Marked for Jack Elliott
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Jonathan Bamba 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Anton Salétros asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
Market4 Jan 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Jack Elliott leaves Chicago Fire the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Market4 Jan 2027
No fee, no negotiation, no argument: Maren Haile-Selassie moves on to LA Galaxy with his contract settled and the wage bill a little lighter.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Louis Munteanu 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brandon Servania asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market4 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. DC United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody is after Silvan Hefti’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Silvan Hefti suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. DC United have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Market4 Jan 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Benji Kikanović arrives at DC United with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Market4 Jan 2027
No fee and no drama: Matty Longstaff has signed at DC United, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Dec 2026
“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 Chicago Fire, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 214% of everything Chicago Fire earn
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chicago Fire can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chicago Fire is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Jonathan Bamba 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Chicago Fire money.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Fred Emmings knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fred Emmings trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market7 Dec 2026
Chicago Fire have let the market know Joel Waterman can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
35 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
264% of the income goes out in wages at Chicago Fire
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sam Rogers, and the manager let it.
Market30 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Philip Zinckernagel’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market23 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for David Poreba
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Poreba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chicago Fire the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jonathan Bamba 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chicago Fire is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market9 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chicago Fire can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Nov 2026
Jack Elliott hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chicago Fire can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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 Chicago Fire hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
264% of the income goes out in wages at Chicago Fire
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Philip Zinckernagel. Chicago Fire will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chicago Fire is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market12 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Jonathan Bamba 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jason Shokalook and Chicago Fire agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A mark of 4.71 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Oct 2026
“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 Chicago Fire, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Robert Lewandowski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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; Chicago Fire are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
420% of the income goes out in wages at Chicago Fire
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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.
Market5 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Philip Zinckernagel’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 2026
Joel Waterman hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chicago Fire can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chicago Fire is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Jonathan Bamba 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 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Joel Waterman
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
Jack Elliott hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chicago Fire can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Jack Elliott in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
595% of the income goes out in wages at Chicago Fire
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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Sep 2026
Columbus Crew left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Madrigal, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Chris Brady knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad7 Sep 2026
One booking too many, and Anton Salétros sits out. Chicago Fire lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Chris Brady decides it from twelve yards
2 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Chicago Fire out
Out, 0‑0 to Nashville SC, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market17 Aug 2026
“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 Chicago Fire, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Jack Elliott
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jack Elliott will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chicago Fire the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from CF Montreal for Chris Mueller 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Chicago Fire
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Chicago Fire are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Sam Rogers
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Everton for Hugo Cuypers 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Philip Zinckernagel 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Robin Lod
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Chris Brady gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.41 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chicago Fire can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 27 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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 Chicago Fire hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Robert Lewandowski and Chicago Fire agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Chris Mueller again, and this time the name on the line is CF Montreal. Chicago Fire are listening politely and promising nothing.