It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gijón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Franco Ibarra 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.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gonzalo García chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gijón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gijón will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gijón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Di Bitonto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gijón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Guillamón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
126 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gijón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Gijón had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Athletic Bilbao, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gijón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deal with Atlético Madrid 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gijón can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Gijón close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 16 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gijón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
SquadWords at Gijón training over how hard people work
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gijón will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gijón can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Caetano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gijón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mariano Filiosi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gijón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gijón can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Caetano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutRubén Yáñez dropped after a run of poor form
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gijón 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. Guille Rosas had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The chase for Arnau Tenas ended with $17.2M changing hands and Villarreal out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Add another name to the list: Universidad de Chile have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Rubén Yáñez. The answer from Gijón has not changed — yet.
Gijón have gone to Betis with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The chase for Caetano ended with $1.3M changing hands and Betis out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Esteban Rueda 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Guillamón 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.
$17.2M settles it between the clubs for Arnau Tenas
Villarreal have accepted the money. What Gijón do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gijón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Alavés did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $15.3M for Miguel Rodríguez, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
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 Gijón have had the benefit of it.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gijón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Betis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Betis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Betis and Burgos have settled on $15.7M. 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.
$14.8M on the table at Burgos. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Betis asked and Burgos 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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carles Soria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Betis the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer went to Villarreal 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.
$15.3M on the table at Alavés. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Position 6 on 72 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Gijón have gone to Betis with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Juan Manuel Carrizo has just signed for Gijón, and for once the answer mattered.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Gijón heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fernando Magaldi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gijón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Betis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Antony 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 had been thinking. Natan 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Troy Parrott signs something — a contract at Betis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Betis. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Betis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Betis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Agustín Bindella has, at Betis, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Álvaro Valles trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Antony 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Betis will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“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.
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 not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Betis can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Betis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Antony 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Héctor Bellerín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Betis has been clear about where Pablo Fornals stands, which is more than many ever get.