The Nacional Sentinel
Market28 Jul 2031
Pedro Milans 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 Nacional can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
Adrián Spörle: 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.” Nacional have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market28 Jul 2031
Kauê de Deus has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nacional they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market28 Jul 2031
Aldo Pérez has his eye on Europe
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nacional can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A falling-out at Nacional
Diego Duarte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Words at Nacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Milans 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.
Market28 Jul 2031
Nacional sign Víctor Villalba with one eye on the future
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Víctor Villalba has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
Alan Pereira has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nacional 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
The formation has left Víctor Villalba behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Nacional will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
- The dugout Jorge Mora knocks on the manager's door
- The dugout Luis Santa Cruz gets it from the manager
- Squad Diego Duarte has company in his position