The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Nacional people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nacional have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A season average of 6.56 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Nacional know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody 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 Nacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Nacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Duarte 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 happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
3‑4 against Juventud. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
A brace, and Diego Duarte takes the afternoon — 8.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Diego Duarte provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Thomás Gutiérrez 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.
7 goals in one match, Diego Duarte on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Nacional and Juventud.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Nacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Duarte 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 words a physio says slowly. 107 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Nacional, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josué Colmán wants continental football; whether Nacional can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Thomás Gutiérrez 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 Diego Duarte was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Fabrizio Jara is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Espínola trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Nacional, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 20, he is averaging 6.58, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nacional 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 Diego Duarte was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑1 win over Sportivo Trinidense, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 106th minute. Sportivo Trinidense will replay every second of the added time for a week.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Duarte was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Blas Vicente 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.