There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rodrigo Cabral provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Position 3, 17 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Borzone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atlético Tucumán the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlético Tucumán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Braian Mamani 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Atlético Tucumán have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
$4.4M on the table at Rosario Central. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Atlético Tucumán until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nahuel Tisón reports back to Atlético Tucumán with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The offer from Huachipato for Rodrigo Borzone 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atlético Tucumán people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Tucumán can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlético Tucumán they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Atlético Tucumán has to find a result from somewhere.
Estudiantes will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Valentín Fenoglio has pre-agreed a move to Atlético Tucumán, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atlético Tucumán people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Atlético Tucumán have gone to Rosario Central 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 offer from Huracán for Brian Martínez 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.
Atlético Tucumán had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Palmeiras, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Franco Petroli 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 offer went to Chaco For Ever 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.
Sacachispas will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Valentín Mancuso has pre-agreed a move to Atlético Tucumán, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Tucumán can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlético Tucumán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Alejo Mainero has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Atlético Tucumán have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ezequiel Flores left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Mateo Coronel
“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 Atlético Tucumán, and it is not being withdrawn.
Leonel Di Plácido 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.
Atlético Tucumán asked and Quilmes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Alanís was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Atlético Tucumán have made the call to Elche. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Clever Ferreira 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.
“I watch every Atlético Tucumán game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Csákvár runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Atlético Tucumán told Juan Infante something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés Brandán 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.
Nobody at Atlético Tucumán 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlético Tucumán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Atlético Tucumán, and 2 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrigo Borzone trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Román Fernández is on it.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atlético Tucumán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 73 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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 Atlético Tucumán, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nahuel Tisón 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 words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Clever Ferreira 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.
Godoy Cruz will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Felipe Cairus has pre-agreed a move to Atlético Tucumán, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Atlético Tucumán, and 7 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés Brandán 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.
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.
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.
“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 Atlético Tucumán will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alex Soria has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Leonel Di Plácido 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.
Atlético Tucumán asked and Vitória said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Atlético Tucumán will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.01, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Tucumán can pretend not to have heard.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Atlético Tucumán have gone to Huracán 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 chase for Nahuel Tisón ended with $230.0K changing hands and Boca Juniors out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlético Tucumán 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. Real Sociedad have kept their man, and Atlético Tucumán go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Thiago Delgado again, and this time the name on the line is Rustavi. Atlético Tucumán are listening politely and promising nothing.
A 1‑0 win over Ferrocarril Midland, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Gustavinho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Alberto Alonso could afford to be generous.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nahuel Tisón did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alcorcón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Nahuel Tisón’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Alcorcón.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Dani Sánchez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Alberto Alonso, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Boca Juniors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $176.2K — a club that wants Matías Salerno enough to be asked twice.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boca Juniors asked and Madryn said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Lautaro Di Lollo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nicolás Figal 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.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Nahuel Tisón’s exile
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Dani Sánchez 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Morales was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Alcorcón, and 3 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nahuel Tisón. 2‑0 against Sabadell, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Nahuel Tisón in the middle of it, and Sabadell unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Alcorcón who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Boca Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Boca Juniors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Malcom Braida reports back to Boca Juniors with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Jhon Aponza has agreed terms with Unión de Santa Fe for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jhon Aponza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Battaglia 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.