The Esteghlal Khuzestan Herald
Squad2 Aug 2027
The knee: Farzad Jafari out for 47 days
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Esteghlal Khuzestan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market2 Aug 2027
Aref Rostami 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 Esteghlal Khuzestan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Esteghlal Khuzestan
Moussa N'Diaye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Graduation day at Esteghlal Khuzestan
5 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 targets2 Aug 2027
Esteghlal Khuzestan rebuffed over Ashkan Alijani
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepahan have kept their man, and Esteghlal Khuzestan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market2 Aug 2027
One of our own: Morteza Nekounam joins the Esteghlal Khuzestan first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Morteza Nekounam is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market2 Aug 2027
Kaveh Hajsafi steps up from the Esteghlal Khuzestan academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kaveh Hajsafi 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
Esteghlal Khuzestan promote Ehsan Azmoun from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ehsan Azmoun has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Esteghlal Khuzestan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamid Bouhamdan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
- Squad Ahmad Savari signs on for more
- The dugout Mohammad Hossein Zavari knocks on the manager's door
- The dugout No hiding place for Hossein Darvishi