“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leones can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafael Granados was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leones have made the call to Once Caldas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Leones. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Juan Diego Ceballos 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.
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafael Granados 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 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 table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Leones says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Leones, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Duvan Hurtado has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Santiago Martínez has his answer from Leones; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Leones 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Leones, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Samuel Guzmán's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
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.
Óscar Segura 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Guzmán 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.
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 Daniel Marmolejo is on it.
Position 19 on 23 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Marlon Flórez 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Santiago Montoya has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Nobody at Leones 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.
Juan Diego Ceballos 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Guzmán 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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Real Cartagena defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Nobody at Leones 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Envigado in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Julian Montero, 16 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leones will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 20 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Juan Diego Ceballos 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.
“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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Guzmán 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leones will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Everything agreed with Deportivo Cali, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Aguilas Doradas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Guzmán 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.
Atletico Nacional 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.
Position 20 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Union Magdalena have accepted the money. What Leones do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leones can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leones have done the hard part with Aguilas Doradas, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Millonarios keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Leones know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Samuel Guzmán has, at Leones, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Juan Diego Ceballos 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aguilas Doradas have kept their man, and Leones go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leones will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leones they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Juan Diego Arboleda 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roinner Fruto 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.