Giuliano Simeone 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 needed Ante Budimir to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Espanyol, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adilson 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jan Ruiz after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Osasuna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Moi Gómez is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Osasuna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 7.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Alejandro Catena and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market19 Apr 2027
Osasuna may not be able to give Marcão what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marcão wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 dugout19 Apr 2027
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.” Jan Ruiz, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Fabian Gonzalez wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Giuliano Simeone 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.
Nobody at Osasuna 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Real Sociedad in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Giuliano Simeone and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
6 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adilson 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Osasuna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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.
Nobody at Osasuna 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Atlético Madrid? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Aimar 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 makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Osasuna will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Osasuna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuliano Simeone 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Osasuna heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 7.73 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Rubén García
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
6 new faces, and Osasuna are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Osasuna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Aimar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuliano Simeone 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.
Osasuna asked and Barcelona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Minute 85, against Betis, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Osasuna are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Romain Del Castillo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market1 Feb 2027
Marcão arrives at Osasuna in a $5.0M statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Osasuna have paid $5.0M for Marcão, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Osasuna until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Guilherme Fernandes is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Oviedo were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuliano Simeone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Sevilla have paid $9.7M for Mouctar Diakhaby, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gijón have kept their man, and Sevilla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$6.3M was the most the club would pay and Valencia were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mouctar Diakhaby has just signed for Sevilla, and for once the answer mattered.
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Osasuna paid $5.0M and Sevilla took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Sevilla ran out of time with Valencia. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Sevilla close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sevilla hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Stole Dimitrievski has, at Sevilla, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The chase for Arkaitz Mariezkurrena ended with $5.8M changing hands and Real Sociedad out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer went to Girona 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.
Grischa Prömel 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.
Fábio Cardoso and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Lima 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.
“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 Sevilla, and 4 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Luken Moya could afford to be generous.
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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Luken Moya on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Grischa Prömel 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Sevilla can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“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 Sevilla, and 4 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Sevilla 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 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luken Moya after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Lima 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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Luken Moya could afford to be generous.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Chidera Ejuke. 2‑0 against Mallorca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.40 — 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.
Lautaro Amadé 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Neal Maupay trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sevilla know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Rubén Vargas
Grischa Prömel 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Lima 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.
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.
Nobody at Sevilla 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.
Up for the corner, and Lucien Agoumé delivers — 7.88
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Lucien Agoumé scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Sevilla, 2‑1 the final word against Oviedo in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Market28 Sep 2026
Sevilla may not be able to give Marcão what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marcão wants continental football; whether Sevilla can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.77, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Betis on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Sevilla will try again when the window opens; Almería may not be selling by then.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sevilla, another week without a signature from José Ángel Carmona.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Sevilla are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“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 Sevilla, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Luken Moya to a room that had heard them before.
The offer from Dijon for Manu Bueno 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Sevilla heard it as anything else.
The offer went to Defensa y Justicia 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
49 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.