Marked for Valentín Chocobar
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Aug 2027
Brian Croce 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 Gimnasia La Plata can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gimnasia La Plata is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Aug 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Marcelo Torres and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 56 days on the sidelines for Valentín Chocobar, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The clock did what Quilmes would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Ryan Francisco 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 dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Randall Rodríguez, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 2027
Brian Croce 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 Gimnasia La Plata can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
$580.0K on the table at Colón. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market5 Jul 2027
The paperwork is done: Camilo Viganoni joins from Tigre in a deal worth $540.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Santino López García 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jonatan Gómez and Gimnasia La Plata agree another 2 years.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexis Steimbach, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Gimnasia La Plata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Francisco 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnasia La Plata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match9 Jun 2027
Talleres ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market14 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Gimnasia y Esgrima waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chacarita Juniors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Jun 2027
Gimnasia La Plata paid $150.0K and Chacarita Juniors took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Chacarita Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian Calderara 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
128% of the income goes out in wages at Chacarita Juniors
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jun 2027
Out, 1‑2 to Mitre, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market14 Jun 2027
Mateo Seoane 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 Gimnasia La Plata can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Jun 2027
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Valentín Chocobar arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Valentín Chocobar has, at Gimnasia La Plata, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jeremías Merlo and Gimnasia La Plata agree another 5 years.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Marcelo Torres 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
The fee is $190.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. All Boys drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market7 Jun 2027
Persis come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Chacarita Juniors did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Montenegro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Luciano Perdomo 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.
Match5 Jun 2027
A point taken on 96 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“I did not go to Torpedo Kutaisi to sit and watch. I want to come back to Chacarita Juniors and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 0 matches say the rest.
Match5 Jun 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Defensores leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Milton Leyendeker
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Squad
Pablo Ortiz is no longer first choice
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer from Rosario Central for Marcelo Torres 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gimnasia La Plata may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market7 Jun 2027
The fee is $460.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Almirante Brown drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Marcelo Torres and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Gimnasia La Plata have gone to All Boys 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The offer went to Chacarita Juniors 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chacarita Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 39. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market15 Mar 2027
Juan Redondo 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 Chacarita Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Mar 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Chacarita Juniors have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match13 Mar 2027
Three points for Chacarita Juniors, 2‑1 the final word against Morón in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.63 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brian Calderara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chacarita Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A touch he did not mean and a goal that goes in the book with his name against it. Chacarita Juniors will not blame him tonight and he will not need them to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chacarita Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match27 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Chacarita Juniors did not have in the autumn.
Market1 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market1 Mar 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lisandro Montenegro wants continental football; whether Chacarita Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brian Calderara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Milton Leyendeker 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
After 4 games, Chacarita Juniors finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Gimnasia y Esgrima; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Milton Leyendeker, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chacarita Juniors have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Doxa had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Álvaro Cuello takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Álvaro Cuello provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad8 Feb 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market8 Feb 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 Chacarita Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Match6 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Chacarita Juniors did not have in the autumn.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market25 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Chacarita Juniors have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Francisco Facello 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Montenegro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market25 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Federico Losas signs something — a contract at Chacarita Juniors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Misael Jaime 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The shop window has Axel Guerra in it
Chacarita Juniors have let the market know Axel Guerra can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chacarita Juniors have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chacarita Juniors may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market18 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Chacarita Juniors did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chacarita Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Montenegro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Jan 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gastón Fernández has his answer from Chacarita Juniors; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lisandro Montenegro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chacarita Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer from AZAL for Misael Jaime 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Francisco Facello and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market11 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Chacarita Juniors have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Montenegro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lisandro Montenegro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gonzalo Mottes signs something — a contract at Chacarita Juniors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ezequiel Gerez had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brian Calderara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Francisco Facello 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Brian Calderara has his answer from Chacarita Juniors; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Market7 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gonzalo Mottes’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Open for business: Chacarita Juniors enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Misael Jaime 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 Misael Jaime trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chacarita Juniors. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
311% of the income goes out in wages at Chacarita Juniors
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Montenegro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Francisco Facello 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Francisco Facello is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lisandro Montenegro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market5 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Federico Losas signs something — a contract at Chacarita Juniors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Chacarita Juniors than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
The knee: Noah De Luca out for 21 days
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chacarita Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Francisco Facello and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Guerra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Sep 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Match19 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Diego Álvarez on the draw
“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.