Marked for Luís Soares
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
97 days out for Ramón Juárez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Girona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luís Soares commits to Girona for another 4 years.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Girona are still strangers to each other
10 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.
Loan watch19 Jul 2027
“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 Girona, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
David López gets picked when it counts
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 David López is on it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Ramón Juárez 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Girona know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A wage question at Girona
Abdul Mumin has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager makes Portu a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Girona. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
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The dugout
Jackson Muleka keeps his manager's vote
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Boardroom
The Girona production line keeps running
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Match
A season winding down at Girona
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Ramón Juárez out for 105 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Girona will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Jul 2027
Girona get their man
The chase for Jules Koundé ended with $36.6M changing hands and Barcelona out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market12 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yaser Asprilla commits to Girona for another 5 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Jul 2027
Jackson Muleka wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Girona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Girona can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 May 2027
No mercy from Girona
Getafe will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Girona were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Abel Ruiz scores twice — 9.60
Two goals and a mark of 9.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout10 May 2027
Rossi keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Girona may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match8 May 2027
The drought breaks for Girona
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Getafe were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Girona
Cristhian Stuani 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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Marked 9.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad10 May 2027
“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 Girona know it.
The dugout10 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.” Héctor Parra, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
$18.6M settles it between the clubs for Jackson Muleka
Konyaspor have accepted the money. What Girona do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
An offer of $9.3M for Fran Pérez
Girona have gone to Rayo Vallecano with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The offer went to Club America this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Girona asked and Elche said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Bryan Gil again, and this time the name on the line is Atlético Madrid. Girona are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Mauro Furtado is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A move Luís Soares would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luís Soares is living that version at Girona, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match2 Jan 2027
Nobody wins at Girona
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market4 Jan 2027
Bryan Gil is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Girona has been clear about where Bryan Gil stands, which is more than many ever get.