Simón Bodnar

Left Midfielder - Bayer Leverkusen
24 Jan 2028
Monday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 5 Transfers Relations Events 20 Awards 15 Matches History

Marked for Simón Bodnar

76 Edition

The Bayer Leverkusen Post

10 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match8 Jan 2028

Bayer Leverkusen taken apart

0‑4 to TSG Hoffenheim, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Squad10 Jan 2028

A one-man rearguard from Mark Flekken

There were 7 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.

Market10 Jan 2028

Bayer Leverkusen turn down Mainz 05 for Artem Stepanov

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad10 Jan 2028

Tempers go at Bayer Leverkusen

Exequiel Palacios 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.

Market10 Jan 2028

Bayer Leverkusen buy the years ahead of Simón Bodnar

He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Squad10 Jan 2028

Defences have started doubling up on Loïc Badé

9 goals and a season average of 7.54 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings10 Jan 2028

Nobody could get near Martin Terrier

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad10 Jan 2028

No hiding place for Exequiel Palacios

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Exequiel Palacios, and the manager let it.

Loan watch10 Jan 2028

The goals keep arriving from Ibrahim Maza’s exile

13 goals in 20 games at Werder Bremen — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Bayer Leverkusen updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

In brief

Back issues
76 Edition

The Independiente Herald

10 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market10 Jan 2028

Simón Bodnar moves on

Bayer Leverkusen pay $8.0M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Market10 Jan 2028

Kevin Lomónaco attracts admirers

The name of Kevin Lomónaco has come up in conversations Independiente were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Market10 Jan 2028

Independiente say no — this time

The offer from Leeds United for Leonel Galván 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.

Squad10 Jan 2028

Tempers go at Independiente

Kevin Lomónaco 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.

Market10 Jan 2028

Ignacio Maestro Puch wants to know where this is going

“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 Independiente hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad10 Jan 2028

The manager makes an example of Ignacio Maestro Puch

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

64 Edition

The Independiente Herald

18 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market18 Oct 2027

Milton Valenzuela puts it in writing

“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 Independiente, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad18 Oct 2027

Milton Valenzuela keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Independiente may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad18 Oct 2027

Kevin Lomónaco 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 Independiente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad18 Oct 2027

Defences have started doubling up on Kevin Lomónaco

10 goals and a season average of 7.44 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match16 Oct 2027

Independiente come up short against Boca Juniors

Boca Juniors left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad18 Oct 2027

Rodrigo Rey lets one through his hands

A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.

Player ratings18 Oct 2027

Ignacio Pussetto runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market18 Oct 2027

The Sebastián Valdez question follows Independiente around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sebastián Valdez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Loan watch18 Oct 2027

The goals keep arriving from Rodrigo Márquez’s exile

4 goals in 27 games at Aldosivi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Independiente updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

In brief

44 Edition

The Independiente Herald

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings31 May 2027

A defender's afternoon for Gonzalo Bordón

Defensive actions: 36. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Player ratings31 May 2027

Nicolás Freire shuts the door

Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Match26 May 2027

Independiente cannot stop winning

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.

Squad31 May 2027

Kevin Lomónaco 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 Independiente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match26 May 2027

Independiente find a way past Tigre

Tigre made Independiente work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings31 May 2027

A masterclass from Federico Mancuello

Marked 8.14 — 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.

Loan watch31 May 2027

Martín Leal counts the days

“I watch every Independiente game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pakhtakor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Player ratings31 May 2027

Joel Medina runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad31 May 2027

Kevin Lomónaco is carrying Independiente

4 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

In brief

11 Edition

The Independiente Herald

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad12 Oct 2026

Tempers go at Independiente

Ignacio Malcorra 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.

Player ratings12 Oct 2026

Nobody could get near Santiago Montiel

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match10 Oct 2026

A bad afternoon for Independiente against Newell's Old Boys

1‑2 to Newell's Old Boys, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad12 Oct 2026

Santiago Arias gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad12 Oct 2026

Independiente lose Joaquín Blázquez

17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Player ratings12 Oct 2026

The one thing Gabriel Ávalos could not do

Shots: 11, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.

In brief