Marked for Samuel Guzmán
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jonathan Marulanda had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Match12 Jun 2027
4‑1, and Thomás Amilivia took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Leones tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market14 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leones have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market14 Jun 2027
Samuel Guzmán 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 Leones can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Leones — 7.75
1 for Juan Diego Ceballos, marked 7.75, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout14 Jun 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Leones asked and Independiente Medellin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Santiago Martínez 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.33 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
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Leones
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Meneses was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Leones
Samuel Guzmán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match30 Jan 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hector Gonzalez was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Leones dressing room was either.
Market1 Feb 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Juan José Castaño has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Leones.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Leones man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Thomás Amilivia was the best thing in any of them.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Roinner Fruto has moved up it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Roinner Fruto 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 Leones, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Juan José Castaño has become a man the manager trusts
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrés Monsalve will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leones the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Germán Meneses 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Leones
Samuel Guzmán 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
Uneasy
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
Everything agreed with Real Cartagena, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Germán Meneses 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Leones
Samuel Guzmán 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Leones will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Cristian Lora
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
Bryan Caicedo 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 Bryan Caicedo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 171% of everything Leones 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Leones
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Meneses was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Germán Meneses 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Leones
Jeycob Zabaleta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market24 Aug 2026
Leones have made Samuel Guzmán available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.