Marked for Facundo Alaggia
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sarmiento can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Sarmiento
Elián Giménez 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.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Sarmiento asked and Vélez said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Cristian Zabala 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 dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Joel Godoy
“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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Sarmiento have made Federico Andueza available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market17 Jan 2028
The name of Iván Arboleda keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sarmiento say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Iván Arboleda wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Sarmiento have no good answer.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Sarmiento will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Sarmiento
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sarmiento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Sarmiento
Benjamín Borasi 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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sarmiento told Manuel Mónaco something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loan watch29 Nov 2027
“I watch every Sarmiento game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Huracán runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Alaggia, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Matías Rosales 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 Sarmiento, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 Nov 2027
Sarmiento have let the market know Nicolás Juárez can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Nov 2027
“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 Sarmiento, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout22 Nov 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Sarmiento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Santamaría 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Carlos Villalba 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Renzo Orihuela, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Valentino Acuña trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 Nov 2027
The Thyago Ayala story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thyago Ayala signs something — a contract at Sarmiento or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad22 Nov 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.