119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leones lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Taigy Dugard will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leones the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Exequiel Mereles 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.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Ángel Arboleda 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.
Leones asked and Millonarios said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A loan enquiry to Deportivo Pereira: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
140 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Leones lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leones is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Ángel Arboleda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Leyner Palacios is on it.
José Lloreda damages knee ligaments — 147 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 147 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Mosquera Marmolejo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Leones could ask drops and the wages Germán Meneses can ask rise.
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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leones, another week without a signature from Taigy Dugard.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Leones, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leones is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Ángel Arboleda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Exequiel Mereles and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Ángel Arboleda 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Leones know it.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Leones know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Jerónimo Echeverri 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Mondragón, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Joseph Timi 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.
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.
Exequiel Mereles 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.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Ángel Arboleda 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.
Barranquilla next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout9 Sep 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gustavo Cordoba was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Leones dressing room was either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leones, another week without a signature from Taigy Dugard.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Taigy Dugard will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leones the goodbyes have quietly begun.
6 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.
“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 Leones, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leones is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Ángel Arboleda 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 Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Exequiel Mereles 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 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Santiago Montoya. 2‑0 against Real Cartagena, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Gustavo Cordoba could afford to be generous.
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leones has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Manuel Jorge 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.
Jerónimo Echeverri 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.
Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout6 May 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Gustavo Cordoba to a room that had heard them before.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Joseph Timi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Leones asked and Millonarios 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Exequiel Mereles trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Leones has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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.
The offer from Deportivo Pereira for Juan Diego Arboleda was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Glen Masava has just signed for Leones, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Leones asked and Atletico Nacional said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.