Marked for Facundo Castelli
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
49 days out for Ricardo Quiroga after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Estudiantes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Estudiantes have done the hard part with All Boys, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Delfor Minervino 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brian Farioli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Ardiles, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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. Facundo Castelli has moved up it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Santiago Camacho'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 dugout4 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Estudiantes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Angeliño in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Stoichkov
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
When it matters, Arnau Comas plays
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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Deportivo La Coruña, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Eibar in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
A door opens for Riki
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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with David Mella’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Delfor Minervino 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Franco Fagúndez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Benjamín Pérez
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Jorge Correa has been promised minutes
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 Jorge Correa has written the date down.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Franco Fagúndez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Sep 2026
Ceuta ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Marc Casadó in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Castelli, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Deportivo La Coruña dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rubén Castro after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Deportivo La Coruña training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Teun Gijselhart 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Deportivo La Coruña people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Deportivo La Coruña asked and Celta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Burgos for Mario Soriano 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Deportivo La Coruña offered $3.1M; Elche said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Marc Casadó 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 19, and nobody at Deportivo La Coruña signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Lucas Gaona is in the works
Deportivo La Coruña have made the call to Temperley. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Deportivo La Coruña will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.