The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Kevin Mbabu 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.
A 1‑0 win over Lausanne-Sport, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Remo Arnold was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Grasshopper, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tim Meyer has his answer from Grasshopper; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Grasshopper lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Nikolas Muci 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salifou Diarrassouba 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
7.21, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Grasshopper had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Fabian Elvedi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Bujar Pllana
The words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Grasshopper will try again when the window opens; Minnesota United FC may not be selling by then.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Grasshopper asked and Thun said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 offer went to Minnesota United FC 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.
The offer went to Sion 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.
Grasshopper asked and Ajax Cape Town said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Grasshopper offered $3.7M; VfB Stuttgart said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Winterthur did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $1.4M for Remo Arnold, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The offer from Ararat for Luke Plange was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.3M — a club that wants Liam Chipperfield enough to be asked twice.
Grasshopper offered $9.1M; Lugano said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Grasshopper asked and Vaduz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Justin Hammel, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ismajl Beka 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nikolas Muci had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Grasshopper have gone to Lugano 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.
Grasshopper have gone to VfB Stuttgart 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.
Everything agreed with SV Elversberg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Grasshopper had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Hertha BSC, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Kevin Mbabu 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jacob Brown 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.