Mohammad Alinejad

Attacking Midfielder (R) - Esteghlal
3 Jan 2030
Thursday
Process

Marked for Mohammad Alinejad

152 Edition

The Esteghlal Herald

25 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Esteghlal sell their best player to Persepolis

$15.7M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.

Squad

The knee: Rouzbeh Cheshmi out for 35 days

35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Esteghlal lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A fracture rules Alireza Naghizadeh out for 113 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Esteghlal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $15.7M sale of Jason Knight

He is going to Persepolis, the club has $15.7M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Transfer targets

Mohammad Amin Kazemian is a medical away from Esteghlal

The deal with Zob Ahan 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.

Market

Esteghlal sell Zargham Saadavi for $1.8M

Zargham Saadavi has left for Tractor in a $1.8M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Transfer targets

Smail Prevljak turns down Esteghlal

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hajduk Split keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Market

Mohammad Alinejad comes home

The shirt still fits. Mohammad Alinejad is back at Esteghlal, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Squad

Words exchanged at Esteghlal

Saman Fallah 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.

In brief

Back issues
151 Edition

The Esteghlal Herald

18 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Rouzbeh Cheshmi

42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Esteghlal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Saeid Saharkhizan says no to Tractor

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Saeid Saharkhizan had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Squad

121 days out for Alireza Naghizadeh after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Esteghlal will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Zargham Saadavi agrees terms with Tractor

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Esteghlal people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Jordan Larsson moves on

Persepolis pay $8.0M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $8.0M sale of Jordan Larsson

He is going to Persepolis, the club has $8.0M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Market

Eyes on Jason Knight again

The phone has started ringing about Jason Knight again, and this time the name on the line is Persepolis. Esteghlal are listening politely and promising nothing.

Transfer targets

$91.0K settles it between the clubs for Mohammad Alinejad

Zob Ahan have accepted the money. What Esteghlal do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Squad

Jason Knight 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 Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

151 Edition

The Zob Ahan Chronicle

18 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ali Karimi

96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zob Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Zob Ahan turn down Esteghlal for Seyed Mohammad Hosseini

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Mohammad Ghoreishi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zob Ahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Zob Ahan

Ehsan Pahlevan 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.

Transfer targets

Zob Ahan make their move for Ghasem Latifi

$100.0K on the table at Foolad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

Zob Ahan baulk at the price for Mirkomil Abdurazzoqov

Siah Jamegan wanted more than $17.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Milad Zakipour 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.

Transfer targets

Al-Ahli tell Zob Ahan: Abdulrahman Ghareeb is not for sale

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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Dânio Djassi is in the works

Zob Ahan have made the call to Casa Pia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

  • Squad Zob Ahan are still strangers to each other
  • Market Esteghlal are about to pick up the phone
  • The dugout When it matters, Hadi Baghban plays
132 Edition

The Esteghlal Herald

5 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Esteghlal make home a hard place to visit

32 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Match

Whatever happens, Esteghlal do not lose

14 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Match

Jordan Larsson leads the rout of Saba

3‑0, and Jordan Larsson took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Esteghlal tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Squad

89 days out for Mojtaba Moghtadaei after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Esteghlal will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Jordan Larsson scores twice — 8.60

Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 2 signed and 7 gone

That is the business done at Esteghlal until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Squad

Jason Knight 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 Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Jordan Larsson

13 goals and a season average of 7.29 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Ehsan Yazdani 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.

In brief

132 Edition

The Zob Ahan Chronicle

5 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Zob Ahan turn down Sepahan for Seyed Mohammad Hosseini

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

Masoud Khodadad, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07

A mark of 8.07 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Market

Adib Zarei puts it in writing

“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 Zob Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.

Boardroom

Zob Ahan close the window on a squad of their own making

0 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Market

So close: Mohammad Alinejad’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Esteghlal moved on, Mohammad Alinejad reports back to Zob Ahan, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Mohammed Mahzari rejects the move

Zob Ahan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ahli, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

A falling-out at Zob Ahan

Hasan Shoushtari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Zob Ahan

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milad Zakipour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Zob Ahan rebuffed over Matteo Cichella

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Frosinone have kept their man, and Zob Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

131 Edition

The Esteghlal Herald

29 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Mojtaba Moghtadaei out for 96 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Esteghlal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

13 unbeaten for Esteghlal

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Esteghlal did not have in the autumn.

