It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minnesota United FC 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 easiest signature of my career.” Peter Stroud and Minnesota United FC agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marcus Caldeira 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Minnesota United FC, another week without a signature from D.J. Taylor.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Morris Duggan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Minnesota United FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Julian Gressel 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson Díaz 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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Morris Duggan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Minnesota United FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Devin Padelford has agreed terms with New York City for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson Díaz 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.
Maurice Malone 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gio Tillman and Minnesota United FC agree another 3 years.