Leandro Hernández

Attacking Midfielder (L) - Free Agent
4 Dec 2033
Sunday
Process

Marked for Leandro Hernández

359 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

13 Jun 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Israel Poblete out for 69 days

69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Universidad de Chile lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Lautaro Cueli decides it from twelve yards

3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.

Match

Cup progress for Universidad de Chile

A 1‑1 win over Audax Italiano, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

The dugout

Angelo Araos: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Universidad de Chile have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Mitchell Wassenne puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Universidad de Chile, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Diego Valdés wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Universidad de Chile hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Match

The run at home goes on for Universidad de Chile

11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Market

Leandro Hernández is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Universidad de Chile is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Transfer targets

Fran Vieites will not be coming to Universidad de Chile

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Benfica is saying, and nobody at Universidad de Chile is enjoying the guessing.

In brief

Back issues
355 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

16 May 2033
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Israel Poblete out for 98 days

98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Universidad de Chile lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Lautaro Cueli

There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

O'Higgins punish Universidad de Chile for switching off

2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Nardin Mulahusejnović will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Universidad de Chile escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Tunde

Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Nardin Mulahusejnović, 35, rolls back the years — 8.38

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.38 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Leandro Hernández has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Universidad de Chile they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Universidad de Chile

Maximiliano Guerrero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Nicolás Matamoros has a hand in both — 7.87

One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.87, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.

Squad

A row about effort at Universidad de Chile

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Calderón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

351 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

18 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A day Tunde will not forget

6 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

Universidad de Chile tear San Marcos de Arica apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 7‑0 against San Marcos de Arica, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Nardin Mulahusejnović, 35, rolls back the years — 8.97

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.97 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

Universidad de Chile make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Universidad de Chile have 4 straight wins of it.

Market

Only the photograph left for Leandro Hernández

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Universidad de Chile the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tunde is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.38 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A falling-out at Universidad de Chile

Nicolás Ramírez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Tunde was on a different afternoon to everybody else

10.00. 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.

Match

Tunde among the goals in a wild afternoon

7 goals in one match, Tunde on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Universidad de Chile and San Marcos de Arica.

In brief

347 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

21 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Leandro Hernández runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Universidad de Chile march on in the cup

Iquique are out and Universidad de Chile go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Player ratings

Iván Guaraz scores twice — 9.21

Two goals and a mark of 9.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

A brace, and Tunde takes the afternoon — 9.16

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tunde provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Only the photograph left for Leandro Hernández

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Universidad de Chile the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Universidad de Chile

Nicolás Ramírez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

7 unbeaten for Universidad de Chile

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Universidad de Chile did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Words at Universidad de Chile training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Romero 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.

Player ratings

Valentín Escalante was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.14. 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

343 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

21 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Only the photograph left for Leandro Hernández

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Universidad de Chile the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Universidad de Chile

Nicolás Ramírez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Maximiliano Guerrero beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Franco Calderón 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.

Match

Late, late show earns Universidad de Chile a point

Minute 89, against Iquique, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

Squad

9 new faces, and Universidad de Chile 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.

The dugout

When it matters, Javier Altamirano plays

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.

Squad

Sebastian Medel wants out of the dugout

“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Universidad de Chile will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.

Match

Cristián Pardo rescues a point for Universidad de Chile

It needed Cristián Pardo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Iquique, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

339 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

24 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Leandro Hernández is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Universidad de Chile is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Lautaro Cueli has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Universidad de Chile can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Universidad de Chile

Nicolás Ramírez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Franco Calderón 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.

Squad

Santiago Centurión out for 14 days

The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Santiago Centurión, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

Javier Altamirano gets picked when it counts

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 Javier Altamirano is on it.

Squad

Sebastian Medel stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Sebastian Medel and Universidad de Chile agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Market

The shop window has Rodinei in it

Universidad de Chile have let the market know Rodinei can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

The dugout

The manager makes Matías Catalán a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Universidad de Chile. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

335 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

27 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Terms done: Joaquín Papaleo is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Universidad Catolica waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Universidad de Chile is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Matías Catalán puts it in writing

“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 Universidad de Chile, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Only the photograph left for Leandro Hernández

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Universidad de Chile the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Aníbal Moreno

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Universidad de Chile have done the hard part with Olimpia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

Ante Matej Jurić turns down Universidad de Chile

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Porto keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

A falling-out at Universidad de Chile

Nicolás Ramírez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Antonio Díaz wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Transfer targets

Colo-Colo tell Universidad de Chile: Jonathan Villagra is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Lucas Romero 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.

In brief

331 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

29 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Leandro Hernández has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Universidad de Chile they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Nicolás Ramírez in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Universidad de Chile this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Leo Ceara 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.

In brief

327 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

1 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Javier Altamirano breaks a bone — 23 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Sergio Ojeda

33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Universidad de Chile lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

Javier Altamirano keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Universidad de Chile may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Javier Altamirano raises the bar for Universidad de Chile

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Universidad de Chile heard it as anything else.

Market

Only the photograph left for Leandro Hernández

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Universidad de Chile the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Nicolás Ramírez in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Universidad de Chile this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Leo Ceara falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

No hiding place for Matías Catalán

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Catalán, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Angelo Araos plays

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.

In brief

317 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

23 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Javier Altamirano out for 94 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Universidad de Chile will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Sergio Ojeda

103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Universidad de Chile lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

Gabriel Castellón: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Universidad de Chile have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Sagan Tosu come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Universidad de Chile did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Only the photograph left for Leandro Hernández

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Universidad de Chile the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Universidad de Chile

Nicolás Ramírez 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.

Market

Universidad de Chile may not be able to give Antonio Díaz what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Antonio Díaz wants continental football; whether Universidad de Chile can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Universidad de Chile

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Universidad de Chile against Colo-Colo

0‑2 to Colo-Colo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief

316 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

16 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

101 days out for Javier Altamirano after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Universidad de Chile will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Sergio Ojeda damages knee ligaments — 111 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 111 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.

Market

Agustín Maidana asks to leave Universidad de Chile

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

Leandro Hernández keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Universidad de Chile may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Javier Altamirano has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Universidad de Chile can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Player ratings

Maximiliano Guerrero runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Daniel Ribera has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Universidad de Chile they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Universidad de Chile

Nicolás Ramírez 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Universidad de Chile

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Ceara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

311 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

12 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Joaquín Papaleo

30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Universidad de Chile lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Joaquín Rivero scores twice — 8.78

Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Juan Cruz Franzoni agrees terms with Huachipato

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Universidad de Chile people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Leandro Hernández hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Universidad de Chile can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Only the photograph left for Joaquín Papaleo

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Papaleo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Universidad de Chile the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Alejandro Pozo rejects the move

Universidad de Chile had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Wrexham, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Market

Universidad de Chile say no — this time

The offer from San Marcos de Arica for Christian Bravo 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.

Squad

Nicolás Ramírez in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Universidad de Chile this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bruno Torres arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bruno Torres has, at Universidad de Chile, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

In brief

294 Edition

The Universidad de Chile Gazette

15 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Diego Valdés out for 45 days

45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Universidad de Chile lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Gabriel Castellón breaks a bone — 20 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

The wait goes on for Universidad de Chile

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Daniel Ribera has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Universidad de Chile they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Universidad de Chile may not be able to give Lautaro Cueli what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lautaro Cueli wants continental football; whether Universidad de Chile can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Universidad de Chile

Maximiliano Guerrero 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.

Squad

Words at Universidad de Chile training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Ramírez 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.

Match

Iván Fernández’s goal not enough for Universidad de Chile

Iván Fernández scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Huachipato, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

Claudio Fernandez: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief