Marked for Ivan Villa
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 May 2035
Santiago Vega damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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 dugout21 May 2035
“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.
Market21 May 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Santos Laguna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 May 2035
Carlos Acevedo 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.
Squad21 May 2035
Words at Santos Laguna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ollie Scarles 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 dugout21 May 2035
Víctor Ríos 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 Santos Laguna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Apr 2035
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Santos Laguna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Santos Laguna may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market23 Apr 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Santos Laguna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Apr 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos Laguna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market23 Apr 2035
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jhonier Salas wants continental football; whether Santos Laguna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Words at Santos Laguna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Ríos 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 dugout23 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Quiñonez, and the manager let it.
Market23 Apr 2035
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Lorenzo Luchino has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Santos Laguna.
Market23 Apr 2035
The clock does Vincenzo Damiano’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Santos Laguna could ask drops and the wages Vincenzo Damiano can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Apr 2035
Santiago Vega damages knee ligaments — 83 days out
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.
Market16 Apr 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Santos Laguna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ollie Scarles was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
Víctor Ríos gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad16 Apr 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos Laguna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Santos Laguna are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Market16 Apr 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Santos Laguna, another week without a signature from Jesús Rivas.
Market16 Apr 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mateo González signs something — a contract at Santos Laguna or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market16 Apr 2035
Víctor Ríos runs his contract down
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Santos Laguna money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Sep 2034
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Román Gutiérrez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Santos Laguna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market11 Sep 2034
“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 Santos Laguna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Sep 2034
A move Ivan Villa would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ivan Villa is living that version at Santos Laguna, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom11 Sep 2034
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Eduardo Ramírez 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.
Squad11 Sep 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos Laguna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Sep 2034
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Víctor Ríos 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.
Boardroom11 Sep 2034
Puebla will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Bruno Salgado has pre-agreed a move to Santos Laguna, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2034
Santos Laguna asked and Guadalajara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.