136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Young Boys lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Young Boys will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Young Boys have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Young Boys have done the hard part with Sporting CP, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Lawrence Ati-Zigi 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.
The shirt still fits. Noah Nurmi is back at Young Boys, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Zesiger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benfica have kept their man, and Young Boys go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Olivier Boscagli is in the works
Transfer targetsA loan move for Philipp Köhn is in the works
The dugoutMoritz Jenz has become a man the manager trusts
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Young Boys lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 The request is on a desk at Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Maccabi Tel Aviv pay $8.8M, 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.
He is going to Maccabi Tel Aviv, the club has $8.8M 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Armin Gigović has agreed terms with Zurich for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lawrence Ati-Zigi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Young Boys asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Armin Gigović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Moritz Jenz is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Young Boys know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 6 on 18 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Young Boys is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lawrence Ati-Zigi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Erik Thommy is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lawrence Ati-Zigi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lion Lauberbach 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.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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 Moritz Jenz is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Young Boys will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Armin Gigović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Young Boys know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Young Boys lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Young Boys they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
St. Gallen will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Slobodan Medojević has pre-agreed a move to Young Boys, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Armin Gigović 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.
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.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Young Boys lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lawrence Ati-Zigi 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.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Diego Hormigo has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Young Boys have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Armin Gigović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Young Boys 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Young Boys, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Salko Hamzić has come up in conversations Young Boys were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Young Boys this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Armin Gigović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Young Boys 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Moritz Jenz signs something — a contract at Young Boys or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giannis Bouzoukis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Young Boys the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lawrence Ati-Zigi 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.
The phone has started ringing about Olivier Mambwa again, and this time the name on the line is Stjarnan. Young Boys are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Armin Gigović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Iwan Henstra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Young Boys the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Herba Guirassy 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Armin Gigović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Young Boys told Samuel Essende something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Young Boys know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mathias Jensen 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denys Pidruchnyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Young Boys the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charis Tsingaras 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Veljko Radosavljević and Young Boys agree another 4 years.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Iwan Henstra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Young Boys the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Zesiger 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.
Herba Guirassy 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Herba Guirassy is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at Young Boys 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Young Boys is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Young Boys this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Young Boys will be judged on one thing only.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Lugano had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Erik Thommy
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Young Boys they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Young Boys can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Herba Guirassy 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Herba Guirassy has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Young Boys have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mathias Jensen 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denys Pidruchnyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Young Boys the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Zesiger 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 39. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Young Boys they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mike-Steven Bähre 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charis Tsingaras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Young Boys know it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Samuel Essende has come out of that comparison in the side, and Young Boys have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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 Moritz Jenz is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Young Boys heard it as anything else.
Herba Guirassy 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.
Thun made Young Boys work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Armin Gigović 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Charis Tsingaras has his answer from Young Boys; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mathias Jensen scored, was marked 7.47, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
Mathias Jensen 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Armin Gigović 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 ratings24 Sep 2029
Darian Maleš was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Heerenveen had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Young Boys people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Herba Guirassy 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isaac Schmidt 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 dugout18 Jun 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Alphadjo Cissé'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.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kaly Sène will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Young Boys the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Young Boys this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isaac Schmidt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gregory Wüthrich, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 May 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Alphadjo Cissé'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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Young Boys lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Herba Guirassy 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isaac Schmidt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Young Boys know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Young Boys lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Young Boys is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Young Boys this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adama Camara 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.
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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alphadjo Cissé trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Young Boys lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Young Boys have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Young Boys will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Herba Guirassy 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Armin Gigović 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.
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 Cédric Zesiger is on it.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Young Boys lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Young Boys will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Young Boys they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Kaly Sène 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isaac Schmidt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Young Boys lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Young Boys hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Herba Guirassy 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isaac Schmidt 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.
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 Cédric Zesiger is on it.
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Young Boys lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Young Boys they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Young Boys this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adama Camara 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Young Boys can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bladimir Angulo wants continental football; whether Young Boys can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Young Boys lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Esteghlal Khuzestan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Young Boys is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Young Boys and Zurich have settled on $1.3M. 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Young Boys close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 11 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexander Hack will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Young Boys the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Young Boys heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Young Boys this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zurich have kept their man, and Young Boys go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Young Boys lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Young Boys have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Young Boys they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Young Boys this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isaac Schmidt 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.
“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 Young Boys know it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Young Boys told Salko Hamzić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutMoritz Jenz has become a man the manager trusts
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Young Boys lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Young Boys have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ebrima Colley 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Isaac Schmidt 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.
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 Haris Tabaković is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Young Boys know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Young Boys has been clear about where Noah Nurmi stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Young Boys can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Young Boys is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Fodé Sylla scored, was marked 7.56, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Zesiger 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Fodé Sylla has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 42. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Ebrima Colley 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Armin Gigović 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 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 Young Boys know it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ruben Sommer after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Young Boys 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.