Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Red Bull Salzburg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Red Bull Salzburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. John Mellberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Red Bull Salzburg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Bull Salzburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Daghim 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Red Bull Salzburg, another week without a signature from Nicolás Molina.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Bull Salzburg can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gizo Mamageishvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Red Bull Salzburg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Bull Salzburg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2‑0 against NK Osijek, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Sota Kitano was at the centre of the description.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Red Bull Salzburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
6 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Red Bull Salzburg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Adam Daghim 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.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.84, and 2 involvements.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maurits Kjærgaard 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Red Bull Salzburg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Bull Salzburg can pretend not to have heard.
Adam Daghim 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Benjamin Budimir is living that version at Red Bull Salzburg, and it tends to show in the first month.
6‑0 against Spartaks, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
A 1‑0 win over Wolfsberger AC, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match26 Nov 2031
Oliver Lukić wins it after the whistle should have gone
111 minutes played. Oliver Lukić found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Wolfsberger AC went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
207 appearances across 10 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Red Bull Salzburg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Red Bull Salzburg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Red Bull Salzburg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Adam Daghim 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 had been thinking. Maurits Kjærgaard 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 the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Nicolás Molina has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
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 San Lorenzo have had the benefit of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Axel Araujo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Reali 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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Banfield go through. The table said this team was good enough for months and the format does not care what the table said, which is the argument every eliminated club has had with itself since playoffs were invented.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Lautaro López: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Cuello 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.
José Devecchi 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.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. San Lorenzo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Alexis Cuello 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Oct 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Facundo Bruera'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.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. San Lorenzo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Molina will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Unión de Santa Fe, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.