The Mainz 05 Chronicle
Squad18 Aug 2036
Thiago Borbas damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Market18 Aug 2036
Tudor Coşa has said yes to LASK
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mainz 05 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad18 Aug 2036
22 days out for Adam Kleis-Kristoffersen after a fracture
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.
Market18 Aug 2036
Darmstadt 98 come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mainz 05 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market18 Aug 2036
Josh Stokes is on his way
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2036
Mainz 05 baulk at the price for Axl Van Himbeeck
Union Berlin wanted more than $700.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2036
Door shut on Liam Delap
Mainz 05 asked and Bayer Leverkusen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Tobias van den Elshout 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.
The dugout18 Aug 2036
Almugera Kabar 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.
In brief
- Squad David Hartmann out for 21 days
- Loan watch Florian Seidel wants to come home
- Market No place for Duarte Cunha in the plan