Marked for Jorge Luque
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Apr 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Apr 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Deportivo Riestra have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Cristian Paz 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antony Alonso, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Antony Alonso gets picked when it counts
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 Antony Alonso is on it.
Market12 Apr 2027
Mauro Smarra is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Deportivo Riestra has been clear about where Mauro Smarra stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabriel Obredor trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Rodrigo Sayavedra damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Match5 Apr 2027
Position 13, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Deportivo Riestra may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Alexander Díaz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market5 Apr 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Deportivo Riestra have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Facundo Miño gets picked when it counts
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 Facundo Miño is on it.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Antony Alonso asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Rodrigo Sayavedra damages knee ligaments — 130 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 130 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Cristian Paz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Pedro 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“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 dugout25 Jan 2027
Nicolás Benegas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Joaquín Bonnin: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Riestra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Cristian Paz 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Franco Ruiz has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market18 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Maximiliano Otero has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market18 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bruno Suárez 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pablo Domínguez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Pedro 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Jorge Luque gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportes Quindio waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Pablo Monje: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Riestra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Deportivo Riestra had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Deportivo Riestra have done the hard part with Boca Juniors, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Cristian Paz in a row with a teammate
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 Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Deportivo Riestra asked and Corinthians said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antony Alonso, and the manager let it.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Fabricio Ventresca has come up in conversations Deportivo Riestra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Dec 2026
Pablo Monje hands in a written request
“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 Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Cristian Paz 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
25 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Nicolás Benegas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Dec 2026
5‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market14 Dec 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Deportivo Riestra people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market14 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mariano Bracamonte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
Door shut on André
Deportivo Riestra asked and Corinthians said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.99 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 2026
“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 Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for Ángel Stringa
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ángel Stringa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Deportivo Riestra the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Facundo Miño and Deportivo Riestra agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Cristian Paz in a row with a teammate
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 Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Samuel Portillo has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
In brief
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Transfer targets
A loan move for André is in the works
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Market
The Jorge Luque conversation is coming
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The dugout
When it matters, Antony Alonso plays
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Justo Rodríguez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Riestra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Cristian Paz 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Facundo Miño
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Pedro 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Nicolás Benegas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
The clock does Mauro Smarra’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Deportivo Riestra could ask drops and the wages Mauro Smarra can ask rise.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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 Riestra, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market23 Nov 2026
The Jorge Luque story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jorge Luque signs something — a contract at Deportivo Riestra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mauro Smarra 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mariano Bracamonte 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Samuel Portillo
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jorge Luque commits to Deportivo Riestra for another 4 years.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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 dugout2 Nov 2026
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 Alexander Díaz is on it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Alexander Díaz knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexander Díaz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Oct 2026
Facundo Miño has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Deportivo Riestra they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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 Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The step up is real for Jorge Luque
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match17 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Vélez, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market19 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nicolás Sansotre has his answer from Deportivo Riestra; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Sansotre, and the manager let it.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Player ratings
Gabriel Obredor beats them one at a time
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The dugout
Ignacio Arce gets picked when it counts