“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Artigas can pretend not to have heard.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Anthony da Costa will call it something else in private.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Nicolás Leites has let it be known that he does not like the way Artigas are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Artigas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Anthony da Costa has let it be known that he does not like the way Artigas are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
In brief
The terracesThe press have found their man in Nicolás Leites
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Artigas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A new face in his position, and Emilio MacEachen suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Artigas have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Artigas can pretend not to have heard.
Óscar Contreras is 20, and Artigas have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Yonathan Gorgoroso plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Henrique Aguiar is 20, and Artigas have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Artigas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.