Marked for Alexander Meyer
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Borussia Dortmund may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 May 2028
Serhou Guirassy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
A season on the outside for Mohamed Salah
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Borussia Dortmund has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
FC Augsburg come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Borussia Dortmund did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad9 Aug 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 Borussia Dortmund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexander Meyer and Borussia Dortmund agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer from Köln for Alexander Meyer 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Borussia Dortmund heard it as anything else.
Match30 Jan 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Borussia Dortmund have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Mohamed Salah is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.57 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Julian Ryerson 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 ratings1 Feb 2027
A performance of 9.50 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A performance of 9.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Mohamed Salah 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Marked 8.94 — 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match14 Nov 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Yan Couto
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
In brief
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Market
The Fábio Silva story refuses to die
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The terraces
The press have found their man in Emre Can
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Borussia Dortmund may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Felix Nmecha 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Yan Couto
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Fábio Silva
“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.