The dugout

Saleh Hardani: 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.” Esteghlal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Mohammad Alinejad

Esteghlal and Zob Ahan have settled on $94.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Market

Esteghlal turn down Foolad for Seyed Mehdi Hosseini

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Esteghlal get their man

The chase for Nima Entezari ended with $670.0K changing hands and Tractor out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Squad

Tempers go at Esteghlal

Jason Knight 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.

Squad

Ehsan Yazdani 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.

Player ratings

Saeid Saharkhizan beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

111 Edition

The Zob Ahan Chronicle

11 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammad Amin Kazemian

52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zob Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Alireza Ramezani sends Zob Ahan through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Alireza Ramezani obliged against Gostaresh Foulad. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Zob Ahan.

Match

Alireza Ramezani wins it after the whistle should have gone

111 minutes played. Alireza Ramezani found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Gostaresh Foulad went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Mohammad Alinejad yet — 8.04

At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Mohammad Ghoreishi’s move to Sepahan falls through

The deal that would have taken Mohammad Ghoreishi to Sepahan has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Zob Ahan with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Squad

Sobhan Khaghani stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Sobhan Khaghani and Zob Ahan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ehsan Mohammadi

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Mohammadi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zob Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Zob Ahan

Hasan Shoushtari 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.

Squad

Ehsan Pahlevan 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.

In brief

109 Edition

The Zob Ahan Chronicle

28 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammad Amin Kazemian

68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zob Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Zob Ahan turn down Sepahan for Mohammad Ghoreishi

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Mohammad Alinejad puts it in writing

“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 Zob Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Muhannad Al-Shanqiti turns down Zob Ahan

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Ittihad keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Ehsan Pahlevan 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.

Match

Hessel de Wit’s goal not enough for Zob Ahan

Hessel de Wit scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Tractor, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Esquerdinha

Zob Ahan asked and Queens Park Rangers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Saeid Karimi 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 Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Shayan Mosleh 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

98 Edition

The Zob Ahan Chronicle

12 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Amir Hossein Jeddi out for 20 days

20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Transfer targets

Zob Ahan bid $1.4M for Mohammad Reza Rezaei

The offer went to Saba this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

Zob Ahan make their move for Aria Hosseinifard

$800.0K on the table at Esteghlal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Ali Karimi out for 63 days

The medical room confirms 63 days on the sidelines for Ali Karimi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Zob Ahan

Hasan Shoushtari 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.

Squad

Ehsan Pahlevan 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.

Transfer targets

Al Shabab tell Zob Ahan: Loreintz Rosier is not for sale

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Alireza Ramezani

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alireza Ramezani, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Reza Sharifi Basir is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

In brief

94 Edition

The Zob Ahan Chronicle

15 May 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Tempers go at Zob Ahan

Nemanja Trifunović 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.

Squad

Jehad Thikri 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.

The dugout

Alireza Ramezani 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.

Market

Pouya Mokhtari linked with a move away

The name of Pouya Mokhtari keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zob Ahan say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Mohammad Alinejad gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohammad Alinejad is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes Mohammad Ghoreishi a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zob Ahan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Squad

Shahzod Toirov remains an outsider

A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Zob Ahan would admit. It shows on Saturdays.

Squad

Adib Zarei has seen what the next man earns

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Zob Ahan that is a harder question to answer.

The dugout

The manager comes out for Mohammad Javad Mohammadi

Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Mohammad Javad Mohammadi has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.

In brief

90 Edition

The Zob Ahan Chronicle

17 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Zob Ahan

Nemanja Trifunović 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.

Squad

Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jehad Thikri is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market

Talks stall between Zob Ahan and Pouya Mokhtari

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

The dugout

Nemanja Trifunović knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zob Ahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Pouya Mokhtari linked with a move away

The name of Pouya Mokhtari keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zob Ahan say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

When it matters, Mohammad Alinejad plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The manager makes Alireza Ramezani a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zob Ahan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Squad

A wage question at Zob Ahan

Adib Zarei has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.

Squad

Ali Karimi has settled at Zob Ahan

The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.

In brief

86 Edition

The Zob Ahan Chronicle

20 Mar 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Kaveh Vafaei: 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.” Zob Ahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Riccardo Pagano 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 Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jehad Thikri is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

Hadi Baghban 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.

Market

Pouya Mokhtari linked with a move away

The name of Pouya Mokhtari keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zob Ahan say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Mohammad Alinejad has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Zob Ahan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief