Marked for Aarón Molinas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Lautaro Amadé
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lautaro Amadé will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Defensa y Justicia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lautaro Amadé has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Éver Banega 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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
Lanús will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. José Canale has pre-agreed a move to Defensa y Justicia, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Borgogno trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Defensa y Justicia — 7.67
1 for Éver Banega, marked 7.67, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Defensa y Justicia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Éver Banega 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Gimnasia y Esgrima, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 Aug 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of César 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Defensa y Justicia 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
AEL Larisa come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Defensa y Justicia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Éver Banega and Defensa y Justicia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Éver Banega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Defensa y Justicia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Fernández 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Defensa y Justicia, another week without a signature from Aarón Molinas.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on David Barbona's contract
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.