The Rapid Wien Chronicle
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Rapid Wien agree $17.6M for Justin Njinmah
The clubs have shaken hands with Werder Bremen; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market26 Jul 2027
Jonas Auer turns Mattersburg down
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market26 Jul 2027
Đorđe Despotović asks to leave Rapid Wien
“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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Rapid Wien
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
Tobias Gulliksen 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
One of our own: Thomas Sabitzer joins the Rapid Wien first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Thomas Sabitzer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market26 Jul 2027
Lukas Wimmer steps up from the Rapid Wien academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lukas Wimmer 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.
Loan watch26 Jul 2027
Nikolaus Wurmbrand has seen enough of SV Ried
“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 Rapid Wien, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jannes Horn's mistake
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.
In brief
- The dugout Nenad Cvetković gets picked when it counts
- The dugout A door opens for Đorđe Jovanović
- The dugout Lukas Wimmer knocks on the manager's door