Marked for Patrick Jorge
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
An offer of $26.4M for Sem Steijn
Heidenheim have gone to Feyenoord 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Hamburger SV wanted more than $6.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market14 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Frank Feller 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Patrick Jorge is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Maurits Kjærgaard 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Late improvement for Nico Mantl
At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Guido Laimer is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yannik Wagner, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
27 days out for Patrick Mainka after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Heidenheim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout17 May 2027
Tim Siersleben: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Heidenheim have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 May 2027
Maurits Kjærgaard 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Adrian Beck 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 dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adama Soumaoro, and the manager let it.
Squad17 May 2027
“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; Heidenheim are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Apr 2027
The mood at Heidenheim has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Maurits Kjærgaard 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Rogelio Espínola arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Rogelio Espínola has, at Heidenheim, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Heidenheim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonas Föhrenbach 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julian Niehues, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Heidenheim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.
Market26 Apr 2027
Heidenheim shop where it costs nothing
Rogelio Espínola signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
São Paulo have gone to Grêmio 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.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
São Paulo asked and Santos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market21 Dec 2026
As if he never left: Maik returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Maik is a São Paulo player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A one-man rearguard from Thiago Couto
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
São Paulo have gone to Bahia 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.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market21 Dec 2026
Lucas André has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around São Paulo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at São Paulo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aurélio Buta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Clayson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at São Paulo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.