Juan Neira is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
A new face in his position, and Mariano Miño suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Adana Demirspor have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. David Tkáč arrives at Adana Demirspor with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Adana Demirspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Mariano Miño keeps the shirt for now, at Adana Demirspor's convenience rather than his own.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Mariano Miño has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Adana Demirspor know, and have known for weeks.
In brief
The terracesThe press have found their man in Rafael Carioca
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Adana Demirspor that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.