Marked for Alejandro Lara
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Lara
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Central Espanol lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Central Espanol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Espanol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marcos Montiel 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raúl Tarragona, and the manager let it.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sebastian Torres has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Lara
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Central Espanol lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market2 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Central Espanol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Luciano Fernández 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 99% of everything Central Espanol earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fernando Camarda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Central Espanol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Máximo Alonso 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Central Espanol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Montiel 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Lara
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Central Espanol lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Máximo Alonso 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Central Espanol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Montiel 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Market19 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Central Espanol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Matías Kusmanis had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market24 Aug 2026
Wadi Degla come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Central Espanol did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Máximo Alonso 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 Aug 2026
Marcos Montiel 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Central Espanol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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.