Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hannes Delcroix will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lugano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anto Grgic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Lugano 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lugano 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 Lugano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Lugano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anto Grgic 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.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Lugano know now that the thought has arrived.
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 asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 The request is on a desk at Lugano, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 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.
Uran Bislimi 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 Anto Grgic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Marc Gutbub was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Antonios Papadopoulos will call it something else in private.
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lugano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Uran Bislimi 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.
1‑2 to Basel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Lucas Blondel 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.
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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Granit Embolo left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The words a physio says slowly. 111 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
1‑2 away to the standard of Monaco. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lugano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Uran Bislimi 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lugano can pretend not to have heard.
Daniel Dos Santos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Lugano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Von Ballmoos 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.
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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Lugano than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anto Grgic signs something — a contract at Lugano or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lugano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Lugano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Von Ballmoos 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.
8 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.
“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 Lugano, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Mattia Bottani has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattias Käit 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 phone has started ringing about Riccardo Braschi again, and this time the name on the line is Zurich. Thun are listening politely and promising nothing.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Thun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brighton Labeau and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Mattias Käit 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.
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.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Thun lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Anthony Racioppi 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 Fabio Fehr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Thun can tell you which week it ends in.
“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; Thun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Something was said to Marc Gutbub and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Ryan Kessler
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Thun lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Thun will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Thun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Fehr 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Brighton Labeau.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Thun lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
9 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Thun will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every 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 Thun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Young Boys left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout4 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 Noah Elvedi to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Niklas Steffen
The words a physio says slowly. 100 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Thun can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Ryan Francisco, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Thun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Thun heard it as anything else.
Marcus Ingvartsen 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 Mattias Käit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Thun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Marcus Ingvartsen 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 Mattias Käit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Thun can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattias Käit 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marcus Ingvartsen signs something — a contract at Thun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutMarc Gutbub knocks on the manager's door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Thun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The chase for Jonathan de Donno ended with $670.0K changing hands and Vaduz out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Thun 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 Mattias Käit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cedric Seferovic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marc Gutbub trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Marcus Ingvartsen 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 23 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 had been thinking. Mattias Käit 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Moritz Leitner has his answer from Thun; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Thun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Thun can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Thun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Thun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattias Käit 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; Thun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Thun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marcus Ingvartsen 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
Mattias Käit 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marcus Ingvartsen signs something — a contract at Thun or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Thun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tim Spycher is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Mattias Käit 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Moritz Leitner has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Something was said to Juan González 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 Tom Strannegård signs something — a contract at Thun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Thun is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marcus Ingvartsen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Fabio Fehr 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 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 Thun know it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marcus Ingvartsen signs something — a contract at Thun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Jan-Christoph Bartels has written the date down.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Thun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Thun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nils Reichmuth 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 Mattias Käit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Thun, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marcus Ingvartsen signs something — a contract at Thun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Thun. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.