Marked for Chris Kablan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
Zurich say no — this time
The offer from MFK Michalovce for Umeh Emmanuel 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
$2.3M on the table at Grasshopper. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market19 Jul 2027
Chris Kablan 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 Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
$2.5M was the most the club would pay and Grasshopper 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Zurich
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Zurich
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Market19 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zurich have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Cavaleiro 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Zurich asked and SV Ried said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The offer went to Málaga 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.
Market28 Jun 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Zurich spend $2.6M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.6M has been paid because Hadj Mahmoud is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Leart Kabashi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Bledian Krasniqi has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Zurich
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Cavaleiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bournemouth have kept their man, and Zurich go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market28 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Grasshopper have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nevio Di Giusto. The answer from Zurich has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
Zurich say no — this time
The offer from Metalist for Silas Huber 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.
Market7 Sep 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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Zurich close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Zurich had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Standard Liege, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Zurich
Bledian Krasniqi 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eray Cömert 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Zurich asked and Bragantino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 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 Zurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Zurich asked and Luzern said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zurich have done the hard part with Standard Liege, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Independiente keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad31 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 Zurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
St. Gallen wanted more than $80.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Zurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lindrit Kamberi 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Vaduz made Zurich work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.46 — 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.