6 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mérida 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 Pedro Villalba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mérida has been clear about where Jon Núñez stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Mohamed Daramy 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 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal that would have taken Julen Vega to Gimnàstic has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Mérida with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
$440.0K was the most the club would pay and Mallorca were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Mérida asked and Alcorcón 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 Pedro Villalba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mérida can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mérida will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Mohamed Daramy 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 Pedro Villalba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
the manager on the point
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” the manager after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutFranco D'Andrea has become a man the manager trusts
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mérida lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mérida can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mérida will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrés Iglesias was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.31, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Adrián Murillo
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mérida will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Mérida, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mérida is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mérida this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Words at Mérida training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Villalba 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mérida will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Franco D'Andrea is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mérida has been clear about where Antonio Núñez stands, which is more than many ever get.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mérida lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mérida will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Pedro Villalba has just signed for Mérida, and for once the answer mattered.
Mohamed Daramy 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.
A 3‑1 win over Alavés, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
Pedro Villalba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
“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 Mérida, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mérida they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Benjamin Dibrani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Words at Mérida training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamín Ortíz 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.
Three points for Mérida, 2‑0 the final word against Celta Fortuna in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout1 Oct 2035
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.” the manager, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mérida, another week without a signature from Adrián Murillo.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mérida can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Granada 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mérida is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Lucas Núñez has agreed terms with Rayo Vallecano for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
$240.0K on the table at Andorra. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other 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 Mérida this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mérida lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mérida they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Cătălin Vulturar 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lautaro Alfieri wants continental football; whether Mérida 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 Alessandro Bolzan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Mérida know it.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
the manager answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 Mérida, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yahya Jlidi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mérida the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alessandro Bolzan provided it, and the 7.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Adrián Murillo is living that version at Mérida, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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; Mérida are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Ortíz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tenerife lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.59 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tenerife they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Words at Tenerife training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Polizzotto 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tenerife this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Teruel tried to reorganise, Tenerife did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tenerife lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tenerife they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tenerife have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tenerife this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Words at Tenerife training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín Polizzotto 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.
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.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
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 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Felipe Suárez's mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Tenerife ran out of time with Real Madrid. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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.
“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 dugout19 Feb 2035
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 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Iván Chapela has his answer from Tenerife; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tenerife, another week without a signature from Pablo Herrero.
In brief
The dugoutJoan Velázquez has become a man the manager trusts
$4.4M settles it between the clubs for Yussif Saidu
Barcelona have accepted the money. What Tenerife do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adrián Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tenerife the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
The deal with Real Sociedad 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.
Martín Polizzotto 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Osasuna have kept their man, and Tenerife go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deal with Alavés 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.
Tenerife asked and Athletic Bilbao said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$970.0K was the most the club would pay and Sevilla were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Athletic Bilbao keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
4 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.
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.
José Gómez 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tenerife is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Tenerife have had the benefit of it.
“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.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Words at Tenerife training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandro Fernández 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.
7.93, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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 Tenerife 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.
Three points for Tenerife, 2‑0 the final word against Real Murcia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout25 Dec 2034
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.” Interim Coach, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Héctor Gómez has, at Tenerife, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Polizzotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Joan Velázquez 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 7.33, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adrián Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tenerife the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Tenerife can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Polizzotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
José Gómez 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Róber is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Tigran Avanesyan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tenerife have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Javier Gil will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tenerife the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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 Joan Velázquez is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Patrick Soko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Jordi Escobar has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martín Polizzotto provided it, and the 8.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tenerife is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Tenerife, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Pol Muñoz scored, was marked 7.82, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tenerife they have already started talking about him 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 Tenerife, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tenerife have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bruno Di Gennaro 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.
100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mérida is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mérida can pretend not to have heard.
Cătălin Vulturar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Words at Mérida training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamín Ortíz 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mérida, another week without a signature from Tze Xuan Loke.
The dugout25 Sep 2034
Half-satisfied: the manager on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tenerife will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bruno Di Gennaro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tenerife the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Adrián Murillo 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.
Martín Polizzotto 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tenerife will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tenerife lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Tenerife and Girona have settled on $4.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martín Polizzotto provided it, and the 8.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tenerife have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tenerife they have already started talking about him 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 Tenerife, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Deadline passes with 21 signed and 27 gone
That is the business done at Tenerife 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tenerife will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zamora waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tenerife is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer went to Celta 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.
Tenerife asked and Atlético Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Tenerife, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tenerife have gone to Barcelona 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Javier Gil will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tenerife the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Tenerife will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tenerife this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Tenerife training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tenerife will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tenerife can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Barcelona, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Martín Polizzotto 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 phone has started ringing about Andrés Iglesias again, and this time the name on the line is Lugo. Tenerife are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad5 Jun 2034
Words at Tenerife training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Stepanovitch 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tenerife, another week without a signature from Róber.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Tenerife can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tenerife this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Maximiliano Rolón has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Tenerife have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yben Baert was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tenerife, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jorge Oreiro signs something — a contract at Tenerife or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.