Marked for Santino Coronel
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Nov 2028
75 days out for Sebastián Jaume after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Albion will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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 Albion this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Felipe Agosto has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Albion is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Albion
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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 Lucas Rodríguez is on it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Albion, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Sep 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Albion they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Albion
Santiago Costa 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Albion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Rodríguez 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Santino Coronel and Albion agree another 4 years.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Albion are still strangers to each other
6 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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Joaquín Medina
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Sep 2028
Only the photograph left for Felipe Agosto
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felipe Agosto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Albion the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Albion
Santiago Costa 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kevin Bitancourt and Albion agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Gerónimo Blanco
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Gerónimo Blanco has come out of that comparison in the side, and Albion have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Maximiliano Hoffman 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.
Market4 Sep 2028
11 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market4 Sep 2028
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Santino Coronel arrives at Albion with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Market4 Sep 2028
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Luciano Montaos arrives at Albion with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Oct 2027
“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.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Julián Vila goes up and wins it — 7.82
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.82 for the rest of it.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Arsenal
Lautaro Guzmán 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Thiago Schiavulli 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Dylan Cabral 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.
Match16 Oct 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Noah Vázquez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
A promise honoured at Arsenal
Something was said to Bautista Goncebat and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.