Marked for Lucas Zelarayán
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jun 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Brown de Adrogué waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Belgrano is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with Lanús; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
Bryan Reyna: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Belgrano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Belgrano
Franco Vázquez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Belgrano asked and Atlético Tucumán said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Belgrano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francisco González Metilli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francisco González Metilli, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Cruz Herrera's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 May 2029
Ignacio Pais hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belgrano can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Amy Fleurilus
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amy Fleurilus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belgrano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 May 2029
Words exchanged at Belgrano
Franco Vázquez 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 May 2029
Words at Belgrano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco González Metilli 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 dugout21 May 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lautaro Morales trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 May 2029
Juan Strumia gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 May 2029
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 Lucas Zelarayán is on it.
Market21 May 2029
Belgrano have made Juan Velázquez available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market21 May 2029
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Belgrano money.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Apr 2029
Belgrano march on in the cup
Argentino de Merlo are out and Belgrano go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Fabricio Mendieta, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 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.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.08, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Raúl Frasnelli pops up at the right end — 7.54
7.54, 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.
Market23 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Amy Fleurilus
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amy Fleurilus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belgrano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Tiago Cravero 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 terraces23 Apr 2029
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.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Mauro Méndez gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Belgrano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Meriano is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Oct 2028
Only the photograph left for Franco Rami
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Rami will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belgrano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Belgrano may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Franco Vázquez 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Alfredo Morelos’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Belgrano.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Belgrano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Rami was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.57 on the card, and the Belgrano support went home talking about one name.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Zelarayán, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alejandro Sosa on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alfredo Morelos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belgrano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Franco Vázquez 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.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ignacio Vittar has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Belgrano have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Loan watch11 Sep 2028
29 appearances at Iquique and the goals keep coming. Belgrano are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Belgrano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Rami 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Agustín Melano has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Belgrano.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Julián Mavilla has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Belgrano 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
The clock does Juan Velázquez’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Belgrano could ask drops and the wages Juan Velázquez can ask rise.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Belgrano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Sep 2028
Gustavo Ortiz damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Match2 Sep 2028
Central Córdoba SdE will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Belgrano were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Age has not caught Franco Vázquez yet — 8.57
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.57 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market4 Sep 2028
Only the photograph left for Franco Rami
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Rami will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belgrano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belgrano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Alexis Maldonado was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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 dugout4 Sep 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Santiago González's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Libertad waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Belgrano is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lanús is saying, and nobody at Belgrano is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Belgrano
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Belgrano is running low.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
$4.9M on the table at Tigre. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market3 Jul 2028
Adrián Spörle hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belgrano can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Jul 2028
Alex Álvarez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Belgrano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lucas Zelarayán and Belgrano agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gimnasia La Plata have kept their man, and Belgrano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Franco Vázquez 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Jun 2028
Anger at Belgrano spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Belgrano people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market26 Jun 2028
Belgrano say no — this time
The offer from Ñublense for Lucas Passerini 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Matías Marín
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Marín will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belgrano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Belgrano
Leonardo Morales 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Belgrano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Ricca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Jun 2028
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Apr 2028
José Domínguez damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Match22 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Belgrano's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Belgrano has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Belgrano may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Franco Vázquez 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.
Match22 Apr 2028
The goals have deserted Belgrano
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Belgrano can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Belgrano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Rami 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Lucas Zelarayán
“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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Lisandro López knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Belgrano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Alejandro Sosa after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
José Domínguez damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Belgrano's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Belgrano has to find a result from somewhere.
Market17 Apr 2028
“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 Belgrano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belgrano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Belgrano
Exequiel Zeballos 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Belgrano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Vázquez 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franco Rami, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Alejandro Sosa chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belgrano can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Franco Vázquez 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 dugout28 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch28 Feb 2028
“I did not go to Gimnasia La Plata to sit and watch. I want to come back to Belgrano and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alejandro Sosa after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Juan Velázquez asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Santino Gatti 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.
Looking ahead28 Feb 2028
Belgrano take on the side everybody is chasing
Racing Club arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belgrano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belgrano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Belgrano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Vázquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market8 Nov 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Alexis Maldonado asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Loan watch8 Nov 2027
The goals keep arriving from Alex Álvarez’s exile
8 goals in 22 games at Sportivo Trinidense — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Belgrano updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Belgrano pull $19.2M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces4 Oct 2027
The mood at Belgrano has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match2 Oct 2027
Nueva Chicago will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Belgrano were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
A brace, and Franco Vázquez takes the afternoon — 8.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Franco Vázquez provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.02, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match2 Oct 2027
The drought breaks for Belgrano
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Nueva Chicago were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Franco Vázquez and Belgrano agree another 2 years.
Market4 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belgrano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Belgrano
Franco Vázquez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.