Hákon Arnar Haraldsson 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tobías Rubio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RB Leipzig the goodbyes have quietly begun.
17 goals in 29 games at Mainz 05 — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at RB Leipzig updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The approach has been made to Slávia TU Košice and the answer is somebody else's to give. These things are settled in private and reported in public, usually in that order.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
Samu Aghehowa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.63. 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and VfL Bochum waiting with a shirt. Nobody at RB Leipzig is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at RB Leipzig can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RB Leipzig is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hugo Larsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Sam Parker is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around RB Leipzig people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RB Leipzig can pretend not to have heard.
RB Leipzig had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dynamo Dresden, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Nico González 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether RB Leipzig can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Peter Amoran has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means RB Leipzig have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
25 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Taha Zidouh 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Darmstadt 98 can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Baroni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Darmstadt 98 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer went to SC Paderborn 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 deal with VfL Wolfsburg 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.
RB Leipzig paid $1.1M and Darmstadt 98 took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicola Zalewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Álvaro Santos 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ivan Chavdarov Pankov has, at Darmstadt 98, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Darmstadt 98 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
$290.0K settles it between the clubs for Žan Mauricio
Karlsruher SC have accepted the money. What Darmstadt 98 do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Max Lippert has agreed terms with Greuther Fürth for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
Álvaro Santos 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Darmstadt 98 can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“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 Darmstadt 98, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hugo Sochůrek will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Darmstadt 98 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Hugo Sochůrek has agreed terms with Union Berlin for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Álvaro Santos 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.
Squad21 May 2035
Words at Darmstadt 98 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Schreiber 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 Darmstadt 98, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Giorgi Kochorashvili has his answer from Darmstadt 98; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Darmstadt 98 can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Darmstadt 98 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Killian Corredor 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.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Words at Darmstadt 98 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Schreiber 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.
FC Augsburg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Apr 2035
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Darmstadt 98 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Darmstadt 98 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Boris Mamuzah Lum, marked 7.71, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Álvaro Santos 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 Killian Corredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑0 win over Greuther Fürth, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matías Pecile wants continental football; whether Darmstadt 98 can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Killian Corredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Darmstadt 98 can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Darmstadt 98 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Darmstadt 98 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Álvaro Santos 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 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 Darmstadt 98 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Magnus Baars. 2‑0 against Arminia Bielefeld, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Darmstadt 98 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Darmstadt 98 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Darmstadt 98 can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Álvaro Santos 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Darmstadt 98 can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 7.15, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Killian Corredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Darmstadt 98 can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Patryk Letkiewicz has, at Darmstadt 98, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Killian Corredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Holstein Kiel made Darmstadt 98 work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings19 Feb 2035
Álvaro Santos was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Darmstadt 98 will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.53, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Darmstadt 98 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 Killian Corredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matías Baroni wants continental football; whether Darmstadt 98 can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafi Wolters. 2‑0 against Nürnberg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Darmstadt 98, another week without a signature from Álvaro Santos.
“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; Darmstadt 98 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Darmstadt 98 can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Köln have kept their man, and Darmstadt 98 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mattia Piermarini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Darmstadt 98 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with VfB Stuttgart 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Darmstadt 98 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Tim Schreiber 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; Darmstadt 98 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Aleksander Hammer Kjelsen has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Darmstadt 98 have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Darmstadt 98 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Álvaro Santos 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 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 is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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 7.86 for the rest of it.
Álvaro Santos 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.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Words at Darmstadt 98 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Schreiber 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Darmstadt 98 can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
13 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.65 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
“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 Darmstadt 98 know it.
5.35, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mattia Piermarini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Darmstadt 98 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mattia Piermarini has agreed terms with Hannover 96 for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Álvaro Santos 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 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 Darmstadt 98 know it.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Darmstadt 98 can tell you which week it ends in.
Álvaro Santos 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 Tim Schreiber was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Marked 7.30. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Matías Baroni's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Darmstadt 98 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Álvaro Santos 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rodrigo Pereira is living that version at Darmstadt 98, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Words at Darmstadt 98 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Schreiber 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matías Pecile wants continental football; whether Darmstadt 98 can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.