque next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Everyone has stopped pretending: FC Rouen will make the call about Maxime Bernauer this week. AS Saint-Etienne have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Amiens SC will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” SC Aubagne Air Bel had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Saint-Etienne people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $6.6M has been paid because Josh Keeley is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Saint-Etienne have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The fee is $2.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. EA Guingamp drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
AS Saint-Etienne asked and AJ Auxerre said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Saint-Etienne have lost him in all but the paperwork.
51 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
AS Saint-Etienne and EA Guingamp have settled on $2.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $6.1M has been paid because Musa Al-Tamari is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Quevilly-Rouen had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Barış Alper Yılmaz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
AS Saint-Etienne asked and Monaco said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Saint-Etienne people have started saying his name in the past tense.
RC Strasbourg have accepted the money. What AS Saint-Etienne do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Saint-Etienne, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Clément Billemaz ended with $950.0K changing hands and FC Annecy out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
AS Saint-Etienne offered $990.0K; ESTAC Troyes said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
AS Saint-Etienne asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
AS Saint-Etienne have gone to Stade Rennais with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and AS Saint-Etienne have had the benefit of it.
The offer went to FC Annecy this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
AS Saint-Etienne have gone to Grenoble Foot 38 with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Julien Le Cardinal and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
39 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Saint-Etienne they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Djylian N'Guessan is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Barış Alper Yılmaz. 3‑1 against Stade Lavallois, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.55. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahmoud Jaber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. AS Saint-Etienne will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Position 1, 36 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AS Saint-Etienne hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Jaber is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A brace, and Lucas Stassin takes the afternoon — 8.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lucas Stassin provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lucas Stassin has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrés Vombergar provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
31 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Beres Owusu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Saint-Etienne the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrés Vombergar. 2‑0 against Le Mans FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for AS Saint-Etienne. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad23 Nov 2026
João Ferreira falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Saint-Etienne have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Mahmoud Jaber falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Barış Alper Yılmaz was the best thing in any of them.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Saint-Etienne know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Maxime Bernauer’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and AS Saint-Etienne needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Le Cardinal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Julien Le Cardinal and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lucas Stassin has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lucas Stassin. 1‑0 against ESTAC Troyes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad2 Nov 2026
João Ferreira falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every AS Saint-Etienne game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at CR Belouizdad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Beres Owusu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Saint-Etienne the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Barış Alper Yılmaz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AS Saint-Etienne and US Boulogne, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Ferreira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
ESTAC Troyes next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
In brief
Player ratingsMahmoud Jaber was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Barış Alper Yılmaz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Barış Alper Yılmaz. 1‑0 against Rodez AF, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
8.05. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Richard Lacroix could afford to be generous.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Augustine Boakye is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Saint-Etienne have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AS Saint-Etienne know it.
Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Chico Lamba has written the date down.
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Julien Le Cardinal and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luan Gadegbeku is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AS Saint-Etienne can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mahmoud Jaber falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Beres Owusu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Saint-Etienne the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against FC Annecy; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mamadou Konté is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Richard Lacroix after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 39. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lucas Stassin did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Saint-Etienne, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AS Saint-Etienne and Grenoble Foot 38, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Everything agreed with FC Lorient, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Amiens SC is saying, and nobody at AS Saint-Etienne is enjoying the guessing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Saint-Etienne can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
AS Saint-Etienne close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 30 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AS Saint-Etienne heard it as anything else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Amiens SC have kept their man, and AS Saint-Etienne go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Le Cardinal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lucas Stassin had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Montpellier HSC were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lucas Stassin did not need any: 9.45, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
AS Saint-Etienne and Amiens SC have settled on $2.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Lorient have kept their man, and AS Saint-Etienne go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Saint-Etienne can pretend not to have heard.
The chase for Daylam Meddah ended with $1.2M changing hands and Pau FC out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Saint-Etienne they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. AS Saint-Etienne have paid $21.1M for Barış Alper Yılmaz, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Saint-Etienne can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Saint-Etienne this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $21.1M for Barış Alper Yılmaz, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahmoud Jaber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The clubs have shaken hands with Galatasaray; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer went to Twente this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Saint-Etienne have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Zuriko Davitashvili was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
In brief
SquadWords at AS Saint-Etienne training over how hard people work
AS Saint-Etienne asked and Toulouse FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Stade de Reims paid $8.4M and AS Saint-Etienne took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Lucas Stassin, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.11
A mark of 8.11 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Irvin Cardona has gone, the accounts have $8.4M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Rocco Ascone comes from Halmstad for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mahmoud Jaber and AS Saint-Etienne agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The name of Marten-Chris Paalberg has come up in conversations AS Saint-Etienne were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Julien Le Cardinal and AS Saint-Etienne agree another 4 years.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AS Saint-Etienne know it.
Zuriko Davitashvili and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The name of Joshua Duffus has come up in conversations AS Saint-Etienne were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.