It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abde 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 a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportivo La Coruña can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Deportivo La Coruña, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Deportivo La Coruña know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutRubén López is still being punished for one mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abde was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Anis Khemaissia 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 CS Constantine 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abde was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CS Constantine, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ahmed Hassan signs something — a contract at CS Constantine or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at CS Constantine would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Constantine this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CS Constantine has been clear about where Oussama Meddahi stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 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.
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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at CS Constantine training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abde 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 CS Constantine, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ismail Benrahma after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Moussa Benzaid has his answer from CS Constantine; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Constantine have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yacine Aliane commits to CS Constantine for another 4 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at CS Constantine training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abde 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Constantine this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CS Constantine will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Yacine Aliane 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 Djihad Bizimana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at CS Constantine has worked with Mostafa Berkane before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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 2‑3 Ismail Benrahma left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Tosin Omoyele’s exile
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CS Constantine will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Mar 2028
Ahmed Hassan wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Ahmed Hassan found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and USM Khenchela went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Constantine this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djihad Bizimana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ouadjih Khelfaoui has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Djihad Bizimana was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The new man at CS Constantine has worked with Mostafa Berkane before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CS Constantine will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Constantine have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.89 for the rest of it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Islam Bakir and CS Constantine agree another 3 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at CS Constantine training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djihad Bizimana 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 new man at CS Constantine has worked with Mostafa Berkane before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
7.71, 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.
Yacine Aliane 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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djihad Bizimana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at CS Constantine has worked with Mostafa Berkane before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
7.78, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. CS Constantine had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad28 Feb 2028
10 new faces, and CS Constantine 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohamed Awad and CS Constantine agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Yacine Aliane 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 new man at CS Constantine has worked with Mostafa Berkane before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CS Constantine will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Olympique Akbou had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Constantine this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at CS Constantine training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djihad Bizimana 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 new man at CS Constantine has worked with Mostafa Berkane before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CS Constantine can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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 CS Constantine, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CS Constantine will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.61 for the rest of it.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at CS Constantine 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.
The deal that would have taken Omar Jobe to Paradou has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to CS Constantine with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at CS Constantine training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djihad Bizimana 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 watch every CS Constantine game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Olympique Akbou runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
The dugoutMostafa Berkane back under a manager who knows him
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ahmed Said
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Omar Jobe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CS Constantine the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 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.
Yacine Aliane 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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djihad Bizimana 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. ES Setif have kept their man, and CS Constantine go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CS Constantine people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CS Constantine will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Yacine Aliane 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 Djihad Bizimana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at CS Constantine has worked with Mostafa Berkane before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
$32.3M settles it between the clubs for Renato Veiga
Villarreal have accepted the money. What Deportivo La Coruña do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo La Coruña will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The chase for Natan ended with $11.3M changing hands and Betis out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” CE Europa 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 Deportivo La Coruña, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bryan 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.
Deportivo La Coruña asked and Real Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Betis have accepted the money. What Deportivo La Coruña do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo La Coruña 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 Deportivo La Coruña people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Eibar for Dani Barcia 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.
“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 Deportivo La Coruña, and it is not being withdrawn.
Yeremay 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. Bryan Ramírez 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 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo La Coruña will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Barcelona for Yeremay 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.
“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 Deportivo La Coruña, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marked 7.02 on 17 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Deportivo La Coruña have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Bryan Ramírez 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo La Coruña have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bryan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Langoni 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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo La Coruña will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportivo La Coruña can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Luca Langoni 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 Bryan Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Loureiro 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Deportivo La Coruña are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Loureiro 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.
Something was said to Alessandro Sorrentino and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zakaria Eddahchouri, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Arnau Comas'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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Deportivo La Coruña know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Deportivo La Coruña that is a harder question to answer.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Deportivo La Coruña that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo La Coruña can pretend not to have heard.
Luca Langoni 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.
Deportivo La Coruña ran out of time with Ibiza. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonathan Asp-Jensen has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Fabricio López wants continental football; whether Deportivo La Coruña can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
A performance of 8.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Dani Barcia 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.
Deportivo La Coruña have gone to Barcelona 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.
“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 Deportivo La Coruña, and it is not being withdrawn.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo La Coruña will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Udinese have kept their man, and Deportivo La Coruña go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Cacereño for Abde 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.
The phone has started ringing about Diego Villares again, and this time the name on the line is Sabadell. Deportivo La Coruña are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yeremay and Deportivo La Coruña agree another 5 years.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.2M — a club that wants Rodrigo Carvalho enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two goals and a mark of 9.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Deportivo La Coruña is enjoying the guessing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo La Coruña will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Zamora for Diego Villares 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bryan Ramírez wants continental football; whether Deportivo La Coruña can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Famalicao is saying, and nobody at Deportivo La Coruña is enjoying the guessing.
Yeremay 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.
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and Osasuna 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Eric Puerto 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.
Deportivo La Coruña 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Deportivo La Coruña know it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Antonis Tsiftsis is in the works
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Arenteiro for Diego Villares 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.
The name of David Mella has come up in conversations Deportivo La Coruña were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña 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. Pablo Moreno has, at Deportivo La Coruña, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The offer went to Osasuna 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Deportivo La Coruña know it.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Charlie Patiño’s exile
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Mariano Barreda’s exile
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Marc Casadó 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Deportivo La Coruña are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The offer from Sarpsborg 08 for Jonathan Asp-Jensen 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 win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Deportivo La Coruña hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
A season average of 7.09 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Deportivo La Coruña know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Deportivo La Coruña can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Teun Gijselhart 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 did not go to Las Palmas to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo La Coruña and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 26 matches say the rest.
Angeliño 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. José Giménez 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Real Sociedad B spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Deportivo La Coruña are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Lorenzo Amatucci is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Marc Casadó 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Deportivo La Coruña are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Teun Gijselhart 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Mella signs something — a contract at Deportivo La Coruña or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Deportivo La Coruña offered $6.6M; Rayo Vallecano said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Deportivo La Coruña have gone to Zaragoza 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.0M — a club that wants Paulino De la Fuente enough to be asked twice.
Marc Casadó 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 José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Deportivo La Coruña are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Las Palmas next, and one man in the Deportivo La Coruña dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Deportivo La Coruña would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcos León trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Deportivo La Coruña pay $4.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
“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 Alavés hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alavés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Leo Gutiérrez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Iván Cortés 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mariano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$6.6M on the table at Rayo Vallecano. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The fee is $4.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Alavés drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Rubén López had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Deportivo La Coruña 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.
$950.0K on the table at Real Sociedad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Deportivo La Coruña heard it as anything else.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leo Román and Deportivo La Coruña agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.0M — a club that wants Davinchi enough to be asked twice.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sassá has just signed for Alavés, and for once the answer mattered.
“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 Alavés hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Facundo Garcés wants continental football; whether Alavés can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Ibañez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.