The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Real Sociedad have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Jon Karrikaburu is a Real Sociedad player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Real Sociedad offered $22.7M; Atlético Madrid said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jon Karrikaburu has, at Real Sociedad, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gorka Carrera is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
In brief
SquadMikel Oyarzábal falls out with a teammate over standards
Losing a final is a specific injury and it does not show up on any scan. 16 caps, a tournament that went further than anybody expected and stopped one game short, and a man who now has a domestic season to start from a standing position.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Burgos have kept their man, and Real Sociedad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Real Sociedad offered $22.7M; Atlético Madrid said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kolos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Endrick 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Minsu Kim has just signed for Real Sociedad, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikel Oyarzábal 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 Endrick is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Sociedad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” CFR Cluj had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.52, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad 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 Real Sociedad 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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The name of Gonçalo Ramos has come up in conversations Real Sociedad were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Sociedad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Granada, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Ramos 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 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Valentín Vada is living that version at Real Sociedad, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mikel Oyarzábal signs something — a contract at Real Sociedad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Aleix Garrido's mistake
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Málaga have kept their man, and Real Sociedad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Real Sociedad offered $30.0M; Levante said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mirandés waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The phone has started ringing about Jon Aramburu again, and this time the name on the line is Leganés. Real Sociedad are listening politely and promising nothing.
Endrick 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikel Oyarzábal 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 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Real Sociedad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Real Sociedad asked and Levante said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Córdoba have accepted the money. What Real Sociedad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Real Sociedad have gone to Gijón 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.
A season average of 7.52 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Real Sociedad know what they have, and so, by now, does 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 Real Sociedad 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 Gonçalo Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jon Balda scored, was marked 7.86, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Endrick and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikel Oyarzábal 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.
41 games, 36 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Real Sociedad now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
35 goals in 40 games at Ceuta — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Real Sociedad updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dani Díaz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Sociedad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Real Sociedad 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Sociedad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
34 goals in 39 games at Ceuta — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Real Sociedad updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Endrick 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gorka Gorosabel commits to Real Sociedad for another 5 years.
Squad15 May 2028
Gonçalo Ramos 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Real Sociedad will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nobody at Real Sociedad 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.
In brief
The dugoutIgor Zubeldia knocks on the manager’s door
Position 4 on 84 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.52 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Real Sociedad know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marcus McGuane has just signed for Real Sociedad, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Real Sociedad, and 4 appearances in 40 say he has earned the hearing.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.42, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikel Oyarzábal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Endrick 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.
6‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
A brace, and Gonçalo Ramos takes the afternoon — 9.66
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gonçalo Ramos provided it, and the 9.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Endrick 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Gonçalo Ramos 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Real Sociedad and Rayo Vallecano, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
Player ratingsMikel Oyarzábal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The dugoutGonçalo Ramos has become a man the manager trusts
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Endrick 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 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.
Betis will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Joaquín has pre-agreed a move to Real Sociedad, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
29 goals in 34 games at Ceuta — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Real Sociedad updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each 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 Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikel Oyarzábal 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.
33 appearances away from home and 27 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Endrick, 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.
A season average of 6.72 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Real Sociedad know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gonçalo Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gonçalo Ramos. 3‑2 against Villarreal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Héctor Fort did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Sociedad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikel Oyarzábal 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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Sociedad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Endrick 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 Mikel Oyarzábal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Imanol González has just signed for Real Sociedad, and for once the answer mattered.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Sociedad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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. Endrick did not need any: 8.32, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 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 Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Endrick’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Real Sociedad.
Match11 Mar 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Real Sociedad. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Sociedad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Real Sociedad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 3, 63 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.56, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Sociedad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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 ratingsNinety minutes of Gonçalo Ramos at his very best
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Sociedad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Real Sociedad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Endrick 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.
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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Ramos 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Endrick 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Sociedad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Real Sociedad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Sociedad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.36, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Sociedad 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 Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Player ratingsMikel Oyarzábal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Valladolid moved on, Jon Aramburu reports back to Real Sociedad, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Real Sociedad close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The deal with Valencia 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Toni Tamarit is living that version at Real Sociedad, and it tends to show in the first month.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Real Sociedad have lost him in all but the paperwork.
