$41.0M was the most the club would pay and Real Madrid 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.
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
A brace, and Nicolas Pépé takes the afternoon — 8.53
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicolas Pépé provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Racing Ferrol moved on, Santiago Mouriño reports back to Villarreal, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Villarreal ran out of time with Sevilla. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“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 The request is on a desk at Villarreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sabadell waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Villarreal is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Villarreal asked and Getafe said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Villarreal have gone to Sevilla 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.
“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.
Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Pablo Durán 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 offer went to Atlético Madrid 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Villarreal people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Cartagena had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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.
“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 Villarreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Athletic Bilbao for Dani Requena 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $765.0K — a club that wants Marc-André ter Stegen enough to be asked twice.
In brief
Transfer targetsThe paperwork begins on Mario García
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Villarreal can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Villarreal 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 Villarreal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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 Villarreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Thamsanqa Hlatshwayo 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 Villarreal 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arnau Tenas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Villarreal would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Portu’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Villarreal needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“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 Villarreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Thamsanqa Hlatshwayo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Pau Cabanes 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicolas Pépé. 2‑0 against Levante, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Nicolas Pépé was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.81, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Nobody at Villarreal 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Àlex Navarro kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Villarreal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 Nicolas Pépé is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Santi Comesaña signs something — a contract at Villarreal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Thiago Fernández’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Villarreal needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Villarreal have no good answer.
“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 Villarreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and Nicolas Pépé takes the afternoon — 8.57
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicolas Pépé provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and Dani Parejo takes the afternoon — 8.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dani Parejo provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villarreal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Villarreal asked and Granada 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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Tarazona had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Tajon Buchanan reports back to Villarreal with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Villarreal will try again when the window opens; Granada may not be selling by then.
“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 Villarreal hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Arnau Tenas 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alberto Moleiro. 3‑1 against Sevilla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 Alberto Moleiro is on it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Villarreal than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Villarreal know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The offer went to Barcelona 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and José Martínez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A 1‑0 win over Sevilla, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad17 May 2027
José Martínez 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.
1 for Oriol Rey, marked 7.93, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Marked 7.63 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” David Montes, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Levante told Jon Ander Olasagasti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 1‑0 win over Espanyol, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Levante training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Martínez 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.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Levante can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
At 39 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.26, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad26 Oct 2026
José Martínez 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Real Sociedad in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
0‑1 to Girona, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Levante training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Martínez 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Montes to a room that had heard them before.
Valencia next, and one man in the Levante dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Hugo Sotelo has let it be known that he does not like the way Levante are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levante, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
José Luis Morales 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.
0‑1 to Atlético Madrid, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Levante training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Martínez 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 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 Levante know it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Elche spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.70, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Manu Sánchez 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Roger Brugué. 2‑1 against Elche, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Thiago Fernández 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.
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Levante training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Martínez 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.
8.00. 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.
$5.7M was the most the club would pay and Córdoba 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.
Levante ran out of time with Zaragoza. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Levante will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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 1‑3 David Montes left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Levante are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Petar Ratkov