Marked for Raphael Arnautovic
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jul 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Fee done, terms next for Bo Geens
Arda and CSKA 1948 have settled on $77.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market10 Jul 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Arda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 Jul 2028
Arda say no — this time
The offer from Kudrivka for Ivaylo Nedelchev 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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Inter keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Montana have kept their man, and Arda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Arda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilker Budinov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jun 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Arda
Viktor Popov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Arda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilker Budinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market5 Jun 2028
The phone has started ringing about Ivaylo Nedelchev again, and this time the name on the line is Montana. Arda are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diogo Marques, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
A loan move for Briajan Gjyla is in the works
Arda have made the call to Perugia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
PAOK have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Raphael Arnautovic is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
In brief
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Market
The Stanislav Ivanov story refuses to die
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Boardroom
Arda pull $1.3M back off the table
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Boardroom
The window opens at Arda
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Arda
Viktor Popov 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Arda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitar Velkovski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Stanislav Ivanov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market28 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Georgi Nikolov signs something — a contract at Arda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market28 Feb 2028
Arda have made Raphael Arnautovic available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad28 Feb 2028
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Arda
Dominik Yankov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Dimitar Velkovski 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.
Market21 Feb 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Martin Paskalev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Arda.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
A promise honoured at Arda
Something was said to Birsent Karagaren and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Stanislav Ivanov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market21 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dominik Yankov signs something — a contract at Arda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Boris Todev has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Arda will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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 Martin Atanasov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
Bastian Müller damages knee ligaments — 55 days out
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.
Match7 Aug 2027
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mattersburg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Wolfgang Wimmer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Aug 2027
Rapid Wien left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 2027
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mattersburg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad2 Aug 2027
There were 12 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
0‑5 to Red Bull Salzburg, 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
8 matches without a win for Mattersburg
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Mattersburg are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Erkin Yalcin: 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.” Mattersburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market2 Aug 2027
Xaver Fuchs hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mattersburg can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Mattersburg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market2 Aug 2027
Andreas Prass has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mattersburg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
Bastian Müller damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 Jul 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Mattersburg
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Pascal Köpke 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cremonese have kept their man, and Mattersburg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market26 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Thomas Prass has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market26 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Peter Lazaro 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mattersburg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mattersburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Grodig waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mattersburg is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market19 Jul 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mattersburg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Bastian Müller 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad19 Jul 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Cremonese: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
Bastian Müller damages knee ligaments — 84 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mattersburg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Jul 2027
“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 Mattersburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Marcel Wimmer
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcel Wimmer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mattersburg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pascal Köpke 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Mattersburg can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Mattersburg asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market12 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Andreas Prass again, and this time the name on the line is Grodig. Mattersburg are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan move for Salvatore Elia is in the works
Mattersburg have made the call to Cremonese. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mattersburg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
$2.4M was the most the club would pay and FK Senica were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mattersburg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Juventus is saying, and nobody at Mattersburg is enjoying the guessing.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Daniel Nunoo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Mattersburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pascal Köpke 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mattersburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.