The Mainz 05 Chronicle
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Door shut on Warren Zaïre-Emery
Mainz 05 asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for Maximilian Beier at that price
Mainz 05 offered $24.9M; Borussia Dortmund 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Mainz 05 say no — this time
The offer from SC Freiburg for Nadiem Amiri 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Medical ends the Nikolas Muci deal
Everything was agreed with Grasshopper and then the doctor spoke. Mainz 05 have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kaishu Sano 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 Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A wage question at Mainz 05
Paul Nebel has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The Kaishu Sano rumours reach the terraces
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Mainz 05 would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sota Kawasaki still has not settled
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Mainz 05 would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market17 Aug 2026
Kacper Potulski goes out on loan to play
The hardest part of developing a footballer is admitting he needs to be somewhere else for a while. Kacper Potulski leaves on loan to get the football he was not going to get here, which is the point of the exercise and not an admission of anything.
In brief
- The dugout David Winter asks for a word with the manager
- The dugout The manager plants his flag on Philipp Mwene
- Squad Word from the training ground: Dominik Kohr