Marked for Anthony Khayat
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 May 2028
Joel Godoy hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Celta Fortuna can pretend not to have heard.
Market29 May 2028
Caio Barone has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Celta Fortuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 May 2028
Hugo Burcio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
Aleix Febas 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.
Market29 May 2028
A season away well spent by Aleix Febas
38 games, 9 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Celta Fortuna now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Market29 May 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Anthony Khayat has his answer from Celta Fortuna; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Adrià Capdevila
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout29 May 2028
Iván Villar asks for a word with the manager
“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.
The terraces29 May 2028
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Celta Fortuna would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 May 2028
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Celta Fortuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match13 May 2028
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Zamora kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Celta Fortuna will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Match15 May 2028
The season ends: position 6 for Celta Fortuna
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 56 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market15 May 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 Celta Fortuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 May 2028
24 goals and a season average of 7.36. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Cristian Arceo, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 May 2028
Andrés Antañón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 May 2028
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 May 2028
Anthony Khayat damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad8 May 2028
23 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Aldrine Kibet, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.23
A mark of 8.23 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad8 May 2028
Pablo Gavián and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces8 May 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jones El-Abdellaoui 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.
Match6 May 2028
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Pablo Meixús
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 May 2028
Anthony Khayat damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Market1 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad1 May 2028
Pablo Gavián 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 Celta Fortuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Meixús was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 May 2028
“I want to play”: Iván Villar 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.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Izan Server, and the manager let it.
Match29 Apr 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Talavera defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market1 May 2028
The Iván Villar talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Celta Fortuna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Celta Fortuna's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Celta Fortuna has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market13 Sep 2027
The offer from Ourense CF for Xandre 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Xandre, 20, steals the show — 8.00
Marked 8.00 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Andrés Antañón 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 terraces13 Sep 2027
One of their own: Xandre
He is 20 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Pablo Meixús 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“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
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ángel Arcos reports back to Celta Fortuna with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Ángel Arcos 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Meixús was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Germain Milla, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Iván Villar: “I am not a substitute”
“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 Celta Fortuna will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Jones El-Abdellaoui
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jones El-Abdellaoui has come out of that comparison in the side, and Celta Fortuna have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Celta Fortuna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market6 Sep 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Andrés Antañón’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market6 Sep 2027
Celta Fortuna have let the market know Anthony Khayat can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Álvaro Núñez: 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.” Celta Fortuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market23 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Joel López
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joel López will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Celta Fortuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Hugo Burcio 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Celta Fortuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Núñez 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Xandre is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Celta Fortuna has been clear about where Xandre stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Iván Villar asks for a word with the manager
“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.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The plan did not have a place for Álvaro Núñez
Nobody at Celta Fortuna is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Not in the side at kick-off and the story of it by the end. Celta Fortuna were going nowhere until he came on, and half an hour was all he needed.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Ángel Arcos 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Óscar Marcos 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
Joel López 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 Celta Fortuna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 May 2027
“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.
Market24 May 2027
The Ángel Arcos talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Celta Fortuna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout24 May 2027
Kike Ribes has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kike Ribes has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Joel López and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Celta Fortuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar Marcos 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Celta Fortuna can tell you which week it ends in.
Match17 Apr 2027
0‑1 to Lugo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Sergio Montero to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
A promise honoured for Kike Ribes
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Celta Fortuna told Kike Ribes something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Anthony Khayat
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Celta Fortuna may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Hugo Burcio 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 Celta Fortuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar Marcos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Adrià Capdevila
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A Celta Fortuna teenager takes the young player award
Germain Milla is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kike Ribes’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Celta Fortuna needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market29 Mar 2027
The name of Óscar Marcos keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Celta Fortuna say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“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
Squad15 Mar 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Aldrine Kibet, 20, steals the show — 7.70
Marked 7.70 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Ángel Arcos 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 Celta Fortuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Celta Fortuna know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Zamora made Celta Fortuna work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anthony Khayat, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Óscar Marcos 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 Celta Fortuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match30 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Celta Fortuna do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hugo Burcio, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Luis Bilbao 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Racing Ferrol had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Óscar Marcos has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Celta Fortuna will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Match30 Jan 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sergio Montero was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Celta Fortuna dressing room was either.