The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sturm Graz have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Amin Chiakha did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The offer went to SV Ried 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.
Seedy Jatta 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.
“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 Sturm Graz hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Wiesinger 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Moreirense had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sturm Graz have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Philipp Wiesinger 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johannes Eggestein 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.
“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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Seedy Jatta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.70. 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Minute 92, against Red Bull Salzburg, 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.
It needed Johannes Eggestein to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Red Bull Salzburg, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Groningen had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johannes Eggestein was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Seedy Jatta. 2‑1 against Altach, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lugano waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sturm Graz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Leon Grgić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Amin Chiakha did not need any: 9.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Seedy Jatta 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dejan Arnautovic is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Petar Petrović has come up in conversations Sturm Graz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Sturm Graz
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Stefan Baumgartner 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Markus Dragovic 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lukas Schlager 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.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Martin Ádám had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Hamburger SV paid $5.7M and Sturm Graz took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Daniil Khudyakov has gone, the accounts have $5.7M 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Seedy Jatta signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Angers SCO had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Sturm Graz heard it as anything else.
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.
5 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.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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 Gizo Mamageishvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Sturm Graz
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Otar Kiteishvili 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sturm Graz, another week without a signature from Philipp Wiesinger.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The phone has started ringing about Martin Ádám again, and this time the name on the line is Westerlo. Sturm Graz are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Seedy Jatta 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Wiesinger 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Seedy Jatta signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Axel Kayombo is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Martin Ádám had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Rapid Wien for Arjan Malić was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The fee is $720.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. SV Ried drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Philipp Wiesinger 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 Otar Kiteishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Otar Kiteishvili is on it.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sturm Graz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Frosinone had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Sturm Graz, and it is not being withdrawn.
$710.0K on the table at SV Ried. 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 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.
Sturm Graz have made the call to FC Copenhagen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Sturm Graz have had the benefit of it.
Nelson Weiper and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Wiesinger 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Bignetti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Sturm Graz no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
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 Niklas Geyrhofer is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Seedy Jatta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rory Wilson 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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Wiesinger 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.
Arjan Malić 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 Sturm Graz 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Seedy Jatta 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Position 5, 29 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
BoardroomThe Sturm Graz board put their names to it
40Edition
The Sturm Graz Sentinel
3 May 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Seedy Jatta 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.
Jakob Schöller 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.
6 goals in 24 games at Excelsior — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sturm Graz updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philipp Wiesinger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Arjan Malić 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 11 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Axel Kayombo is on 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 Benjamin Leneis has written the date down.
Philipp Wiesinger 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 Apr 2027
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arjan Malić 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Otar Kiteishvili is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Seedy Jatta signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz 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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Philipp Wiesinger has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Seedy Jatta 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sturm Graz know it.
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Admira Wacker runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Otar Kiteishvili signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
Position 5 on 29 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up 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 Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Wiesinger is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Niklas Geyrhofer is on it.
6 goals in 24 games at Excelsior — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sturm Graz updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Léon Pöhls has moved up it.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philipp Wiesinger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Seedy Jatta 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.
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 Seedy Jatta signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
5 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Otar Kiteishvili signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Valmir Matoshi is on it.
29 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sturm Graz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Hammarby for Leon Grgić was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Philipp Wiesinger and Sturm Graz agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arjan Malić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Sturm Graz will have this month.
0 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Sturm Graz will have this month.
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 Niklas Geyrhofer is on it.
Austria Wien go through and Sturm Graz go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Philipp Wiesinger 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.
13 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Albert Vallci 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.
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
In brief
MarketElias Lorenz returns from a loan that taught him nothing
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ruggero Mannes
Nelson Weiper 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 Philipp Wiesinger 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Seedy Jatta signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Seedy Jatta 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sturm Graz know it.
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Admira Wacker runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Sturm Graz 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Otar Kiteishvili signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
29 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sharjah had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Johannes Eggestein and Sturm Graz agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Seedy Jatta 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 0 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Patrick Lienhart is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Felix Irorere was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Sturm Graz have no good answer.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Nelson Weiper 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 0 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Johannes Eggestein trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philipp Wiesinger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Otar Kiteishvili is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Seedy Jatta signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Sturm Graz will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Seedy Jatta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Axel Kayombo has come up in conversations Sturm Graz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Otar Kiteishvili signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Red Bull Salzburg paid $1.6M and Sturm Graz took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philipp Wiesinger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Wolfgang Junuzovic 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sturm Graz will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Grodig runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
In brief
The dugoutAmin Younes asks for a word with the manager
The offer from Red Bull Salzburg for Seedy Jatta 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.
