Messi walked away from Argentina, City paid 125 million pounds for Enzo: deadline day showed what football actually costs now

Messi closed the circle with Argentina after twenty years

On 31 August Lionel Messi announced he will no longer play for Argentina. He is 39, and leaves behind 207 caps, 125 goals and 68 assists - numbers no Argentine before him had touched. "I gave everything I had, I have nothing left to give," he wrote, admitting the decision "hurt and still hurts deep in the soul". He had written the message back on 21 July, two days after the final lost to Spain. So he carried it in his pocket for a month and a half before pressing the button.

Enzo Fernández for 125 million pounds: the day City bought the midfield

Deadline day in England ended with a transfer that will be remembered - Manchester City pulled Enzo Fernández out of Chelsea for 125 million pounds, around 145 million euros, making it the third most expensive transfer in history. Chelsea had insisted for months the Argentine was going nowhere until their terms were met; they were met. The same day City also took Iliman Ndiaye from Everton for 65 million pounds, while Newcastle paid 51 million for Matias Fernández-Pardo. Put it in context: in 2009 Cristiano Ronaldo cost 94 million euros, Arjen Robben 25 million and Ronaldinho 24 million - 143 million in total for three players who wrote history. Today the same sum goes on one midfielder.

Barcelona has not given up on Álvarez, it is just waiting for January

The Catalans failed to prise Julián Álvarez out of Atlético Madrid this summer. Atlético did not want to strengthen a direct rival in La Liga - logic that works in Spain and in the Balkans would land as an insult. Barcelona instead took Gabriel Jesus from Arsenal for 8.6 million pounds, which they themselves treat as patching a hole. According to Spanish sources, the club deliberately set money aside for a fresh assault on Álvarez in January or next summer. The Argentine is contracted until 2030 and has 49 goals and 17 assists in 107 matches for Atlético - so the bill will not be small.

Macedonian Cup: 40 goals in four matches, and now what

The start of the Cup produced numbers that look like a typo. Makedonija GjP thrashed Vllaznimi Junior 14:0, Struga TL beat Pobeda Valandovo 10:1, Brera got past Venec from Dolni Disan 8:0, and Pelister beat Studeničani 6:1. That is 40 goals in four matches. Trajče Talevski recorded a hat-trick, Florian Roçi scored four for Struga. Some will say the favourites showed their class. Others will ask what a team conceding fourteen goals is doing in the same competition as the reigning champion - and that question is not for the clubs, but for whoever designs the competition format.

Ristovski returns to Vardar fifteen years later

Stefan Ristovski is close to signing for Vardar, the club where he began his career more than fifteen years ago. He is 34, a free agent since terminating his contract with Sarajevo, and can play both right-back and centre-back - the position left empty by Darko Velkovski's departure. His career has taken in Parma, Crotone, Frosinone, Bari, Latina, Rijeka, Sporting Lisbon and Dinamo Zagreb, and he has over 80 caps for the national team plus a spell with the captain's armband, including the 2021 European Championship. Vardar currently trail Shkëndija by eight points after a change of coach - Miodrag Božović replaced Kristijan Fabijani. Eight points in September is not a catastrophe, but it is not a trifle one name solves either.