“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal can pretend not to have heard.
100 minutes played. Gerónimo Rivera found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Saipa went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Esteghlal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Sardar Khodadad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Pablo Marí 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Lucas Lavagnino has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Santos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 6.77, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Sepahan will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mohammad Karimi has pre-agreed a move to Esteghlal, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saman Touranian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsBoth jobs done by Jasir Asani — 7.02
9 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Two goals and a mark of 9.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 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.
Sardar Khodadad 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Marí 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 offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Esteghlal close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 2 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Esteghlal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alireza Naghizadeh 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Esteghlal Ahvaz will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Esteghlal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Esteghlal people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Saeid Saharkhizan again, and this time the name on the line is Persepolis. Esteghlal are listening politely and promising nothing.
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Gerónimo Rivera was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.81. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sardar Khodadad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal can pretend not to have heard.
Esteghlal had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Santos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Pablo Marí 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.
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
“I did not go to Gostaresh Foulad to sit and watch. I want to come back to Esteghlal and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 28 matches say the rest.
7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The deal with Santos is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Sardar Khodadad 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 Pablo Marí was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Persepolis keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sardar Khodadad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tractor have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Esteghlal has been clear about where Saeid Saharkhizan stands, which is more than many ever get.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Rouzbeh Cheshmi.
Two goals and a mark of 9.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Esteghlal have had the benefit of it.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
1 for Saman Fallah, marked 7.58, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Sardar Khodadad 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Marí 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.
Marked 8.74 — 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sardar Khodadad 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.
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
Marked 9.07 — 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.
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Pablo Marí 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.
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
Esteghlal Khuzestan will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Esteghlal were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
16 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Abolfazl Zamani scored in the 89th minute, Siah Jamegan had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Esteghlal took the lot.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abolfazl Zamani did not need any: 8.06, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
15 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sardar Khodadad 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The goal that put Siah Jamegan ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Esteghlal equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Marí 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.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A performance of 9.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Marí 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.
In brief
Player ratingsSaeid Saharkhizan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Esteghlal and Zob Ahan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sardar Khodadad 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.
Persepolis next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Saman Fallah
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gerónimo Rivera provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Sardar Khodadad 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 Nov 2027
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Marí 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Esteghlal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Esteghlal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Gerónimo Rivera was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.63. 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
6 goals in one match, Gerónimo Rivera on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Esteghlal and Esteghlal Ahvaz.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sardar Khodadad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Mohammad Reza Akhbari 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 Pablo Marí was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 87, against Malavan, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Esteghlal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Mohammad Reza Akhbari 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.
He is 21 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
7 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.
“I watch every Esteghlal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gostaresh Foulad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Esteghlal had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at RC Strasbourg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
10 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.
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Esteghlal lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal can pretend not to have heard.
Esteghlal had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at CSKA Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Marí 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slovan Bratislava have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Esteghlal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Esteghlal, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saeid Saharkhizan provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Esteghlal close the window on a squad of their own making
25 in and 6 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.
Esteghlal asked and Malavan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Omonoia is saying, and nobody at Esteghlal is enjoying the guessing.
Successful dribbles: 44. 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Esteghlal asked and Omonoia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Esteghlal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Everything agreed with Maccabi Tel Aviv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Ain keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abolfazl Jalali 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.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Esteghlal lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Esteghlal will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Esteghlal have done the hard part with Al Ain, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Mohammad Reza Akhbari 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 7 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Esteghlal asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Esteghlal will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The offer from Zob Ahan for Saeid Saharkhizan 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.
Esteghlal and Tractor have settled on $210.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
7.52, 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.
Mohammad Reza Akhbari 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.
Esteghlal have gone to Foolad 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.
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Esteghlal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Esteghlal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Esteghlal asked and Saipa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Esteghlal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sharjah is saying, and nobody at Esteghlal is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amir Karimi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ashkan Azmoun is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Position 3, 64 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ludogorets keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Foolad 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.