23 goals in 24 games at Ceuta — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Real Sociedad updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Endrick 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Gonçalo Ramos 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Sociedad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Sociedad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match22 Jan 2028
Endrick wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Endrick found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Málaga went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Endrick, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.39
A mark of 8.39 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.
22 goals in 23 games at Ceuta — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Real Sociedad updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Endrick 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Sociedad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valladolid waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Deportivo La Coruña paid $14.4M and Real Sociedad took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Pablo Marín had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.34, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jon Aramburu had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The chase for Juan Giménez ended with $5.5M changing hands and Rosario Central out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
Real Sociedad offered $1.8M; Levante said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
In brief
SquadA move Juan Giménez would have made for nothing
Atlético Madrid wanted more than $75.8M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levante have kept their man, and Real Sociedad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer went to Cádiz 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Real Sociedad have had the benefit of it.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Arsen Zakharyan obliged against Almería. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Real Sociedad.
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Endrick, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07
A mark of 8.07 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.
He is 20, he is averaging 6.66, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nahuel Suárez has just signed for Real Sociedad, and for once the answer mattered.
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Sociedad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A season average of 7.25 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Real Sociedad know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Igor Zubeldia 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Gonçalo Ramos 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Real Sociedad and Mallorca, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 8.48 — 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Sociedad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
A brace, and Takefusa Kubo takes the afternoon — 8.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Takefusa Kubo provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Real Sociedad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Endrick, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.36
A mark of 8.36 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.
Igor Zubeldia 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 Gonçalo Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Sociedad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Martí Garrido to a room that had heard them before.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Sociedad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Endrick, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.35
A mark of 8.35 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 Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Gonçalo Ramos 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Sociedad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Endrick 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.
An average of 7.08 in a first team he is several years too young for. Real Sociedad have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Gonçalo Ramos 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.
“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 Real Sociedad, and 4 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Real Sociedad 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Aleix Garrido's mistake
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.
12 seasons and 357 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Igor Zubeldia 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Endrick 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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Gonçalo Ramos was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.77. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mikel Oyarzábal at his very best
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jon Balda commits to Real Sociedad for another 5 years.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Ramos 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 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Gonçalo Ramos 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad 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 Gonçalo Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Real Sociedad who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Derby days make names, and Endrick made his against Athletic Bilbao. 2‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Real Sociedad supporters have already started telling it.
Igor Zubeldia 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.
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Gonçalo Ramos 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 is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Endrick 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aleix Garrido is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Endrick 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Ramos 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Sociedad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Real Sociedad will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“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 Real Sociedad, and 1 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sevilla had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
Endrick 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.
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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Gonçalo Ramos 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aleix Garrido is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Orri Óskarsson and Real Sociedad agree another 5 years.
Real Sociedad asked and Osasuna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jon Aramburu has his answer from Real Sociedad; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I watch every Real Sociedad game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ceuta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Mikel Oyarzábal is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Sociedad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Real Sociedad have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Endrick and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Ramos 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Real Sociedad has been clear about where Yangel Herrera stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Takefusa Kubo is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Sociedad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something 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 Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Antonio Rüdiger has, at Real Sociedad, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Antonio Rüdiger arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Real Madrid have accepted the money. What Real Sociedad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 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 Real Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jon Cruz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Racing Santander for Carlos Soler 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.
Endrick 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.
Real Sociedad asked and Valladolid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Sociedad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sydney Osazuwa had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
A season average of 7.17 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Real Sociedad know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Igor Zubeldia 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 Gonçalo Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Sociedad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Endrick and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Gonçalo Ramos 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.
Real Sociedad asked and Queretaro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Jon Cruz again, and this time the name on the line is Borneo. Real Sociedad are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Igor Zubeldia is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Real Sociedad asked and Lech said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rubén León has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hugo Ibañez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pablo Ferrer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jon Cruz is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Endrick 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 Gonçalo Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Nobody at Real Sociedad 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A season average of 7.17 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Real Sociedad know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Endrick 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Real Sociedad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Ramos 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.
Nobody at Real Sociedad 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Sociedad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The chase for Gonçalo Ramos ended with $90.0M changing hands and AC Milan out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Astra have accepted the money. What Real Sociedad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Huesca waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gonçalo Ramos has just signed for Real Sociedad, and for once the answer mattered.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Ander Barrenetxea was one of the reasons people came, and $61.6M does not replace that by itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad 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.” Álex Marchal and Real Sociedad agree another 5 years.
