“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich 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.” Zurich have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ivan Ilić 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 first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Winterthur; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Romeo Vermant was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zurich have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Smolyakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Ilić 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 Romeo Vermant was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zurich can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
10 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.
Nobody at Zurich 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
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Fabio Baldé
43 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Zurich are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aliou Baldé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Louis Köster will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vincenzo Damiano has, at Zurich, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Romeo Vermant was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zurich, another week without a signature from Aliou Baldé.
“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 Zurich know it.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.86, and 3 involvements.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aliou Baldé 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Zurich will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Player ratings29 Nov 2032
Ivan Ilić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nicola Zalewski scored, was marked 7.61, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Smolyakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aliou Baldé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑2 against Manchester City, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Louis Köster will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich 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 Zurich 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 Zurich 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 Romeo Vermant was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Kristijan Jovović has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Fabio Baldé
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Lugano the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Zurich will enjoy reviewing.
1 for Ivan Ilić, marked 7.56, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Ilić 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 Aliou Baldé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zurich lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑2 away to the standard of Manchester City. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Sion had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Zurich did not stop to explain themselves.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
Marked 7.16 on 18 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aliou Baldé 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Marcel Łubik
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lucas Costa has just signed for Zurich, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aliou Baldé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Malek Ishuayed 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.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zurich lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Aliou Baldé has just signed for Zurich, and for once the answer mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Louis Köster will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich 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 Zurich 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.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Aliou Baldé 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.
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.
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.
Position 2, 17 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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 Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.97 beside his name.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zurich and Luzern in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Zurich asked and Young Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Zurich and Young Boys 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zurich people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $167.3K of what Zurich paid for Luca Bolay is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Deadline passes with 26 signed and 36 gone
That is the business done at Zurich 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jayson Ezeb will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Ilić 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.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zurich lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have shaken hands with Young Boys; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Thun waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zurich is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Malek Ishuayed will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Malek Ishuayed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zurich lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and St. Gallen waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zurich is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich 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.” Zurich have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich 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 Zurich 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 Marc Giger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zurich lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Winterthur waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zurich is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from FH for Simon Okafor 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich heard it as anything else.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Young Boys have kept their man, and Zurich go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Everybody at Zurich saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Marin Šotiček
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zurich lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Sion spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zurich have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Zurich asked and Young Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ivan Ilić wants continental football; whether Zurich can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Maxim De Cuyper 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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zurich lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zurich have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Aarau had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
17 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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Giger 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zurich 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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer from Sion for Elias Filet 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.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Giger 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.
Zurich asked and Young Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Daniel Dos Santos is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and St. Gallen waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zurich is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mauro Perković had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Giger 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. Young Boys have kept their man, and Zurich go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Ivan Ilić is on it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and St. Gallen waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zurich is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
48 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich heard it as anything else.
Zurich had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Young Boys, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Marc Giger 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Thun waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zurich is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Giger 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Benjamin Arthur has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Zurich have had the benefit of it.
Marc Giger and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2032
Mihajlo Ilić 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 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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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 Ivan Ilić is on it.
48 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad17 May 2032
Marc Giger 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 Maxim De Cuyper is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zurich, another week without a signature from Fabio Baldé.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Ivan Ilić 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 May 2032
Marc Giger 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 Daniel Dos Santos is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marin Šotiček trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zurich, another week without a signature from Wael Mohya.
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 Zurich would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zurich. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zurich lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Matteo Francesconi 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.
Squad3 May 2032
Marc Giger 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 Ivan Ilić is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zurich, another week without a signature from Pelle Mattsson.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zurich, and both men came out saying it was fine.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zurich lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich 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 Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Marc Giger 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.
8 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.
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 Nicola Zalewski is on it.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Luca Bolay'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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zurich, another week without a signature from Artem Smolyakov.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zurich. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcos Cuenca will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Marc Giger 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 Daniel Dos Santos is on it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Giger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Zurich 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich 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 Zurich 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 Malek Ishuayed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Zurich 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Marandici, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Luca Bolay'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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Zurich has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
48 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Marc Giger 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.
11 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zurich, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Marandici will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malek Ishuayed 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Zurich has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vitalie Becker signs something — a contract at Zurich or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Marc Giger 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 Nicola Zalewski is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Zurich will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Rosindo Zanni has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
0‑1 away to the standard of Young Boys. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich 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 Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Marc Giger 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 run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zurich people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marc Giger has just signed for Zurich, and for once the answer mattered.
Ivan Ilić 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 shirt still fits. Marc Giger is back at Zurich, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Marc Giger 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 Daniel Dos Santos is on it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and St. Gallen waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zurich is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 17 gone
That is the business done at Zurich 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Winterthur have kept their man, and Zurich go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: TSC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luka Tasić. The answer from Zurich has not changed — yet.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Baldé 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zurich have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Zurich had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Aarau, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Everything agreed with Winterthur, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Étoile Carouge have kept their man, and Zurich go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabio Baldé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Aarau for Mattia Zanotti 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zurich people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Zurich will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ruslan Myalkovskiy has just signed for Zurich, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Malek Ishuayed.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuele Angori will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Marked 8.10 — 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 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.
