The words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Andorra will replay every second of the added time for a week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.33, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Baba Diocou
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Baba Diocou has come out of that comparison in the side, and Granada have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Baba Diocou did not need any: 7.91, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 The request is on a desk at Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
Valentín Gómez 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jorge Pascual 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.
“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.
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Baba Diocou did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
José Arnáiz 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Baba Diocou 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.
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.06 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Granada know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Baba Diocou, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Baba Diocou did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
At 21 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Granada scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
An order from above at Granada: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Max Dean 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.
Baba Diocou, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.23
A mark of 8.23 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Granada know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
At 21 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Granada man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Baba Diocou was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
SquadManuel Torres has become a man the manager trusts
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Baba Diocou, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Oscar Naasei 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.
A 1‑0 win over Eibar, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Baba Diocou is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Granada will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Davinchi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Granada have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Baba Diocou did not need any: 8.17, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jorge Pascual 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.
Max Dean 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
José Arnáiz wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. José Arnáiz found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Almería went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sergio Rodelas did not need any: 8.12, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
4 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 Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: José Arnáiz. 2‑1 against Almería, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Baba Diocou is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Granada will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Granada have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Jorge Pascual
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jorge Pascual has come out of that comparison in the side, and Granada have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Baba Diocou did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
José Arnáiz 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Jorge Pascual was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.84. 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Baba Diocou 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Baba Diocou, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.