“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Floresta can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lelê provided it, and the 8.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Floresta had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fortaleza, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Iván Centurión will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Floresta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Floresta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$35.0K on the table at Flamengo. 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 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Floresta can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Internacional keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fluminense have kept their man, and Floresta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Kauã Fernandes is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Floresta 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Humaitá waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Floresta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Floresta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Floresta have done the hard part with Internacional, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
This is not rotation. Feliphe Gabriel has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Floresta is pretending otherwise.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Floresta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manoel 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.
Floresta asked and Internacional said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. San Lorenzo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. San Lorenzo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Real Avilés for Simón Pérez 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 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.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nueva Chicago lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nueva Chicago, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Silveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
In brief
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Luciano Jachfe
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nueva Chicago lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Angostura for Alejandro Almaraz 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nueva Chicago is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Bergara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Vera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nueva Chicago lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerónimo Velozo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nueva Chicago the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Luciano Jachfe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Ambrogio 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nueva Chicago, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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.
150 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nueva Chicago lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enzo Roldán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Facundo Castro 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Nueva Chicago will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 Matías Vera is on 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.
In brief
The dugoutMatías Vera knocks on the manager’s door
Racing Club go through and Nueva Chicago go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Gerónimo Velozo 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerónimo Velozo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nueva Chicago the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enzo Roldán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruno Palazzo, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Enzo Roldán is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“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.