Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Agustín Martegani 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Argentinos Juniors had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aldosivi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aldosivi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Matías Molina had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 The request is on a desk at Aldosivi, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aldosivi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Huracán is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aldosivi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aldosivi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Agustín Martegani 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Elías López 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Iván Antunes has his answer from Aldosivi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aldosivi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Nicolás Cordero decided nobody was going anywhere. Barracas Central had no time left to answer.
Agustín Martegani 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aldosivi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Elías López 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aldosivi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Matías Vera 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 Elías López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nicolás Cordero signs something — a contract at Aldosivi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iván Antunes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Elías López 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.
Franco Godoy 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 Aldosivi 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aldosivi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aldosivi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
Matías Vera 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Elías López 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 finished 1‑0, and it was Matías Vera’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aldosivi.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Matías Vera was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Lucas Acosta has given nobody the chance.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
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.” Emiliano Paz, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Matías Vera 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.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Nicolás Cordero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
6 goals in one match, Nicolás Cordero on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Aldosivi and Atlanta.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Elías López 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Morello, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Emiliano Paz to a room that had heard them before.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Aldosivi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Elías López 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonel Ramírez, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
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.” Emiliano Paz, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Gimnasia La Plata left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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 0‑1 Emiliano Paz left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.85 for the rest 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 Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ramiro Fernández and Aldosivi agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Iván Antunes has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
A mark of 7.96, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
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.” Emiliano Paz, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A brace, and Mauro Da Luz takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mauro Da Luz provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Matías Vera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mauro Da Luz. 2‑1 against Sarmiento, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Molina, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
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.” Emiliano Paz, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aldosivi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Iván Antunes and Aldosivi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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.
Ramiro Fernández 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aldosivi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Aldosivi 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 is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Aldosivi than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aldosivi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Barracas Central waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Aldosivi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Argentinos Juniors have accepted the money. What Aldosivi do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
Matías Vera 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
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aldosivi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Aldosivi and River Plate have settled on $4.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aldosivi can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aldosivi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elías López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Matías Vera 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 Elías López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Aldosivi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: River Plate have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ignacio Chicco. The answer from Aldosivi has not changed — yet.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aldosivi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aldosivi 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 Elías López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Aldosivi told Ramiro Fernández something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aldosivi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Matías Vera 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Aldosivi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matías Vera 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aldosivi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Iván Antunes 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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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 Emiliano Paz to a room that had heard them before.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aldosivi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Matías Vera 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 Elías López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Emiliano Paz after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mauro Da Luz has his answer from Aldosivi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Aldosivi scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Matías Vera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Antunes 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.
Marked 8.66 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Tomás Fernández at his very best
0‑3 against Argentinos Juniors, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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.
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 dugout20 Mar 2028
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Emiliano Paz to a room that had heard them before.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
In brief
The dugoutIván Antunes knocks on the manager's door
Player ratingsThe one thing Carlos Campos could not do
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Barracas Central. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elías López 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lucas Acosta and Aldosivi agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Aldosivi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Antunes 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.
Franco Godoy 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 has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Emiliano Paz was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Aldosivi dressing room was either.
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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Matías Vera 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 Iván Antunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nicolás Álvarez has his answer from Aldosivi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Iván Antunes 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aldosivi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tomás Fernández signs something — a contract at Aldosivi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aldosivi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Aldosivi interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Emiliano Paz keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
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 Aldosivi have had the benefit of it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ramiro Fernández has just signed for Aldosivi, and for once the answer mattered.
Matías Vera 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 went to Banfield 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Elías López 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.
Central Córdoba SdE will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Lisandro Silva has pre-agreed a move to Aldosivi, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Octavio Martínez has his answer from Aldosivi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nicolás Cordero signs something — a contract at Aldosivi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Nueva Chicago, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nueva Chicago is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nueva Chicago this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nueva Chicago, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Nueva Chicago 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.