Marked for Manuel Jove
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orlando Pirates waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Quilmes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Quilmes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Jan 2027
Quilmes say no — this time
The offer from PSIM for Darián Romero was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Quilmes
Raúl Lozano 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ramiro Luna 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
Axel Batista 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 Quilmes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julián Correa, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Leonardo Sassi damages knee ligaments — 47 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Quilmes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
Supporters turn on the $4.4M sale of Aaron Spetale
He is going to Vélez, the club has $4.4M 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Vélez pay $4.4M, 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
“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 Quilmes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Raúl Lozano 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 Quilmes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ramiro Luna 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Jano Coronel
“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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luciano Recalde trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Esteban Glellel 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Quilmes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Colazo 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 178% of everything Quilmes earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Quilmes will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Axel Batista 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Raúl Lozano’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Gabriel Vázquez wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Quilmes have no good answer.