Sergio Barajas

Goalkeeper - Lokeren
21 Jul 2027
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Sergio Barajas

44 Edition

The Lokeren Chronicle

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Derrick Kyere breaks a bone — 63 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Words exchanged at Lokeren

Michaël Heylen 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.

Squad

Dante Rigo 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 dugout

Alain Zadi 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.

Market

Lokeren buy the years ahead of Sergio Barajas

He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Squad

Lokeren 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.

The dugout

Benjamin Santelli asks for a word with the manager

“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.

Market

Talks stall between Lokeren and Sergio Barajas

“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 dugout

A door opens for Gilles Lentz

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

Back issues
22 Edition

The Santos Laguna Sentinel

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $3.3M sale of Carlos Gruezo

He is going to Millonarios, the club has $3.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Market

Carlos Gruezo moves on

Millonarios pay $3.3M, 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.

The dugout

Sergio Barajas says Santos Laguna went back on their word

“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.

Match

4 matches without a win for Santos Laguna

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Santos Laguna are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Words exchanged at Santos Laguna

Franco Pardo 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.

Match

Veracruz take the points off Santos Laguna

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words at Santos Laguna training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Amione 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.

Loan watch

Jonathan Pérez counts the days

“I watch every Santos Laguna game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cruz Azul runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Rodolfo Montes to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

12 Edition

The Santos Laguna Sentinel

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Anthony Lozano

95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Santos Laguna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

No end in sight to Santos Laguna's wait for a win

9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Santos Laguna has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

Sergio Barajas: 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.” Santos Laguna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Ramiro Sordo runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Franco Pardo in a row with a teammate

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Santos Laguna

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Gruezo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Santos Laguna against Tijuana

1‑2 to Tijuana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

José Javier Abella is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Santos Laguna has been clear about where José Javier Abella stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of José Javier Abella

“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.

In brief