“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SC Freiburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jordy Makengo is on it.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jordy Makengo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and SC Freiburg needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one SC Freiburg will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Heidenheim moved on, Lucas Höler reports back to SC Freiburg, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SC Freiburg 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 SC Freiburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alexandre Olliero has, at SC Freiburg, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. TSG Hoffenheim have kept their man, and SC Freiburg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation SC Freiburg are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 SC Freiburg, and 2 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
Fortuna Düsseldorf wanted more than $18.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
A brace, and Alexis Vega takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexis Vega provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $5.6M of what Mainz 05 paid for Marcel Wober is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Mainz 05 have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Mainz 05 close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 20 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mainz 05 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
VfL Wolfsburg pay $12.3M, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
Dominik Kohr 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.
Mainz 05 asked and Schalke 04 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ben Bobzien 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.
In brief
The dugoutHong Hyun-Seok asks for a word with the manager
Benedict Hollerbach 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.
“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; Mainz 05 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I watch every Mainz 05 game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Eintracht Braunschweig runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Konstantin Schopp 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 Mainz 05, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Mainz 05 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mainz 05, another week without a signature from Konstantin Schopp.
Alexis Vega 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.
“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 Mainz 05 know it.
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 did not go to Eintracht Braunschweig to sit and watch. I want to come back to Mainz 05 and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 38 matches say the rest.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mainz 05 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alexis Vega 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silas 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.
“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 Mainz 05, and 10 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mainz 05 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mainz 05, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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 Mainz 05 hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Benedict Hollerbach 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.
“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 Mainz 05, and 6 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silas 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.
Marked 6.81 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mainz 05 told Sota Kawasaki something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mainz 05 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Dominik Kohr 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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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 Niklas Wagner left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mainz 05 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Mainz 05 close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Mainz 05 heard it as anything else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Eintracht Frankfurt have kept their man, and Mainz 05 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Lasse Rieß again, and this time the name on the line is Arminia Bielefeld. Mainz 05 are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Borussia Dortmund; Mainz 05 go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bayer Leverkusen have kept their man, and Mainz 05 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Benedict Hollerbach 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.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mainz 05 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mainz 05 offered $14.6M; FC Augsburg said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Augsburg have kept their man, and Mainz 05 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Mainz 05, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Mainz 05 hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Alexis Vega 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 words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Alexis Vega 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.
29 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Mainz 05 now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mainz 05, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mainz 05 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Mainz 05 would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Silas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Niklas Wagner after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kaishu Sano signs something — a contract at Mainz 05 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Mainz 05 man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Phillip Tietz was the best thing in any of them.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Mainz 05. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mainz 05 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcel Wober, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Adam Taggart
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nadiem Amiri signs something — a contract at Mainz 05 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lennard Maloney trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Adam Taggart
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.