Marked for Genaro Arrue
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Maldonado is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Martín Ginzo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Deportivo Maldonado is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Lucas Suárez 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.
Market2 Oct 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportivo Maldonado can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Cartagena was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Oct 2028
“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.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Cartagena trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Nicolás Fuica watches a signing take the shirt he was promised
At 24 the pathway was supposed to be open. Instead Deportivo Maldonado went to the market, and a local readership is asking the question the academy staff are too diplomatic to ask out loud.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Maldonado is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Lucas Suárez in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Maldonado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Cartagena was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Cartagena trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Genaro Arrue gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Roney Villalba has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Deportivo Maldonado 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
“I want to play”: Genaro Arrue speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Sep 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market4 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Maldonado is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Santiago Cartagena 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Nicolás Goldstein 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.
Market4 Sep 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
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.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
Roney Villalba knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roney Villalba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Aug 2028
“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 Deportivo Maldonado, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
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.
Market28 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Thiago Correa
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thiago Correa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Deportivo Maldonado the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Santiago Ramírez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luciano Aberasteguy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Federico Bonetto's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Ricardo Blanco 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 Deportivo Maldonado, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
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.