June 13th, 2026

On Saturday morning, while the children were still asleep, Julien joined a Teams meeting with his core staff. Assistant Manager Fritz Schmid, Director of Football Roger Stilz, Chief Scout Nnamdi Aghanya, Head of Youth Development Mario Gilli, and Loan Manager Renato Fusco all connected. The main objective of the meeting was to review the squad and decide whose contracts should be extended and whose should not. The discussion began with Stilz announcing that Amiens, who had finished 10th in Ligue 2, had submitted a £54,000 offer for Jésah Ayessa. The staff quickly agreed to accept the bid.

Stilz continued. He announced that Albert Vallci had accepted an offer from Anderlecht, adding £1.1 million to St. Gallen's transfer budget. Furthermore, offloading both Vallci and Ayessa had a positive impact on the payroll, instantly freeing up a combined £12,000 per week in the wage budget.

Right at that moment, Nnamdi Aghanya spoke up. He calmly reported on a phone call he had received the previous evening: AC Bellinzona, who had finished 6th in the Swiss Challenge League, had offered him their vacant manager position. Julien and Roger Stilz almost fell off their chairs. While they were aware of some interest, neither expected an approach this quickly. The news brought mixed emotions to the call. On one hand, everyone was thrilled for their colleague’s great career opportunity—Aghanya had been a loyal servant to St. Gallen since 2013. On the other hand, Julien knew they were losing an incredibly knowledgeable specialist, though the club would at least be due £130,000 in compensation. One by one, the screen filled with smiles as the entire staff congratulated Nnamdi on his well-deserved breakthrough into management.

The meeting continued with a review of the club's financial situation. While Vallci's sale left St. Gallen in a comfortable position, a quick calculation of incoming player salaries against the departures revealed they would be overspending by roughly £10,000 to £12,000 per week. To fix this, they decided to adjust the budgets by moving £2 million from the £4.02 million transfer budget to the wage budget to secure their long-term financial stability.

Next, the staff evaluated the players whose contracts would expire by the end of the 2026/27 season at the latest. It had already been decided that Probst and Höhener would leave the club this summer, while Becker has been put up for sale, and Efekele would be sent out on loan. Shqiprim Vladi's loan deal would not be extended, meaning he would return to Lugano. Meanwhile, Fehr, Ambrosius, Faber, Stanić, Fazliji, Witzig, Gaal, Watkowiak, and Boukhalfa would all be invited to contract renewal talks early next week. Aside from the five departures, the club aimed to extend contracts with everyone entering their final year.

Finally, they reviewed the players whose contracts ran until the end of the 2027/28 season. Ayessa was close to joining Amiens, and Simone Giordano was transfer listed earlier. Albian Ajeti had already signed his permanent contract, ensuring his future with St. Gallen, while Aliou Baldé would return to Nice. Renewing Chima Okoroji, Hugo Vandermersch, Behar Neziri, and Lukas Daschner was a priority, with talks scheduled for early next week, whereas Vinni Triboulet’s future would only be decided at the end of next season. On the recommendation of Loan Manager Renato Fusco, Julien agreed to give Kevin Csoboth a chance during pre-season following his return from loan, though the French manager remained unconvinced that the Hungarian winger had a future in his squad. The biggest question mark remained the club captain, Lukas Görtler. He would turn 32 on Monday and be 34 by the time his current deal expired. Despite his immense popularity among fans, players, and staff, extending his contract right now made no financial sense. Julien decided to speak with him face-to-face on Monday about his future.

"That concludes today's meeting," Julien announced, before asking Mario Gilli to stay on the call for a minute. "Wait, I have one last surprise for you," Aghanya interrupted. "I know how disappointed you all were when we missed out on Gbamin, so as a parting gift, I found you a new central defender." He presented a scouting report for 34-year-old Stefan de Vrij. "You're funny, Nnamdi," Julien smiled, looking at the Dutchman's £115,000-a-week wage demand, before wishing him the best of luck in his new managerial career.

Gilli stayed on the call. Outside of football, he owned a small pub in St. Gallen. Julien asked him if he could gather the staff there tomorrow evening for burgers and beers to give the chief scout a proper send-off. Mario was always happy to do so. Since Julien was also traveling to Switzerland on Sunday evening, he welcomed the plan; it meant he wouldn't have to spend his first night alone in that large, empty apartment.

Julien was sitting in the living room, when the front door opened. Laura had secretly organized an early birthday celebration for him, bringing together the family to give him a proper send-off. Walking through the door was Julien’s sister, Léa. The surprise deepened when Léa announced her plans: Laura asked her to travel with Julien to Switzerland the next day. Working in an art gallery, she volunteered to spend her week off helping to design and set up the new apartment in St. Gallen. The joyful atmosphere, however, took a turn when Laura’s brother, Paul, arrived. Paul immediately began pushing Julien to "strike while the iron is hot," urging him to leverage the recent Brack Super League championship title to secure a more lucrative contract at a bigger club. Julien refused to even consider the thought. Arguments flared up, voices were raised, and an uncomfortable disagreement temporarily ruined the afternoon mood before Paul finally backed down.

Fortunately, Laura saved the afternoon with his favorite dish Bouillabaisse, packed with fresh Mediterranean fish and a homemade birthday cake.

As the afternoon rolled on, the family gathered around the table for a long board game session. While the dice rolled, Julien looked across the table and noticed asome sadness in his children's eyes. Sunday's farewell was clearly weighing on them, turning their laughter into quiet smiles.

A sudden realization struck his mind as he went to sleep. Pre-season training was starting in less than 48 hours, yet the club had not scheduled a single friendly so far. He sent an SMS to Assistant Manager Fritz Schmid: "Fritz, sorry for the hour. We have zero friendlies locked in for the schedule. We absolutely must resolve this first thing tomorrow morning."

At this moment I've hit continue and a day has passed. See you on: