Marked for Robert Leipertz
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
374 appearances across 14 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Aarau know what they have.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Valon Fazliu: 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.” Aarau have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Aarau offered $3.2M; Sion 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Feb 2027
64 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Shkëlqim Vladi 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Aarau
Victor Petit 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Olivier Jäckle
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Arne Sicker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jean Hugonet and Magdeburg agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 39 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Magdeburg is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad12 Oct 2026
13 new faces, and Magdeburg 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Bryan Lasme gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Maximilian Breunig’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Magdeburg needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nobody at Magdeburg 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Jean Hugonet knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jean Hugonet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Connor Krempicki has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Laurin Ulrich at 21 — 7.88
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Laurin Ulrich did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There were 6 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mateusz Żukowski 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union Berlin have kept their man, and Magdeburg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Fortuna Düsseldorf, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Magdeburg
Bryan Lasme 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Dominik Lang left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Felix Agu's mistake decides it
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Magdeburg needed to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clock did what Fortuna Düsseldorf would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Magdeburg can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Magdeburg close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 10 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Darmstadt 98 moved on, Robert Leipertz reports back to Magdeburg, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Atalanta is saying, and nobody at Magdeburg is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Magdeburg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateusz Żukowski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Magdeburg asked and Standard Liege said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bryan Lasme 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
10 new faces, and Magdeburg 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on Bryan Lasme
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Magdeburg have done the hard part with Schalke 04, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Stripfing had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Magdeburg can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Magdeburg have gone to Mainz 05 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.0M — a club that wants Maxim Leitsch enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Magdeburg offered $120.0K; Dynamo Dresden 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Magdeburg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateusz Żukowski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Magdeburg asked and Austria Wien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Magdeburg
Arne Sicker 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $122.4K — a club that wants Daniel Mesenhöler enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$110.0K on the table at Dynamo Dresden. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Magdeburg paid $1.5M
Friedrich Müller was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.5M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Magdeburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateusz Żukowski 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Magdeburg asked and Venezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Arne Sicker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Noah Kruth again, and this time the name on the line is Stripfing. Magdeburg are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market17 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Richmond Tachie commits to Magdeburg for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mateusz Żukowski 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 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 Magdeburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Romeo Vermant is in the works
Magdeburg have made the call to Club Brugge. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Mateusz Żukowski asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Robert Leipertz has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Magdeburg.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mateusz Żukowski has seen what the next man earns
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 Magdeburg that is a harder question to answer.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Alexander Nollenberger’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.