Marked for Milton Cantero
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Mar 2028
Lautaro Bursich damages knee ligaments — 83 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
Match8 Mar 2028
The small margins put Talleres out
Out, 0‑1 to Gimnasia y Esgrima, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market13 Mar 2028
“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.
Match11 Mar 2028
At last: Talleres win one
11 matches without a win, and then this, against Defensores Unidos. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad13 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Talleres
Federico Versaci and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Talleres
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Samaniego was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Mar 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Federico Versaci. 1‑0 against Defensores Unidos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad13 Mar 2028
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages eat 115% of everything Talleres earn
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Player ratings
Nobody on the pitch touched Federico Versaci
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Feb 2028
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Talleres lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
Anger at Talleres spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match26 Feb 2028
The wait goes on for Talleres
9 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.
Market28 Feb 2028
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market28 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Gabriel Altamirano 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Samaniego 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Feb 2028
Lautaro Bursich 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.
Market14 Feb 2028
“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.
Match12 Feb 2028
7 matches without a win for Talleres
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Talleres are no longer polite ones.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad14 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Talleres
Federico Versaci and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Leonel Barrios 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.
Match12 Feb 2028
1‑2 to Almirante Brown, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Feb 2028
47 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Bazzi 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Talleres
Gabriel Altamirano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hassan Al-Harbi and Talleres agree another 3 years.
Market17 Jan 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Talleres, another week without a signature from Federico Ulayar.
Market17 Jan 2028
Experience through the door at Talleres
Gustavo Moggio arrives at 37 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
Milton Cantero knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Milton Cantero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market17 Jan 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matías Samaniego signs something — a contract at Talleres or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 Jan 2028
Supporters organise against the Talleres board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market3 Jan 2028
“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 dugout3 Jan 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market3 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with Almirante Brown, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad3 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Hernán Taborda 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 dugout3 Jan 2028
Rodrigo Vélez 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 Talleres, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Dec 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Talleres people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market20 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Talleres
Federico Versaci 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.
Transfer targets20 Dec 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Almirante Brown have kept their man, and Talleres go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Bazzi 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 targets20 Dec 2027
Almirante Brown 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.
Transfer targets20 Dec 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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Federico Ulayar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Dec 2027
The mood at Talleres has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Noah Ramírez has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Talleres can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market6 Dec 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 Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
Everything agreed with Almirante Brown, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad6 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
Talleres asked and Colón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Bazzi 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 targets6 Dec 2027
A loan move for Fernando Bravo is in the works
Talleres have made the call to Independiente Rivadavia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Nov 2027
Talleres are in real trouble now
Position 18, 17 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Pressure builds in the Talleres boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market29 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Talleres
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Bazzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Belts tighten at Talleres
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Milton Cantero asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market29 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Federico Versaci signs something — a contract at Talleres or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Nov 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Nov 2027
Matías Bazzi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Oct 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 Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Oct 2027
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Talleres
Federico Versaci 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Talleres
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Bazzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lautaro Bursich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Oct 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 Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Talleres
Matías Bazzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Lautaro César 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Milton Cantero 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 Talleres, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Talleres know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Oct 2027
Talleres are in real trouble now
Position 18, 17 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Pressure builds in the Talleres boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market4 Oct 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ignacio Colombini and Talleres agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Talleres
Matías Samaniego and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Bazzi 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.
Market4 Oct 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Talleres counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Talleres now.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Rodrigo Vélez knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrigo Vélez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Sep 2027
Talleres finish in position 18
17 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
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.
Match25 Sep 2027
5 matches without a win for Talleres
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Talleres are no longer polite ones.
Market27 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad27 Sep 2027
43 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match25 Sep 2027
The goals have deserted Talleres
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Talleres can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Talleres
Federico Versaci 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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lautaro Bursich, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Aug 2027
72 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Talleres
Federico Versaci 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
1‑2 to San Telmo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Lautaro Bursich
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Rodrigo Vélez will call it something else in private.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Lautaro César 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Talleres's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Talleres has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match14 Aug 2027
5 matches without a goal for Talleres
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad16 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Aug 2027
Agropecuario Argentino left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Matías Bazzi 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 dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Federico Versaci's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Noah Ramírez left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jul 2027
0‑3 to Estudiantes, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market26 Jul 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 Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Window shuts: 0 in, 0 out at Talleres
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Federico Versaci 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Talleres
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Bazzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Wages eat 120% of everything Talleres earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
No place for Rodrigo Vélez on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Talleres pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.