“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 The request is on a desk at Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The offer from Deportes Concepción for Facundo Rodríguez 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aldosivi have kept their man, and Talleres go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Talleres will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Juan Carlos Martínez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Federico Versaci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Infante was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Bazzi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Talleres will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ignacio Colombini signs something — a contract at Talleres or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Talleres will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Zira for Leonel Niklinski 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.
Federico Versaci 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Infante 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.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Talleres were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Gonzalo Aravena is 17, and Talleres have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Gimnasia y Esgrima keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. All Boys have kept their man, and Talleres go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Sebastián Gallardo 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.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Talleres now.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Ponce 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Talleres will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Sebastián Gallardo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hernán Taborda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Facundo Infante is on it.
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 Talleres have no good answer.
In brief
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Mauro Casoli
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Gimnasia y Esgrima is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Leonel Niklinski reports back to Talleres with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Talleres asked and All Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Sebastián Gallardo 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.
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
In brief
SquadBruno Ponce falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutHernán Taborda asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Talleres people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Unión de Santa Fe, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Estudiantes is saying, and nobody at Talleres is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nueva Chicago have kept their man, and Talleres go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Facundo Infante 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikoloz Mali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Badri Gogoberishvili 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.
Nobody at Dila will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 38 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Nobody at Talleres will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Talleres know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutTobías Armas knocks on the manager’s door
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nikoloz Mali 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 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alioune Tall is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dila know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Giorgi Jalaghonia has written the date down.
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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Talleres, and 4 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Talleres will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abel Masuero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Talleres know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Tobías Armas
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 16 actions, 6.72, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Sebastián Gallardo 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.
“I watch every Talleres game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dila runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Talleres pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Juan Carlos Martínez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro César was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikoloz Mali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dila this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dila, and both men came out saying it was fine.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Facundo Infante 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Talleres, and 4 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sioni waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dila is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dila can pretend not to have heard.
The bid was some way short and Dila did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Nikoloz Mali 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.
Tedo Kikabidze 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: Dinamo Tbilisi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ibrahima Dramé. The answer from Dila has not changed — yet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lasha Menteshashvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dila the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikoloz Mali 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dila this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dila know it.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Position 8 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Position 8 on 16 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dila have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dila can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hítalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dila asked and Merani said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.53 for the rest of it.
Everything agreed with Estudiantes, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eugenio Olivera 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.
Sebastián Gallardo 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sioni waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dila is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dila have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Dila, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dila have done the hard part with Talleres, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikoloz Mali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑3 against Godoy Cruz, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Talleres people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Talleres have done the hard part with Gimnasia y Esgrima, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Federico Versaci 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Abel Masuero for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Talleres will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rodríguez 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Luciano Zannier scored, was marked 7.70, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Federico Versaci 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Luciano Zannier’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Talleres.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eugenio Olivera 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 dugout31 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Juan Carlos Martínez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Something was said to Federico Ulayar and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Godoy Cruz.
Position 16 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 19 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 6.47, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rodríguez 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Mauro Casoli
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mauro Casoli has come out of that comparison in the side, and Talleres have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Federico Versaci 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.
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.
A 2‑0 win over Chacarita Juniors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Talleres who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Facundo Rodríguez has come out of that comparison in the side, and Talleres have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eugenio Olivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sebastián Gallardo 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Talleres, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Chacarita Juniors in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Eugenio Olivera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.16, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Braian Mansilla, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.28
A mark of 8.28 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Matías Bazzi 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Juan Pablo Arango has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eugenio Olivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Bruno Ponce at his very best
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rustavi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Defensores; Rustavi go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Irakli Iakobidze 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Renzo Trotta has, at Rustavi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Rustavi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luís Soares 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.
Rustavi asked and Almirante Brown said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Talleres people have started saying his name in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Carlos Muñoz has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mario Suárez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rustavi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Rustavi asked and Defensores said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Souza De Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Spaeri for Facundo Rodríguez 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 at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eugenio Olivera 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.
Sebastián Gallardo 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“I watch every Talleres game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Telavi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Talleres have no good answer.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Talleres will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Talleres lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Talleres had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The deal with Gimnasia y Esgrima is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gimnasia y Esgrima have kept their man, and Talleres go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eugenio Olivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Talleres lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at Talleres no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Facundo Rodríguez may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Samaniego trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rustavi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
In brief
The dugoutManuel Pami knocks on the manager's door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Talleres will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
An order from above at Talleres: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eugenio Olivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Talleres, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mauro Casoli is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abel Masuero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Talleres will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 6.99, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rodríguez 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 27 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Victor Rangel 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luís Soares was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sioni have kept their man, and Rustavi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Roland Djobava again, and this time the name on the line is Samtredia. Rustavi are listening politely and promising nothing.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Rustavi know which stage they are at.
Irakli Iakobidze 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Rustavi will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Rustavi asked and Guarani said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Dito Pachulia 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Rustavi know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Out, 0‑1 to Samgurali Tskaltubo, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The deal with Talleres is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Irakli Iakobidze 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luís Soares was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rustavi asked and Piast said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Rustavi know which stage they are at.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rustavi, another week without a signature from Luís Soares.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tornike Chakvetadze after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Federico Versaci 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rodríguez 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Mateo Muñoz is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.