46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mainz 05 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mainz 05 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mainz 05 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mainz 05 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mainz 05 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Pape Matar Sarr 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 words a physio says slowly. 53 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mainz 05 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mainz 05 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mainz 05 asked and Bayer Leverkusen 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mainz 05 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
$8.2M was the most the club would pay and Eintracht Braunschweig were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Brann paid $5.3M and Mainz 05 took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $750.0K — a club that wants Axl Van Himbeeck enough to be asked twice.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Buba Sangaré wants continental football; whether Mainz 05 can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Oliver Pickles is living that version at Mainz 05, and it tends to show in the first month.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Logi Hrafn Róbertsson has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Mainz 05 have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Karlsruher SC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$7.2M on the table at Eintracht Braunschweig. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Mainz 05 have gone to KV Kortrijk 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
$1.5M on the table at Hertha BSC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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.
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mainz 05 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mainz 05 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Mainz 05, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Tobias van den Elshout 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.
“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 Mainz 05 know it.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mainz 05 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mainz 05 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Köln for Puso Dithejane 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.
“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 Mainz 05, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh Stokes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mainz 05 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mainz 05 asked and Borussia Dortmund 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mainz 05 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; Mainz 05 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ichem Ferrah
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mainz 05 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” VfB Stuttgart had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. VfL Bochum have kept their man, and Mainz 05 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from First Vienna for Alessandro Di Nunzio 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mainz 05 have done the hard part with TSG Hoffenheim, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Owen Graham-Roache 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 words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mainz 05 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have shaken hands with RB Leipzig; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 Mainz 05, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Santa Clara for Duarte Cunha 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 offer went to FC Augsburg this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mainz 05 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Mainz 05, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from WSG Tirol for Nikoloz Dadiani 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.
Mainz 05 have gone to Heidenheim 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mainz 05 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RB Leipzig have kept their man, and Mainz 05 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Tobias van den Elshout 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Almugera Kabar
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mainz 05 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and VfL Bochum waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Sydney Osazuwa has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from First Vienna for Tobias Slotsager 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. Köln have kept their man, and Mainz 05 go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Mainz 05 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 Owen Graham-Roache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mainz 05 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mainz 05 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Mainz 05 and Colo-Colo have settled on $16.2M. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
Mainz 05 asked and Union SG said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Borussia Mönchengladbach pay $4.3M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jakub Surovčík has, at Mainz 05, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The words a physio says slowly. 123 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.
Mainz 05 and VfL Bochum have settled on $11.3M. 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 Mainz 05 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Bayer Leverkusen for Nikola Simić 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.
Mainz 05 offered $4.1M; VfL Wolfsburg said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The name of Magnus Bech Riisnæs has come up in conversations Mainz 05 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Karlsruher SC have kept their man, and Mainz 05 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mainz 05 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Magnus Bech Riisnæs will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mainz 05 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 Mainz 05 hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Magnus Bech Riisnæs has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Mainz 05 can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Nürnberg next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamini Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikola Simić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mainz 05 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Louis Breunig has just signed for Mainz 05, and for once the answer mattered.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Tobias van den Elshout 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.
Minute 89, against Hamburger SV, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThiago Borbas knocks on the manager’s door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mainz 05 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
Thiago Borbas 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Lamini Fati 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.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Mainz 05 had all but put away. Magdeburg will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mainz 05, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mainz 05 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Thiago Borbas 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“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 Mainz 05 hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Oliver Lukić wants continental football; whether Mainz 05 can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tobias van den Elshout. 1‑0 against Karlsruher SC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Thiago Borbas will call it something else in private.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamini Fati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mainz 05 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Mainz 05 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. Mainz 05 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Mainz 05 asked and RB Leipzig said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer went to VfL Bochum 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.
Mainz 05 offered $620.0K; Köln said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The chase for Femi Seriki ended with $230.0K changing hands and Köln out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 152 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Preußen Münster waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bayer Leverkusen have kept their man, and Mainz 05 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$5.4M on the table at RB Leipzig. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$4.5M was the most the club would pay and Bayer Leverkusen were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mainz 05 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Porto for Cezary Miszta 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 shaken hands with Hamburger SV; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$3.6M on the table at RB Leipzig. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$3.1M was the most the club would pay and Bayern Munich were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Mainz 05 asked and RB Leipzig said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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. Mainz 05 will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mainz 05 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Position 2, 20 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 11 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mainz 05 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 Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mainz 05 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mainz 05, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Zampieri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mainz 05 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Mainz 05 can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kojo Peprah Oppong 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 Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 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.
Mainz 05 interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Magnus Bech Riisnæs, marked 7.88, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mainz 05 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Thiago Borbas 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.
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 Magnus Bech Riisnæs was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
With 8 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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 Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leo Pecover will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mainz 05 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off 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 Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Mainz 05 hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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 Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Magnus Bech Riisnæs 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mike Themsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mainz 05 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thiago Borbas commits to Mainz 05 for another 2 years.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Ethan Ampadu 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 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Ethan Ampadu 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.
Lamini Fati 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mainz 05 will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mainz 05 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mainz 05 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mainz 05 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nikola Simić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Ethan Ampadu 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mainz 05 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑6 to Bayern Munich, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mainz 05 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Josip Stanišić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ethan Ampadu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Mainz 05 and Bayern Munich, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mainz 05 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leonardo Barroso will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mainz 05 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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; Mainz 05 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ethan Ampadu 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Yoram Zague has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Mainz 05 have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thiago Borbas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Mainz 05 could ask drops and the wages Adam Aznou can ask rise.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mainz 05 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mainz 05 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 Mainz 05 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Ethan Ampadu 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mainz 05 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑5 to Hannover 96, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mainz 05 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mainz 05 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mainz 05 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mainz 05 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 Mainz 05, and it is not being withdrawn.
Josip Stanišić 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.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Ethan Ampadu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Harouna Djibirin has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Mainz 05 have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 115% of everything Mainz 05 earn