Marked for César Machena
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
$1.1M on the table at Universitario. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad7 Dec 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 Melgar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Dec 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolás Quagliata wants continental football; whether Melgar can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Melgar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Ramos 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
28 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market7 Dec 2026
Jesús Alcantar is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Melgar has been clear about where Jesús Alcantar stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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 dugout7 Dec 2026
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 Nelson Cabanillas is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
Jorge Cabezudo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Melgar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Melgar
Christian Ortiz 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jhamir D'Arrigo wants continental football; whether Melgar can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alejandro Ramos 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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
Steady
Market2 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Jorge Cabezudo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jorge Cabezudo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Melgar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Melgar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Ortiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Melgar
Javier Salas 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
Horacio Orzán is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Bernardo Cuesta has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Melgar will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 37, with 0 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
Market2 Nov 2026
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Melgar could get for him.
Market2 Nov 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ángel Guerra may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Melgar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Ortiz 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Melgar
Alec Deneumostier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
4 Melgar players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
Jorge Cabezudo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Melgar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Melgar
Pablo Erustes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market5 Oct 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolás Quagliata wants continental football; whether Melgar can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Melgar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Ramos 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” César Machena commits to Melgar for another 1 years.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 89% of everything Melgar earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Horacio Orzán'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 dugout5 Oct 2026
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 Bernardo Cuesta is on it.
Market5 Oct 2026
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.