“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 The request is on a desk at Karlsruher SC, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Karlsruher SC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Karlsruher SC 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 Meiko Wäschenbach was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Karlsruher SC, and 6 appearances in 32 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
VfB Stuttgart have gone to Köln 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Alejandro Grimaldo reports back to VfB Stuttgart with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The chase for Paul Hennrich ended with $7.1M changing hands and Heidenheim out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Atakan Karazor scored, was marked 7.61, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“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 VfB Stuttgart hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
VfB Stuttgart close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 4 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.
VfB Stuttgart asked and TSG Hoffenheim said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at VfB Stuttgart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcus Thuram 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Paul Hennrich has, at VfB Stuttgart, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Marcus Thuram
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Karlsruher SC 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 Meiko Wäschenbach was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
the manager faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” the manager after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Leander Popp and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luca Podlech has his answer from Karlsruher SC; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
13 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Nürnberg were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Karlsruher SC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Luca Marseiler 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 words a physio says slowly. 35 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 remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” VfB Stuttgart may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match2 Dec 2028
After 10 games, VfB Stuttgart finally taste it again
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Borussia Dortmund; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“I watch every VfB Stuttgart game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Karlsruher SC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Chris Führich 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.
Marvin Wanitzek 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Karlsruher SC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Henok Teklab 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Karlsruher SC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Manoel 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Max McFadden has his answer from Karlsruher SC; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Karlsruher SC, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kaiserslautern in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Karlsruher SC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Henok Teklab 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Karlsruher SC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Manoel 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.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Karlsruher SC 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Karlsruher SC has been clear about where Luca Vozar stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Karlsruher SC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Meiko Wäschenbach will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Karlsruher SC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Karlsruher SC, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Meiko Wäschenbach 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.
Henok Teklab 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 Meiko Wäschenbach was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Phil Harres 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 Aleksa Marušić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
They have worked together before and it did not end well. Nobody at Karlsruher SC expects the new manager to have forgotten, least of all Meiko Wäschenbach.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hans Christian Bernat signs something — a contract at Karlsruher SC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Luca Schuler arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
The clubs have shaken hands with Magdeburg; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Everything agreed with VfB Stuttgart, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Karlsruher SC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksa Marušić 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.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Luca Schuler arrives from VfB Stuttgart with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Karlsruher SC, another week without a signature from Luis Seifert.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason VfB Stuttgart will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer went to Borussia Dortmund 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.
“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 VfB Stuttgart, and it is not being withdrawn.
VfB Stuttgart asked and Greuther Fürth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and SV Elversberg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at VfB Stuttgart is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Dennis Seimen wants continental football; whether VfB Stuttgart can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jamie Leweling was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luca Schuler 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. VfB Stuttgart will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” SV Elversberg had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Jul 2028
Words at VfB Stuttgart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chris Führich 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.
Marvin Wanitzek 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 not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether VfB Stuttgart can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Wanitzek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luca Schuler 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 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 Deniz Undav is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jamie Leweling signs something — a contract at VfB Stuttgart or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Rômulo has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabian Bredlow trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at VfB Stuttgart that is a harder question to answer.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason VfB Stuttgart will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7 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.
Marked 8.01 — 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Reda Khadra has his answer from VfB Stuttgart; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at VfB Stuttgart 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Georg Frank chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. VfB Stuttgart 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.” VfB Stuttgart have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VfB Stuttgart this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at VfB Stuttgart, another week without a signature from Dennis Seimen.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
2‑2 against Bayern Munich, 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Jamie Leweling was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
Luca Schuler 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.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SV Elversberg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason SV Elversberg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7.59, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Nicolas Höfler 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.
SV Elversberg offered $300.0K; Preußen Münster 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at SV Elversberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ernest Poku 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 words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
19 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Mert Kömür obliged against Holstein Kiel. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is VfB Stuttgart.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jarzinho Malanga did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jamie Leweling was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Nov 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for VfB Stuttgart. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
He is 22 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jamie Leweling. 1‑0 against Mainz 05, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. VfB Stuttgart lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Luca Schuler 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.
Nobody at VfB Stuttgart 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 Chris Führich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at VfB Stuttgart has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Mainz 05 next, and one man in the VfB Stuttgart dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
0‑1 against Paris Saint-Germain, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
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 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 VfB Stuttgart know it.
VfB Stuttgart asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Dennis Seimen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at VfB Stuttgart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jamie Leweling 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
11 new faces, and VfB Stuttgart 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 Marvin Wanitzek is on it.
Schalke 04 next, and one man in the VfB Stuttgart dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Borussia Mönchengladbach paid $3.4M and VfB Stuttgart took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SC Freiburg have kept their man, and VfB Stuttgart go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I did not go to Holstein Kiel to sit and watch. I want to come back to VfB Stuttgart and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
“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 VfB Stuttgart, and it is not being withdrawn.
Maximilian Mittelstädt 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.
VfB Stuttgart asked and Bayern Munich said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
12 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chris Führich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Marvin Wanitzek is on it.
The offer from VfL Wolfsburg for Pascal Stenzel 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 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.
VfB Stuttgart asked and FC Augsburg 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 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maximilian Mittelstädt signs something — a contract at VfB Stuttgart or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marvin Wanitzek trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Hertha BSC asked and Charlton Athletic said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ameen Al-Dakhil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Fabian Reese is on it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luca Schuler is living that version at VfB Stuttgart, and it tends to show in the first month.
The name of Pascal Stenzel has come up in conversations VfB Stuttgart were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at VfB Stuttgart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jamie Leweling 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.
VfB Stuttgart asked and SC Freiburg 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 did not go to Holstein Kiel to sit and watch. I want to come back to VfB Stuttgart and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
In brief
The dugoutDennis Seimen asks for a word with the manager
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Hertha BSC heard it as anything else.
Kim Min-Jae 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. Bayer Leverkusen have kept their man, and Hertha BSC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: VfB Stuttgart have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luca Schuler. The answer from Hertha BSC has not changed — yet.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Hertha BSC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Márton Dárdai 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.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” VfB Stuttgart have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Position 3, 69 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.
VfB Stuttgart have gone to Hertha BSC 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VfB Stuttgart 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 VfB Stuttgart hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Eintracht Frankfurt wanted more than $230.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
18 games away and 8 of them without conceding. VfB Stuttgart sent a goalkeeper out to find him some football and have been handed a selection problem instead: the man in possession of the shirt now has somebody behind him who has spent a season being picked.
In brief
MarketNoah Darvich comes back from a loan that worked
$8.5M on the table at TSG Hoffenheim. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
VfL Bochum paid $910.0K and Hertha BSC took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Augsburg have kept their man, and Hertha BSC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Hertha BSC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Schuler 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.
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 Linus Gechter is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Elias Havel signs something — a contract at Hertha BSC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 2, 57 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hertha BSC can pretend not to have heard.
Kim Min-Jae 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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hertha BSC, another week without a signature from Marius Gersbeck.
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.
“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 Hertha BSC, and 8 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.