Zagatala have made their interest known and Nueva Chicago have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
“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 The request is on a desk at Nueva Chicago, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alan Ruiz 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutEvelio Cardozo has become a man the manager trusts
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Agropecuario Argentino had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 The request is on a desk at Nueva Chicago, and it is not being withdrawn.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 deal with Belgrano 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Leonel Ortíz 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Leonel Ortíz reports back to Nueva Chicago with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The name of Thiago Ocampo has come up in conversations Nueva Chicago were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Bersce will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nueva Chicago the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Gimnasia y Esgrima have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jenluis Pérez. The answer from Nueva Chicago has not changed — yet.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Alan Ruiz 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.
Nueva Chicago asked and Belgrano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Nueva Chicago can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Rodrigo Ramírez's mistake
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
Alan Ruiz 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 Sebastián Cocimano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
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 Carlos Alberto Bianchi left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nueva Chicago know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑1, Carlos Alberto Bianchi could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutEvelio Cardozo has become a man the manager trusts
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nueva Chicago will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Nueva Chicago who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nueva Chicago know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Nueva Chicago, another week without a signature from Lucas Navarro.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.23 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Rodrigo Ramírez scored, was marked 7.83, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Bersce will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nueva Chicago the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dylan Gissi 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.
Marked 6.60 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nueva Chicago will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Nueva Chicago people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Omonia 29M will make the call about Thiago Ocampo this week. Nueva Chicago have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Yao Boqing 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 dugout29 Jan 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Thiago Ocampo'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thiago Serrano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Iván Ruiz is on it.
In brief
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Sebastián Cocimano
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nueva Chicago will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Junior for Matías Bergara 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.
7.18, 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nueva Chicago have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Nueva Chicago have done the hard part with UAI Urquiza, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Estudiantes is saying, and nobody at Nueva Chicago is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Alan Ruiz 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.
Nueva Chicago asked and Flandria said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Evelio Cardozo 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 Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Bersce 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.62, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Carlos Alberto Bianchi to a room that had heard them before.
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 Bruno Palazzo is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bruno Palazzo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Alan Ruiz could not do
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Rodrigo Ramírez 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.
Match8 Apr 2028
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Nueva Chicago. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Nueva Chicago game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nova Iguaçu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Carlos Alberto Bianchi could afford to be generous.
Chances created: 11. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Matías Romero
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Thiago Ocampo obliged against Colegiales. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Nueva Chicago.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Thiago Ocampo, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Ruiz 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.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Thiago Ocampo in the middle of it, and Colegiales unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Nueva Chicago, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutRodrigo Ramírez is still being punished for one mistake
“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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Rodrigo Ramírez scored, was marked 7.48, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Rodrigo Ramírez 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.
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Ruiz 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel Silva has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mingo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Nueva Chicago will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
Nueva Chicago asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Vega, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Dylan Gissi 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sebastián Cocimano signs something — a contract at Nueva Chicago or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Facundo Masuero has written the date down.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Vega 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. Central Córdoba SdE have kept their man, and Nueva Chicago go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rodrigo Ramírez signs something — a contract at Nueva Chicago or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Tomás Rodríguez has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.