Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levante will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levante 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.” Levante have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levante 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 Levante this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levante 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.
Nobody at Levante 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.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levante lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Levante hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Carlos Álvarez 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad4 Jun 2029
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.
22 games, 25 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Levante now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levante can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Emilio Suárez has just signed for Levante, and for once the answer mattered.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levante have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I watch every Levante game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Elche runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
1‑1 against Ayacucho, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Román Agüero again, and this time the name on the line is Alianza Petrolera. Talleres are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emilio Suárez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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 Talleres, and 8 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
2‑1 against Cerro Porteno, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Bruno Barticciotto was at the centre of the description.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Talleres lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Talleres scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Getting past Joaquín Blázquez has become the hardest job in the division
14 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Matías Gómez 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.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Talleres lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mirlind Daku wants continental football; whether Talleres can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Mirlind Daku 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe kick that got away from Rodrigo Guth
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Zadar will make the call about Luis Miguel Ángulo this week. Talleres have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.