Marked for David Martínez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Nov 2029
The unbeaten run reaches 20. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match19 Nov 2029
Independiente refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 30 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.
Market19 Nov 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Independiente, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Nov 2029
David Martínez: 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.” Independiente have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Nov 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Milton Valenzuela will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Independiente the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Lautaro Millán 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.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
A performance of 9.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jun 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Independiente, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“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.
Market18 Jun 2029
The offer from Güemes for David Martínez 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Lautaro Millán 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.
Market18 Jun 2029
The name of Diego Tarzia has come up in conversations Independiente were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market18 Jun 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Independiente will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Jun 2029
“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 Independiente, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Independiente may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Jun 2029
The offer from Aldosivi for Jonathan De Irastorza 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Lautaro Millán 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
Huracán are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Independiente will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market4 Jun 2029
The phone has started ringing about David Martínez again, and this time the name on the line is Güemes. Independiente are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The manager makes an example of Felipe Loyola
“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.
Match30 May 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
A performance of 8.73 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Jan 2029
Lautaro Millán 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.
Market22 Jan 2029
Independiente have made Diego Herazo available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad22 Jan 2029
David Martínez 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Dec 2028
Güemes come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Independiente did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market11 Dec 2028
Diego Segovia 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 Independiente can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Dec 2028
Diego Segovia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Independiente they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Lautaro Millán 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.
Market11 Dec 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Independiente have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Loan watch11 Dec 2028
“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 Independiente, and 4 appearances in 23 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Dec 2028
Estudiantes come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Independiente did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luciano Cabral commits to Independiente for another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 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 Independiente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Dec 2028
The name of David Martínez has come up in conversations Independiente were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market4 Dec 2028
Union La Calera are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Independiente will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad4 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Lucas Román
“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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Luciano Cabral stands down from international duty
“20 caps is more than I ever expected, and it is time somebody else had them.” At 34 he is finished with his country and nowhere near finished with Independiente.
Market4 Dec 2028
The Kevin López story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kevin López signs something — a contract at Independiente or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
10 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Independiente may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Lautaro Millán 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.
Loan watch27 Nov 2028
“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 Independiente, and 3 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Loan watch27 Nov 2028
The goals keep arriving from Alejandro Garay’s exile
4 goals in 23 games at San Diego Football Club — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Independiente updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch27 Nov 2028
23 starts and an average of 6.65. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Matías Reali 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 Independiente, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Independiente is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Nov 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 Independiente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Martínez and Independiente agree another 4 years.
Loan watch13 Nov 2028
“I watch every Independiente game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vitória runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Demián Troya 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Santiago Arias 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jun 2028
Estudiantes come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Independiente did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Independiente may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jun 2028
He is 20, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Market5 Jun 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 Independiente, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Santiago Arias 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Independiente have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.