The Henan FC Post
Squad8 Mar 2027
The knee: Maidana out for 96 days
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Henan FC lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad8 Mar 2027
6 saves: Xu Jiamin was the team
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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Oliver Gerbig: 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.” Henan FC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Lucas Maia stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lucas Maia and Henan FC agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Lucas Maia wants to go home
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Henan FC can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Graduation day at Henan FC
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
Door shut on Alan Ovelar
Henan FC asked and Argentinos Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match6 Mar 2027
Shanghai Port take the points off Henan FC
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
No hiding place for Maidana
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maidana, and the manager let it.