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 Maxim De Cuyper is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMarko Ilić dropped after a run of poor form
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
SquadWords at Zurich training over how hard people work
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zurich have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
0‑0 against Austria Wien, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich 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 Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Marko Ilić will call it something else in private.
Squad1 Dec 2031
10 new faces, and Zurich are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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 Nicola Zalewski is on it.
Position 2, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Malek Ishuayed 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Niclas Dühring has, at Zurich, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nico Benito after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody at Zurich 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Zurich will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marko Ilić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Zurich could ask drops and the wages Samuele Angori can ask rise.
1‑1 against Iberia 1999, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him 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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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.
Ivan Ilić 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.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Iberia 1999 had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
25 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
4 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich 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 Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
4‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Basel; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.85, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Neno Žeželj 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Valerio Crespi in the middle of it, and Luzern unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him 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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ivan Ilić 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Santoro 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 ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Malek Ishuayed 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.
6 matches without defeat, and then St. Gallen. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
Marin Šotiček was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
25 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elias Filet will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Malek Ishuayed. 1‑0 against Grasshopper, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Zurich will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Isaac Schmidt will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Maxim De Cuyper scored, was marked 7.42, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.53 for the rest of it.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Zurich and Servette, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Vaduz for Elias Filet 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sion keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Ivan Ilić 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Linus Gechter has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Zurich have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zurich have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Aarau; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lugano have kept their man, and Zurich go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ivan Ilić scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Matteo Francesconi scored, was marked 7.80, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
In brief
BoardroomZurich close the window on a squad of their own making
“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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zurich people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Zurich 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Sion; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Ivan Ilić 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zurich have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Young Boys have accepted the money. What Zurich do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sion keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.73 for the rest 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 Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ivan Ilić wants continental football; whether Zurich can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Ivan Ilić 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zurich have lost him in all but the paperwork.
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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.
“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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Ilić provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer went to Lugano 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.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” St. Gallen had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Ivan Ilić will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Zurich escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zurich people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from St. Gallen for Andreas Jungdal 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lugano have kept their man, and Zurich go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
10 seasons and 355 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zurich have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Zurich 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.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Zurich support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Ivan Ilić 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zurich 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 Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
Zurich asked and Lugano 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 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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felix Bacher will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich 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 Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Servette waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zurich is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Zurich 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.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-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 Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zurich have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer went to Lugano 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihajlo Ilić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Ilić 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
10 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zurich people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
In brief
The dugoutSamuele Angori has become a man the manager trusts
SquadMarc Giger falls out with a teammate over standards
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zurich people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ayo Akinola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zurich have done the hard part with AS Roma, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Lugano 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich heard it as anything else.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Francesconi 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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zurich lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Stade Lausanne-Ouchy for Benjamin Kanurić 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich 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 Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Grasshopper have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Isaac Schmidt. The answer from Zurich has not changed — yet.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout19 May 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Maxim De Cuyper'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.
“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 Zurich, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Zurich 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Giger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Zurich could ask drops and the wages Lorenzo Amatucci can ask rise.
15 appearances at Winterthur and the goals have stopped going in. Zurich lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich 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 Zurich 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 Matteo Francesconi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Ivan Ilić 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 new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Ilić 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 new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at Zurich 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Giger 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zurich know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich heard it as anything else.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
8 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.
“I watch every Zurich game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Stade Nyonnais runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Samuele Angori is on it.
In brief
SquadMarc Giger falls out with a teammate over standards
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zurich have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ivan Ilić wants continental football; whether Zurich can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nicola Zalewski 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 new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at Zurich 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bledian Krasniqi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadMarc Giger falls out with a teammate over standards
“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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Rajmund Molnár has, at Zurich, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Maxim Marandici has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zurich they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Ilić 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ruben Müller wants continental football; whether Zurich can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Isaac Schmidt has his answer from Zurich; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Zurich 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
SquadWords at Zurich training over how hard people work
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Isaac Schmidt will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Dos Santos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Maxim De Cuyper'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.
13 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.
In brief
The dugoutMarko Ilić asks for a word with the manager
1‑1 against Sturm Graz, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Ivan Ilić was at the centre of the description.
Young Boys go through and Zurich go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Matteo Bignetti: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
“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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich 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 Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 6.78 on 16 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edu Altozano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Zurich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lindrit Kamberi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Zurich can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Ilić has become a man the manager trusts
“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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nick Seidel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Ilić 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 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 new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at Zurich 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zurich is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matteo Francesconi 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jayson Ezeb is living that version at Zurich, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
14 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 Maxim De Cuyper 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 Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. St. Gallen moved on, Isaac Schmidt reports back to Zurich, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zurich heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edu Altozano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rosindo Zanni has just signed for Zurich, and for once the answer mattered.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Dos Santos 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 new man at Zurich has worked with Ruben Müller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zurich people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. St. Gallen moved on, Facinet Conté reports back to Zurich, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Zurich 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Emmen keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ivan Ilić 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.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Dos Santos 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.
In brief
The dugoutRuben Müller back under a manager who knows him