Iván Alvariño 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.
Add another name to the list: Shinnik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thiago Lescano. The answer from Flandria has not changed — yet.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Real, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Flandria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Costa 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Bautista Vidal could afford to be generous.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Flandria has been clear about where Agustín Anacaratti stands, which is more than many ever get.
A brace, and Matías Donato takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matías Donato provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Shinnik for Thiago Lescano 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.
“I watch every Flandria game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportivo Armenio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Costa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Flandria has been clear about where Facundo Brestt stands, which is more than many ever get.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Flandria until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Iván Alvariño 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.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
Flandria spend $330.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $330.0K for Thiago Lescano, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Lanús will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Tomás Bais has pre-agreed a move to Flandria, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Flandria asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.