“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 The request is on a desk at Patronato, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Barinaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Valentin Pereyra 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maximiliano Rueda. 2‑1 against Arsenal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 23 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.
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.
7.79, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Patronato had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” James Barnes kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentín Weinzettel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Patronato have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Valentin Pereyra has come out of that comparison in the side, and Patronato have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
All Boys next, and one man in the Patronato dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Ignacio Fernandes is on it.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Patronato this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Patronato training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Barinaga 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.
At 23 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, James Barnes could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutIván Chaves knocks on the manager’s door
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Estudiantes go through and Patronato go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.30 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Patronato 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.
9 combined actions and 6.60. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Franco Soldano 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 Juan Pablo Barinaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑0, James Barnes could afford to be generous.
Something was said to Maverick Müller and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The offer from Alvarado for Maverick Müller 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.
“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 Patronato, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Banfield keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Patronato have gone to Quilmes 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 Patronato this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bartosz Bednarek has just signed for Patronato, and for once the answer mattered.
The deal with Banfield 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.
Juan Pablo Barinaga 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.
Add another name to the list: Alvarado have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Maverick Müller. The answer from Patronato has not changed — yet.
Patronato asked and Sarmiento said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Patronato training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentín Weinzettel 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juan Salas signs something — a contract at Patronato or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Salas wants continental football; whether Patronato can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Barinaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Quilmes have kept their man, and Patronato go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Patronato are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maximiliano Rueda signs something — a contract at Patronato or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Patronato that is a harder question to answer.
“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 Patronato, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Banfield 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Patronato this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Patronato have gone to Quilmes 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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Patronato training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentín Weinzettel 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 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 Patronato know 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 Patronato, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Patronato people have started saying his name in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Patronato can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.07, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The offer went to Quilmes this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Patronato 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 Juan Pablo Barinaga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Atlético Tucumán have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
The dugoutAugusto Picco knocks on the manager's door
Villa San Carlos have accepted the money. What Patronato do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Patronato had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Patronato this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Quilmes have kept their man, and Patronato go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Los Andes will make the call about Maverick Müller this week. Patronato have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maverick Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juan Augusto Pussetto 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Patronato training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Barinaga 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.
Güemes next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Iván Chaves knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal with Instituto 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Patronato they have already started talking about him 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Club have kept their man, and Patronato go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Barolín will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Patronato the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Up for the corner, and Gabriel Díaz delivers — 7.67
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gabriel Díaz scored, was marked 7.67, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Joaquín Barolín has agreed terms with Argentinos Juniors 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Salas 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 Patronato this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Luciano Strey 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Maximiliano Rueda has his answer from Patronato; what he does with it is the next window’s story.