Marked for Patrick Osterhage
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2037
A fracture rules Abdoulaye Faye out for 124 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bayer Leverkusen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 Aug 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bertuğ Yıldırım
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bayer Leverkusen lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Aug 2037
A move Patrick Osterhage would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Patrick Osterhage is living that version at Bayer Leverkusen, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Nathan Tella 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 Bayer Leverkusen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2037
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Bayer Leverkusen will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market10 Aug 2037
Bertuğ Yıldırım is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bayer Leverkusen has been clear about where Bertuğ Yıldırım stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market10 Aug 2037
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market10 Aug 2037
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jarell Quansah signs something — a contract at Bayer Leverkusen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The terraces10 Aug 2037
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Jun 2037
Rouven Tarnutzer: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SC Freiburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Karim Konaté 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.
Market15 Jun 2037
Add another name to the list: Heidenheim have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kparobo Arierhi. The answer from SC Freiburg has not changed — yet.
Boardroom15 Jun 2037
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Vincent Müller has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means SC Freiburg have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad15 Jun 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Igor Matanović commits to SC Freiburg for another 2 years.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Words at SC Freiburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Osterhage 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.
Market15 Jun 2037
Sergio Kalaj is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Market15 Jun 2037
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Sergio Kalaj may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jan 2037
Kimi Løkkevik gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kimi Løkkevik has just signed for SC Freiburg, and for once the answer mattered.
Market19 Jan 2037
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Max Rosenfelder 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.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Words at SC Freiburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Konaté 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.
Squad19 Jan 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kimi Løkkevik and SC Freiburg agree another 2 years.
Match17 Jan 2037
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom19 Jan 2037
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Tiago Queiroz has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means SC Freiburg have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Player ratings19 Jan 2037
Karim Konaté was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. 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.
Player ratings19 Jan 2037
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Jan 2037
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match3 Jan 2037
Nobody wants to play SC Freiburg right now
8 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.
Player ratings5 Jan 2037
Age has not caught Yuito Suzuki yet — 9.04
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad5 Jan 2037
171 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and SC Freiburg know what they have.
Market5 Jan 2037
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Yannik Wagner wants continental football; whether SC Freiburg can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Market5 Jan 2037
“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 SC Freiburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Jan 2037
Dedryck Lukaku has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SC Freiburg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Jan 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Yuito Suzuki
9 goals and a season average of 7.52 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad5 Jan 2037
Words at SC Freiburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Konaté 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Dec 2036
1‑0 against Crvena Zvezda, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Maik Afri Akumu was at the centre of the description.
Match13 Dec 2036
Nobody wants to play SC Freiburg right now
5 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.
Player ratings15 Dec 2036
Age has not caught Yuito Suzuki yet — 8.67
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.67 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings15 Dec 2036
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad15 Dec 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SC Freiburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Dec 2036
Karim Konaté 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.
Match13 Dec 2036
It finished 3‑2, and it was Patrick Osterhage’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to SC Freiburg.
Player ratings15 Dec 2036
Marked 9.41 — 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.
Squad15 Dec 2036
8 goals and a season average of 7.42. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Nov 2036
A European night to remember for SC Freiburg
3‑1 against Boavista, 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.
Player ratings1 Dec 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.86, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings1 Dec 2036
Age has not caught Yuito Suzuki yet — 8.81
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad1 Dec 2036
185 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market1 Dec 2036
Moritz Jenz 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 SC Freiburg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Dec 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SC Freiburg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Karim Konaté 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 SC Freiburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Dec 2036
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raphael van Geelkerken will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SC Freiburg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Words at SC Freiburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Atubolu 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Aug 2036
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Karim Konaté 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.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Marco Hofmann is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Noah Atubolu 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.
Market18 Aug 2036
Chuki runs his contract down
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs SC Freiburg money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Aug 2036
“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 SC Freiburg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Aug 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SC Freiburg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market4 Aug 2036
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at SC Freiburg heard it as anything else.
Squad4 Aug 2036
Chuki 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 Aug 2036
Wesley Strootman is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad4 Aug 2036
Words at SC Freiburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Konaté 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jul 2036
A SC Freiburg player has won an international tournament, and there is no version of that sentence a club page can print without a certain amount of borrowed glory. He goes back into training in a fortnight with 2 caps and a medal nobody here had anything to do with.
Squad14 Jul 2036
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market14 Jul 2036
Maik Afri Akumu wants to know where this is going
“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 SC Freiburg hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad14 Jul 2036
Karim Konaté 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.
Squad14 Jul 2036
Philipp Treu 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 SC Freiburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Jul 2036
The interest is real enough to have reached print. SC Freiburg have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Jun 2036
Peter Busch breaks a bone — 14 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Jun 2036
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SC Freiburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market2 Jun 2036
“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.
Squad2 Jun 2036
Chuki 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.
Market2 Jun 2036
“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.
Squad2 Jun 2036
Words at SC Freiburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Konaté 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Feb 2036
A one-man rearguard from Noah Atubolu
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.
Squad4 Feb 2036
158 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad4 Feb 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yuito Suzuki and SC Freiburg agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market4 Feb 2036
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at SC Freiburg heard it as anything else.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Chuki 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 SC Freiburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
Chuki in the eights
A performance of 9.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match2 Feb 2036
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yannik Wagner. 2‑1 against TSG Hoffenheim, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
Yannik Wagner was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.02. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Jan 2036
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
34 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
Chuki scores twice — 9.37
Two goals and a mark of 9.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.61, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad7 Jan 2036
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.
Squad7 Jan 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SC Freiburg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
Yuito Suzuki, 34, rolls back the years — 8.07
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market7 Jan 2036
The offer from Köln for Kparobo Arierhi 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.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Chuki 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 SC Freiburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.