The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Facundo Pérez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lanús the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Javier Bustillos has agreed terms with Atlético Tucumán for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lanús this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Cardozo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 shut-outs in 22 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Nicolás Claa has been having a lot of them.
“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.
Loan watch16 Oct 2028
Martín Leal’s loan is measured in nothing happening
9 clean sheets from 24 appearances at Union Espanola. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lanús lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lanús have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lanús can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Lanús hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Santiago Sosa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Quintana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.79, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Juan Velázquez at his very best
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Akhmat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Akhmat, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Akhmat can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akhmat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Facundo Pérez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lanús the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lanús this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Cardozo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Diego Porcel 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chelyabinsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Akhmat is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Akhmat, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal that would have taken Nichita Moțpan to Yenisey has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Akhmat with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Egas Cacintura 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Arsen Adamov 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.
Spartak Moscow left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
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 Kirill Korotkov left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Akhmat will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lanús is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Santiago Sosa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Cardozo 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lanús, and 3 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Diego Porcel 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.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Nahuel Losada now has 25 of them across 350 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
The offer from Beroe for Andrey Ivlev 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.
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.
Everything agreed with Lokomotiv Moscow, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
5 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.
Facundo Quintana 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miroslav Bogosavac 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akhmat can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akhmat have done the hard part with Neftekhimik, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 Akhmat know 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 Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Turpal-Ali Ibishev has come up in conversations Akhmat were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arsen Adamov 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.
3 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.
Akhmat asked and KAMAZ 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Akhmat people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
Add another name to the list: Neftekhimik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Turpal-Ali Ibishev. The answer from Akhmat has not changed — yet.
Akhmat offered $2.2M; Torpedo Moscow said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Akhmat have gone to SKA Khabarovsk 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arsen Adamov 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and Akhmat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 3‑0 win over Barracas Central, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lanús people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alexis Segovia had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Santiago Sosa 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.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lanús, and 2 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lanús they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelino Moreno 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Eduardo Salvio is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“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 Akhmat know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Karpukas 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 Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Akhmat 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akhmat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Akhmat would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Artem Karpukas 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ismael trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Akhmat that is a harder question to answer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lanús can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Lanús heard it as anything else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lanús 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 Lanús this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Three points for Lanús, 2‑0 the final word against Gimnasia y Esgrima in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Sasha Marcich 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.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Akhmat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akhmat can pretend not to have heard.
Baltika pay $700.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arsen Adamov 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.
“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 Lanús, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Juan Velázquez 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Bruno Cabrera had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Club have kept their man, and Lanús go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Lanús have had the benefit of it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Lanús heard it as anything else.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $742.5K — a club that wants Agustín Curruhinca enough to be asked twice.
“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.
“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 Lanús, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lanús have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lanús this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad6 Sep 2027
13 new faces, and Lanús are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lanús, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadWords at Lanús training over how hard people work
Santiago Sosa 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.
Add another name to the list: Polokwane City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Facundo Quintana. The answer from Lanús has not changed — yet.
13 goals in 30 games at Villa Dálmine — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Lanús updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
13 shut-outs in 27 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Ángel Martínez has been having a lot of them.
30 appearances at San Martín de Burzaco and the goals have stopped going in. Lanús lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Felipe Peña Biafore trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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. Defensa y Justicia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cristopher Fiermarin and Defensa y Justicia agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defensa y Justicia asked and Mitre said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Braian Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Lorenzo Brun’s exile
The deal with Boca Juniors is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lanús people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Lanús heard it as anything else.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $19.3M — a club that wants Carlos Palacios enough to be asked twice.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Tomás Bais has agreed terms with Flandria for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Eduardo Salvio 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. José María Ingratti is living that version at Lanús, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Defensa y Justicia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Defensa y Justicia, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.