The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Markel Vidal has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teruel can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felipe Chéchile will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teruel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Teruel have done the hard part with Athletic Bilbao, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Teruel asked and Málaga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Víctor Álvarez 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ángel Jiménez is in the works
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ely 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.
Víctor Álvarez 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.
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.
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 Nico van Rijn is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Teruel. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amarante this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Amarante training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Yrizar 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 trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Amarante has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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.
Position 15 on 40 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Teruel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 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.
Ramón Enríquez 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 Pau Palacín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Teruel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Amarante runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 May 2028
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Markel Vidal to a room that had heard them before.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Teruel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marco Coronas 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 Rodrigo Ely was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Teruel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I watch every Teruel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Amarante runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It needed Pau Palacín to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Atlético Madrileño, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“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.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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.” Markel Vidal chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Enzo Vagner will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teruel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ramón Enríquez 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.
Antequera made Teruel work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ely 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teruel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Enzo Vagner will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Teruel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Marco Coronas 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pau Palacín 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.
“I watch every Teruel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Amarante runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Rubén Gálvez
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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.” Markel Vidal chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
$250.0K settles it between the clubs for Tiago Leitão
Sporting CP have accepted the money. What Amarante do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Amarante this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Amarante training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Yrizar 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Amarante are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Amarante had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Nacional, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Amarante can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Paolo Yrizar 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jakub Vinarcik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Thiago Caballero arrives from Teruel with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Amarante have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
José Bandez 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Paolo Yrizar 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 name of Martim Duarte has come up in conversations Amarante were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Jan 2028
7 new faces, and Amarante are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Amarante will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Teruel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from CSC Șelimbăr for Thiago Caballero 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teruel 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 Pau Palacín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.45 on the card, and the Teruel support went home talking about one name.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Markel Vidal was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Teruel dressing room was either.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Urtzi Iriondo
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Teruel will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
4 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.
Marco Coronas 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.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Sabadell had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Teruel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Teruel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
At 34, 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.
Marbella next, and one man in the Teruel dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Teruel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teruel can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marco Coronas 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.
5 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ely 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Burgos have kept their man, and Teruel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luis Hernández has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mateo Martínez 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Enzo Campos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teruel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
He is going to Birmingham, the club has $1.8M 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.
Teruel offered $3.2M; Granada said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Teruel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Teruel interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Markel Vidal keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Voluntari for Thiago Caballero 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teruel can pretend not to have heard.
Marco Coronas 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Pau Palacín 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.
Teruel asked and Antequera said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$4.8M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Teruel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Ponferradina for Carlos Vigaray 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.
He is going to Málaga, the club has $4.8M 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Teruel have done the hard part with San Lorenzo, 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 Nathaniel Nicholas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marco Coronas 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.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Teruel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Position 19 and 26 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Teruel can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Thiago Caballero has come up in conversations Teruel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Garri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Vigaray 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.
Teruel asked and Liverpool Montevideo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Teruel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Salado 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 Rubén Pardo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Teruel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 Teruel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Arkaitz Mariezkurrena 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Garri 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Teruel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Teruel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Luka Torres has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Teruel 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 Teruel 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Teruel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teruel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oriol Rosell and Teruel agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Garri 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.
“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 dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Luka Torres left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
“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 Teruel, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teruel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arkaitz Mariezkurrena 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Teruel told Luis Chacón something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
In brief
The dugoutOriol Rosell asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teruel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marten-Chris Paalberg 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Carlos Lorenzo left the room before anybody could ask which.
5 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Iván Ramos
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.
Position 20 and 17 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.
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arkaitz Mariezkurrena 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teruel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Teruel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Teruel have done the hard part with Valladolid, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Teruel asked and Real Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Joseda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Vigaray 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marten-Chris Paalberg is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Everything agreed with Valladolid, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hércules have kept their man, and Teruel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Joseda 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Teruel is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vicente Medina after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Real Sociedad have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
15 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teruel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
14 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 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 Nathaniel Nicholas 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 Teruel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
12 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Teruel can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
8.53. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Villarreal B scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Ignacio Cuffaro's mistake
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
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.
Felipe Chéchile 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.
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Nico van Rijn 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Vicente Medina left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutUrtzi Iriondo dropped after a run of poor form
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.
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Vicente Medina left the room before anybody could ask which.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ibiza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Teruel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marten-Chris Paalberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nico van Rijn 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Nico van Rijn 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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 Vicente Medina to a room that had heard them before.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Teruel have done the hard part with AS Saint-Etienne, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zaragoza have kept their man, and Teruel go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Teruel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Teruel will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
11 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Teruel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abraham Del Moral 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.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Teruel, another week without a signature from Thiago Caballero.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Thiago Caballero has just signed for Teruel, and for once the answer mattered.
Teruel asked and Celta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Javier Santana is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nil Vázquez 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marc Espinosa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Izei Cano has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Nico van Rijn 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Teruel are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ricard Artero is in the works