Marked for Oliver Melgoza
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Oct 2027
No mercy from Leon
Chiapas will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Leon were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.07, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Oliver Melgoza: 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.” Leon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Leon
Jordi Cortizo 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Santiago Colombatto 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 terraces11 Oct 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Hiram Mier 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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
52 days out for Hector Sanchez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leon will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market28 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Morelia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Leon is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market28 Jun 2027
“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 terraces28 Jun 2027
Leon sell a favourite for $3.9M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Emi Rodriguez was one of the reasons people came, and $3.9M does not replace that by itself.
Market28 Jun 2027
Emi Rodriguez has left for Guadalajara in a $3.9M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Leon
Jordi Cortizo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Oliver Melgoza is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Leon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Domínguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market28 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Salvador Reyes has his answer from Leon; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Leon
Ismael Díaz 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.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Leon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Domínguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Beltrán, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oliver Melgoza and Leon agree another 4 years.
Squad3 May 2027
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Youssef Ortiz, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leon have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
Guadalajara pay $970.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad24 Aug 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 Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Leon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Leon against Pumas UNAM
0‑1 to Pumas UNAM, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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 Diego Vega left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Francisco Rodriguez commits to Leon for another 3 years.