Hossein Goudarzi 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. Zenit have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sardar Khodadad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Esteghlal have done the hard part with Ludogorets, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Hilal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Hilal have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Esteghlal have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Esteghlal 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Sepahan paid $1.7M and Esteghlal took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Esteghlal had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Debrecen, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mohammad Reza Akhbari 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Foolad have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Hilal is saying, and nobody at Esteghlal is enjoying the guessing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammad Reza Akhbari and Esteghlal agree another 1 years.
$410.0K was the most the club would pay and Rah Ahan 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Naft Tehran have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jaloliddin Masharipov. The answer from Esteghlal has not changed — yet.
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.
10 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepahan have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Esteghlal have gone to Rah Ahan 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.
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Esteghlal know which stage they are at.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Esteghlal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaloliddin Masharipov 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Mohamed Kanno is in the works
The clubs have shaken hands with Sepahan; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$160.0K on the table at Malavan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Nobody at Esteghlal 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.
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.
Esteghlal asked and Gostaresh Foulad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Saleh Hardani has gone, the accounts have $900.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Persepolis paid $900.0K and Esteghlal took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
$77.0K on the table at Foolad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$140.0K was the most the club would pay and Sepahan 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.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Esteghlal spend $2.5M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.5M for Sardar Khodadad, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Esteghlal and Gostaresh Foulad have settled on $2.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Esteghlal asked and Siah Jamegan 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal can pretend not to have heard.
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Persepolis will make the call about Saleh Hardani this week. Esteghlal have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Esteghlal has been clear about where Aref Aghasi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Esteghlal 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saeid Saharkhizan signs something — a contract at Esteghlal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Esteghlal than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Esteghlal enter the window
The dugoutAref Aghasi knocks on the manager's door
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Position 3, 64 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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Esteghlal will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Mehran Ahmadi 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saman Fallah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saman Fallah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Esteghlal could ask drops and the wages Saleh Hardani can ask rise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abolfazl Jalali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rustamjon Ashurmatov signs something — a contract at Esteghlal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saleh Hardani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Esteghlal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mehran Ahmadi 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 Sajjad Shahbazzadeh is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saeid Saharkhizan signs something — a contract at Esteghlal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Saman Fallah a promise
SquadAlireza Koushki is training like a man with a point to make
Mehran Ahmadi 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.
Nobody at Esteghlal 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.
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 Aref Aghasi has written the date down.
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 Saleh Hardani is on it.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Esteghlal could ask drops and the wages Saleh Hardani can ask rise.
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.
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 Saman Fallah has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Esteghlal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mehran Ahmadi 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Esteghlal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Mehran Ahmadi 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Masoud Azmoun has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
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 Jaloliddin Masharipov is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jasir Asani signs something — a contract at Esteghlal or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Esteghlal 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 Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Esteghlal 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Esteghlal know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
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 Mehrdad Rezaei is on it.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Esteghlal would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Esteghlal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mehran Ahmadi 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.
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 Sajjad Shahbazzadeh is on it.
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.
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 Esteghlal that is a harder question to answer.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Shoja Khalilzadeh has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Esteghlal have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Mehran Ahmadi 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 award goes to Saeid Saharkhizan, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Saleh Hardani
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Saleh Hardani has come out of that comparison in the side, and Esteghlal have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody at Esteghlal 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jasir Asani signs something — a contract at Esteghlal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Esteghlal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sajjad Shahbazzadeh has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Esteghlal know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alireza Naghizadeh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Saleh Hardani’s negotiating for him
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 64 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
6 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Saeid Saharkhizan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Saeid Saharkhizan decided nobody was going anywhere. Zob Ahan had no time left to answer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saleh Hardani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Esteghlal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gostaresh Foulad have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mehran Ahmadi 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Saeid Saharkhizan. 2‑1 against Zob Ahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Esteghlal ran out of time with Foolad. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
In brief
Player ratingsSaeid Saharkhizan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Mohammad Askari, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.89
A mark of 8.89 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Two goals and a mark of 9.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have shaken hands with Foolad; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Esteghlal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Esteghlal close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 0 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.
