Marked for Joaquín Moreno
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Jun 2033
Facundo Kalinger damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
The dugout20 Jun 2033
“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.
Market20 Jun 2033
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Villarreal people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market20 Jun 2033
“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.
Market20 Jun 2033
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market20 Jun 2033
Only the photograph left for Joaquín Moreno
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Moreno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Villarreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets20 Jun 2033
$720.0K on the table at Real Sociedad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad20 Jun 2033
Santi Comesaña 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.
Squad20 Jun 2033
Words at Villarreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willy Kambwala 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 May 2033
Georges Mikautadze 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.
Market23 May 2033
“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 The request is on a desk at Villarreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 May 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Villarreal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 May 2033
Words at Villarreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Romero 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.
Squad23 May 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Álvaro Vera commits to Villarreal for another 5 years.
The dugout23 May 2033
Pape Guèye 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 dugout23 May 2033
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.
Market23 May 2033
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Georges Mikautadze’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The terraces23 May 2033
The stands have heard the Renato Veiga talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Villarreal would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Apr 2033
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market25 Apr 2033
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Villarreal can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad25 Apr 2033
Georges Mikautadze 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.
Market25 Apr 2033
Joaquín Moreno has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Villarreal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Apr 2033
A row about effort at Villarreal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
“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 Apr 2033
Renato Veiga gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Renato Veiga is on it.
Market25 Apr 2033
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Georges Mikautadze’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” George Kelly chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Mar 2033
The derby belongs to Villarreal
4‑0 against Valencia, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
Player ratings28 Mar 2033
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Villarreal and a story that will outlast his contract.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
Raúl García: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Villarreal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Mar 2033
Georges Mikautadze 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.
Market28 Mar 2033
Joaquín Moreno has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Villarreal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Mar 2033
Willy Kambwala 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.
Squad28 Mar 2033
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Squad28 Mar 2033
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Villarreal are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
Renato Veiga has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Villarreal 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout7 Mar 2033
“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.
Market7 Mar 2033
“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 Villarreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Mar 2033
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Villarreal heard it as anything else.
Squad7 Mar 2033
Georges Mikautadze 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.
Market7 Mar 2033
CF Montreal come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Villarreal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom7 Mar 2033
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Joaquín Moreno has agreed terms with Real Sociedad for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad7 Mar 2033
A row about effort at Villarreal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Willy Kambwala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Mar 2033
Efe Aghama beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Dec 2032
Only the photograph left for Tommaso Rubino
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tommaso Rubino will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Villarreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market6 Dec 2032
Carlos Romero wants to know where this is going
“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 Villarreal hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The dugout6 Dec 2032
“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.
Squad6 Dec 2032
Willy Kambwala 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.
Market6 Dec 2032
The bid was some way short and Villarreal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad6 Dec 2032
Words at Villarreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Romero 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.
The terraces6 Dec 2032
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match4 Dec 2032
It finished 1‑0, and it was Lucas Giménez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Villarreal.
The dugout6 Dec 2032
Logan Costa 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.