Marked for Leandro Meza
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nacional can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Nacional asked and Vélez said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Nacional
Sebastián Vargas 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Nacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Barreto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Vélez have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
20 appearances at AVS and the goals keep coming. Nacional are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The Marcelo Ríos conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Rubio Nu will make the call about Marcelo Ríos this week. Nacional have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Independiente CG waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nacional is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Dec 2026
The fee is $490.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Olimpia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Market21 Dec 2026
Tacuary paid $250.0K and Nacional took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Nacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabrizio Jara 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.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
Independiente Rivadavia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Marcelo Ríos 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 Nacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Nacional
Fredy Vera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Marcelo Ríos 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Lucas González knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nacional, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market23 Nov 2026
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Nacional could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Nacional
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabrizio Jara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Nacional
13 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
Leandro Meza 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 Leandro Meza is on it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Orlando Gaona Lugo has written the date down.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
9 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Nacional
Fredy Vera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Nacional is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Josué Colmán gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Nacional
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabrizio Jara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nacional are still strangers to each other
13 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Leandro Meza has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nacional 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Nacional
Sebastián Vargas 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 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Nacional
12 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Nacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Ríos 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.