Everything was agreed with Persepolis and then the doctor spoke. Esteghlal have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Esteghlal offered $2.8M; Foolad 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.
Esteghlal have gone to Zob Ahan 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.
Esteghlal asked and Persepolis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saeid Saharkhizan provided it, and the 9.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have shaken hands with Persepolis; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Esteghlal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Esteghlal had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Malavan is saying, and nobody at Esteghlal is enjoying the guessing.
$54.0K on the table at Foolad. 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 terraces11 Jan 2027
Esteghlal spend $870.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $870.0K for Mohammad Askari, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Foolad have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mehran Ahmadi 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Omid Hajsafi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The offer from Tractor for Saeid Saharkhizan 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal can pretend not to have heard.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Esteghlal have had the benefit of it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Saeid Saharkhizan. 1‑0 against Sepahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Tractor next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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 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.
Saleh Hardani 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.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
Marked 7.15 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Omid Ebrahimi kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Mehran Ahmadi 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sardar Noorafkan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Omid Ebrahimi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Esmaeil Gholizadeh did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A brace, and Jasir Asani takes the afternoon — 9.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jasir Asani provided it, and the 9.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
He is 23 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.
8.11. 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Esteghlal has been clear about where Aref Aghasi stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal can pretend not to have heard.
Mehran Ahmadi 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.
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Omid Ebrahimi, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
7 goals in one match, Saeid Saharkhizan on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Esteghlal and Padideh.
Mehran Ahmadi 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.
5 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Amir Cheshmi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pejman Rezaeian has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Half the programme played, position 7, 25 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Omid Ebrahimi to a room that had heard them before.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saeid Saharkhizan provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Saeid Saharkhizan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Omid Ebrahimi after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 Jaloliddin Masharipov is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Esteghlal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 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.
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Esteghlal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aria Hosseinifard is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Saman Fallah 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Omid Ebrahimi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Chances created: 11. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
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 Saleh Hardani is on it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over Esteghlal Ahvaz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Masoud Azmoun has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Reza Dejagah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and Esteghlal 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.
He is 23 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rustamjon Ashurmatov has his answer from Esteghlal; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Abolfazl Zamani has come out of that comparison in the side, and Esteghlal have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Saleh Hardani 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.
Something was said to Saman Fallah and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Nobody at Esteghlal 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 Rustamjon Ashurmatov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Saman Touranian’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Esteghlal needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abolfazl Jalali signs something — a contract at Esteghlal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Esteghlal will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Saleh Hardani 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Omid Ebrahimi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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 Saleh Hardani is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abolfazl Zamani did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Esteghlal asked and Foolad 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vahid Rezaeian has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Saman Nekounam has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alireza Naghizadeh provided it, and the 7.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A mark of 8.34 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Duckens Nazon has gone, the accounts have $1.4M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atlético Mineiro keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“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 Esteghlal, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Sepahan 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.
Esteghlal had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Ahli, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Esteghlal and Naft Tehran, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Esteghlal asked and Al Wasl said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Saman Fallah 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.
He is 23 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.
In brief
Player ratingsSaeid Saharkhizan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Persepolis arrived with $3.6M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Mohammad Hossein Eslami has gone, the accounts have $3.6M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal can pretend not to have heard.
Saleh Hardani 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.
$3.2M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Persepolis waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Esteghlal is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He is going to Tractor, the club has $3.2M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Esteghlal asked and Tractor 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The dugoutSaleh Hardani knocks on the manager’s door
2Edition
The Esteghlal Herald
10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Duckens Nazon takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Duckens Nazon provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Esteghlal Ahvaz had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
6 goals in one match, Duckens Nazon on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Esteghlal and Siah Jamegan.
Duckens Nazon 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zob Ahan have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7.67, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Hilal have kept their man, and Esteghlal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.