$15.3M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Instituto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Maipú have accepted the money. What Instituto do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
He is going to Newell's Old Boys, the club has $15.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The fee is $1.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Newell's Old Boys drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The deal with Aldosivi is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Valverde 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alex Luna signs something — a contract at Instituto or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Matías Tissera has written the date down.
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 Instituto have no good answer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valerio Olivera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Instituto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gonzalo Requena 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Monje was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Instituto that is a harder question to answer.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Instituto is running low.
Álvaro Marín 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Monje 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.
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 Marcos Ledesma is on it.
Álvaro Marín has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Instituto. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Instituto know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maximiliano Henríquez and Instituto agree another 3 years.
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 Alex Luna is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giuliano Cerato trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Quintana 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Temperley keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Talpone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colón have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Caldas for Benjamín Alegre 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Temperley is saying, and nobody at Colón is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Nicolás Nagel again, and this time the name on the line is Deportivo Riestra. Colón are listening politely and promising nothing.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Agustín Toledo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Matías Budiño 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Colón will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
“I did not go to Tianjin Jinmen Tiger to sit and watch. I want to come back to Colón and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Facundo Castet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Altamura have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Julián Marcioni. The answer from Colón has not changed — yet.
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.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shandong Taishan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yéiler Góez 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 Colón, and 0 appearances in 0 say he has earned the hearing.
Chacarita Juniors next, and one man in the Colón dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.