Marked for Erik Escobar
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Córdoba people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A one-man rearguard from Iker Álvarez
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market15 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Erik Escobar: 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.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market15 Jan 2029
Iker Álvarez wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Córdoba hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Diego Bri 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.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Córdoba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Jan 2029
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market8 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Oviedo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Córdoba is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Both of them Diego Bri's — 8.94
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.94, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market8 Jan 2029
Erik Escobar 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 Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Córdoba
Dani Tasende 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Córdoba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
A masterclass from Dalisson
Marked 9.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fer Beltrán commits to Córdoba for another 1 years.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jul 2028
67 days out for Ximo Navarro after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Córdoba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market31 Jul 2028
Terms done: Theo is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Huesca waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Córdoba is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Getafe; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market31 Jul 2028
Kevin Medina 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 Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jonathan Zacaría will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Córdoba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Jul 2028
At 21 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Córdoba
Theo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Castellón have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Jul 2028
At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Ximo Navarro out for 97 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Córdoba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Jul 2028
Terms done: Theo is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Huesca waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Córdoba is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Gabriel Flores has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The Córdoba board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market3 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
“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.
Market3 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Córdoba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Córdoba
Dani Tasende 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.