Javi López-Pinto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Eber Vera 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 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sabadell is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jordi Ortega will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sabadell the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Diego Fuoli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eber Vera 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Duván Riascos had Sabadell level again within 4 minutes, and Sevilla Atlético never got to play with a lead at all.
“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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Álvaro Domínguez chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Carlos García'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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eber Vera 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Sabadell is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sabadell has been clear about where Sergi Segura stands, which is more than many ever get.
Alcorcón next, and one man in the Sabadell dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Ton Ripoll is on it.
In brief
The dugoutÁlex Cañizo knocks on the manager's door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sabadell will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Lucho Vega 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Santiago Krieger’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sabadell.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marco Lambert was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eber Vera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Sabadell close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Basel is saying, and nobody at Sabadell is enjoying the guessing.
The fee is $310.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Guadalajara drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Álex Cañizo was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $310.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Basel have kept their man, and Sabadell go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sabadell will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sabadell has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Duván Riascos takes the afternoon — 8.62
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Duván Riascos provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sabadell can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sabadell they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Atlético Madrid is saying, and nobody at Sabadell is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Murcia have kept their man, and Sabadell go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sabadell can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sabadell they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eber Vera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 Álvaro Domínguez left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutGaspar Iñíguez is still being punished for one mistake
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Eber Vera 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.
Marked 6.90 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sabadell told Hugo Mallo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sabadell, another week without a signature from Carlos Alemán.
Nahuel 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eber Vera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sabadell lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Algeciras were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eber Vera 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Sergi Segura
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sabadell lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sabadell is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Duván Riascos 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Eber Vera 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sabadell lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nahuel 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eber Vera 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Tarazona scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sabadell, another week without a signature from Lucho Vega.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sabadell people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Sabadell had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Palermo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Lucho Vega 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eber Vera 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Sabadell know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Javi Mier has, at Sabadell, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Sabadell will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sabadell are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gaspar Iñíguez has, at Sabadell, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Sabadell have gone to Rayo Vallecano with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $4.4M — a club that wants Jozhua Vertrouwd enough to be asked twice.
Duván Riascos 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Víctor Santiago has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Sabadell asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Eber Vera 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sabadell are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.