$90.0M settles it between the clubs for Gonçalo Ramos
AC Milan have accepted the money. What Real Sociedad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gorka Gorosabel did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Igor Zubeldia 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Real Sociedad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Real Sociedad will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nobody at Real Sociedad 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.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.17, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arsen Zakharyan and Real Sociedad agree another 4 years.
Nobody at Real Sociedad 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Sociedad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Real Sociedad 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Endrick signs something — a contract at Real Sociedad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
6 goals in 16 games at Málaga — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Real Sociedad updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Real Sociedad. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Real Sociedad will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
3 goals in 16 games at Zaragoza — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Real Sociedad updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each 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 Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid Real Sociedad $300.0K. Luka Sučić left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Real Sociedad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Position 4 on 76 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.56, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad10 May 2027
Getting past Álex Remiro has become the hardest job in the division
19 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Endrick 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.
390 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.11, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Sociedad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gorka Gorosabel. 2‑0 against Mallorca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Héctor Fort did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Real Sociedad know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
At 20 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Iván Blanco has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Endrick 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.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Real Sociedad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
16 goals and a season average of 7.53 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Dani Díaz, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-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 Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ángel Fortuño has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Real Sociedad are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jon Aramburu.
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 Álex Remiro is on it.
“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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
340 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Real Sociedad know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Endrick 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Getting past Álex Remiro has become the hardest job in the division
13 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Real Sociedad had all but put away. Barcelona will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Nobody left the Real Sociedad dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Real Sociedad has been clear about where Aihen Muñoz stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Sociedad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.40, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Endrick, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.03
A mark of 8.03 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-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 Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lander Astiazarán and Real Sociedad agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Espanyol will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Real Sociedad were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 9.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
Real Sociedad ran out of time with Lech. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad15 Feb 2027
At 19, Álex Marchal is already the best thing here
An average of 6.62 in a first team he is several years too young for. Real Sociedad have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mariano Peña is living that version at Real Sociedad, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Real Sociedad ran out of time with Villarreal. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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.
Match6 Feb 2027
After 11 games, Real Sociedad finally taste it again
The first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Real Madrid; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The deal that would have taken Aitor Fraga to Lazio has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Real Sociedad with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Endrick 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.
Real Sociedad have gone to Villarreal 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.
Lech have accepted the money. What Real Sociedad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The fee is $7.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Rayo Vallecano drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Real Sociedad close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Pelayo is living that version at Real Sociedad, and it tends to show in the first month.
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Real Sociedad supporters have already started telling it.
10 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.
$7.9M on the table at Rayo Vallecano. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $6.3M has been paid because Aleix Garrido is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Aleix Garrido is living that version at Real Sociedad, and it tends to show in the first month.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Mirandés moved on, Álvaro Odriozola reports back to Real Sociedad, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Match23 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Real Sociedad. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Real Madrid have paid $44.6M for Alessandro Bastoni, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Paris Saint-Germain did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $41.4M for Lucas Chevalier, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Real Sociedad pay $57.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alessandro Bastoni is living that version at Real Madrid, and it tends to show in the first month.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
9 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
$6.3M settles it between the clubs for Aleix Garrido
Eibar have accepted the money. What Real Sociedad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Sociedad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He is 20, and nobody at Real Sociedad signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Endrick has just signed for Real Sociedad, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Villarreal have kept their man, and Real Sociedad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The offer went to Real 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 offer went to Porto 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.
Real Sociedad asked and Benfica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Elche will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Real Sociedad were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The offer went to Gijón 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 offer from Atlético Madrid for Mikel Oyarzábal 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.
7 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Takefusa Kubo takes the afternoon — 8.56
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Takefusa Kubo provided it, and the 8.56 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 Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Endrick obliged against Racing Santander. 3‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Real Madrid.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 12 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Madrid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Real Madrid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yan Diomandé 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 28 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“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.
Kylian Mbappé 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.
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Yan Diomandé, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.09
A mark of 8.09 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-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 Real Madrid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Yan Diomandé’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Real Madrid.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Brahim Díaz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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.
The dugout19 Oct 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.” Jon Díaz, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Aurélien Tchouaméni’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A Real Madrid teenager takes the young player award
Endrick is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Endrick provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.27, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Yan Diomandé, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.29
A mark of 8.29 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
With 12 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Thibaut Courtois 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.
3 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Endrick 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.