Marked for Gregor Herrmann
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2035
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hannover 96 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Sep 2035
Beaten 0‑3 by VfL Bochum, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market17 Sep 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuele di Benedetto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hannover 96 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
Stefan Lazovic: 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.” Hannover 96 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Lucas Taibo 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.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuele di Benedetto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom17 Sep 2035
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Aug 2035
Gregor Herrmann damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Market27 Aug 2035
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Pascal Loretz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The dugout27 Aug 2035
Thomas Jørgensen: 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.” Hannover 96 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market27 Aug 2035
Oscar Højlund has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hannover 96 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market27 Aug 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hannover 96 can pretend not to have heard.
Market27 Aug 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hannover 96 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad27 Aug 2035
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom27 Aug 2035
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.1M — a club that wants Hjalte Boe enough to be asked twice.
Boardroom27 Aug 2035
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Aug 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hannover 96 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Gregor Herrmann damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
Market20 Aug 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hannover 96 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market20 Aug 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hannover 96 can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
An offer of $1.3M for Hjalte Boe
Hannover 96 have gone to Hertha BSC with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
The deal with Bayer Leverkusen is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Oscar Højlund 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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Sean Nilsen-Modebe 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.
Boardroom20 Aug 2035
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Aug 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gregor Herrmann
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hannover 96 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Aug 2035
A fracture rules Marvin Hübel out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hannover 96 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Aug 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hannover 96 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market13 Aug 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hannover 96 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom13 Aug 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Khalil Fayad has agreed terms with Kaiserslautern for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market13 Aug 2035
Rodrigo Gomes wants to know where this is going
“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 Hannover 96 hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Hannover 96 asked and Bayern Munich said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad13 Aug 2035
68 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Samuele di Benedetto 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Aug 2035
Gregor Herrmann damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
Market6 Aug 2035
The bid was some way short and Hannover 96 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Marvin Hübel breaks a bone — 21 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market6 Aug 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hannover 96 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market6 Aug 2035
“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 Hannover 96, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Aug 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hannover 96 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market6 Aug 2035
The deal that would have taken Marvin Hübel to Dynamo Dresden has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Hannover 96 with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad6 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hannover 96 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Jul 2035
Gregor Herrmann damages knee ligaments — 74 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Squad30 Jul 2035
A fracture rules Marvin Hübel out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hannover 96 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Jul 2035
Only the photograph left for Oscar Højlund
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oscar Højlund will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hannover 96 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market30 Jul 2035
Marcelo Ryan is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Hannover 96 has been clear about where Marcelo Ryan stands, which is more than many ever get.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Hannover 96 asked and Borussia Dortmund said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Lucas Taibo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market30 Jul 2035
The name of Thimothée Lo-Tutala has come up in conversations Hannover 96 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
A loan enquiry to Bayer Leverkusen: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
A loan enquiry to Bayer Leverkusen: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Jul 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nürnberg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hannover 96 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad23 Jul 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gregor Herrmann
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hannover 96 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Marvin Hübel breaks a bone — 37 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Jul 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuele di Benedetto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hannover 96 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market23 Jul 2035
Viking come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Hannover 96 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Oscar Højlund 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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Borussia Dortmund have kept their man, and Hannover 96 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuele di Benedetto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Jul 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gregor Herrmann
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hannover 96 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Jul 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hannover 96 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market16 Jul 2035
Tom Pouilly has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hannover 96 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market16 Jul 2035
Manuel Bahaty hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hannover 96 can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hannover 96 have done the hard part with RB Leipzig, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom16 Jul 2035
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Duarte Cunha has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Pascal Loretz 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
“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 Hannover 96 know it.
Market16 Jul 2035
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Hannover 96 can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Jul 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hannover 96 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad9 Jul 2035
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hannover 96 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market9 Jul 2035
“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.
Market9 Jul 2035
The bid was some way short and Hannover 96 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market9 Jul 2035
Justin Diehl has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hannover 96 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom9 Jul 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Martin Wasinski has agreed terms with SC Freiburg for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad9 Jul 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hannover 96 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2035
$66.0K on the table at VfB Stuttgart. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Boardroom9 Jul 2035
SC Freiburg will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Simón Rojas has pre-agreed a move to Hannover 96, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.