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. Sturm Graz will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Philipp Wiesinger 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.
Sturm Graz asked and SV Ried 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 name of Filip Rózga has come up in conversations Sturm Graz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Arjan Malić 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.
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jagiellonia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Alerrandro is in the works
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Seedy Jatta 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.
Arjan Malić 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 Otar Kiteishvili is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sturm Graz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sturm Graz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Jakob Schöller has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sturm Graz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Seedy Jatta 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Wiesinger 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Otar Kiteishvili signs something — a contract at Sturm Graz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
29 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Philipp Wiesinger keeps the shirt for now, at Sturm Graz's convenience rather than his own.
Seedy Jatta 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 watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Grodig runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marko Wimmer 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petar Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
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 Sturm Graz that is a harder question to answer.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Sturm Graz will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Otar Kiteishvili and Sturm Graz agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Seedy Jatta 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.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Sturm Graz will try not to make too much of 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 Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jon Gorenc Stankovič 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.
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Axel Kayombo, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.30
A mark of 8.30 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.
Philipp Wiesinger 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Albert Vallci 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.
He is 20 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.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
13 goals and a season average of 7.34 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Albert Vallci 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Patrick Schlager was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Sturm Graz dressing room was either.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Austria Wien; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Philipp Wiesinger and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Seedy Jatta 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sturm Graz told Philipp Wiesinger something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout16 Nov 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 0‑2 Patrick Schlager left the room before anybody could ask which.
4 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sturm Graz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against SV Ried; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniil Khudyakov commits to Sturm Graz for another 4 years.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Albert Vallci 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Guido Weimann is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jagiellonia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
7 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Albert Vallci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sturm Graz and Grodig in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Seedy Jatta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Seedy Jatta 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.
5 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.
Seedy Jatta 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 Albert Vallci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Seedy Jatta. 2‑1 against Rapid Wien, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match17 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Sturm Graz. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Marked 7.13 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 dugout19 Oct 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.” Patrick Schlager, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutAxel Kayombo is still being punished for one mistake
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Philipp Wiesinger 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sturm Graz, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
He is 20 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Heinz Arnautovic 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Markus Ilsanker 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 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Gizo Mamageishvili decided nobody was going anywhere. Altach had no time left to answer.
Philipp Wiesinger 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 Seedy Jatta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gizo Mamageishvili 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.
8.08. 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.
8.01. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Albert Vallci 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Position 5, 12 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dejan Arnautovic and Sturm Graz agree another 3 years.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Leon Grgić, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 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.
Jon Gorenc Stankovič 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Albert Vallci 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Leon Grgić 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 dugout21 Sep 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.” Patrick Schlager kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petar Petrović, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Nils Miatke
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
A 0‑3 beating by Austria Wien was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Seedy Jatta 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Millwall have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dejan Arnautovic 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. Lukas Fuchs is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Grodig runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Benjamin Leneis had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Sturm Graz until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nelson Weiper was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sturm Graz, another week without a signature from Philipp Wiesinger.
Sturm Graz 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.
Seedy Jatta 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 phone has started ringing about Daniil Khudyakov again, and this time the name on the line is Rapid Wien. Sturm Graz are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petar Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 Aug 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 Patrick Schlager to a room that had heard them before.
Two goals and a mark of 9.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mattersburg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$4.0M was the most the club would pay and Austria Wien 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.
Red Bull Salzburg pay $1.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sturm Graz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Albert Vallci 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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sturm Graz have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Sturm Graz have gone to Austria Wien 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.
Rapid Wien have accepted the money. What Sturm Graz do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Philipp Wiesinger has, at Sturm Graz, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Sturm Graz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Seedy Jatta 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 offer from FC Metz for Seedy Jatta 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Martin Ádám has just signed for Sturm Graz, and for once the answer mattered.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jon Gorenc Stankovič commits to Sturm Graz for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Sturm Graz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Otar Kiteishvili 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.
Rory Wilson 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.