Marked for Samuel Copete
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Depor
Yurdy Ramos 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Depor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Oñate 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 dugout6 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yurdy Ramos, and the manager let it.
Market6 Nov 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
Jean Rentería 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 Jean Rentería is on it.
Squad6 Nov 2028
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
The manager makes Jaider Cortes a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Depor. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Match6 Nov 2028
Depor have something to play for
Position 6 on 27 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Alejandro Oñate is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Depor production line keeps running
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The dugout
Cristian Peñate keeps his manager's vote
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Depor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Samuel Copete
“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 dugout11 Sep 2028
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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
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 Alejandro Oñate has written the date down.
Match11 Sep 2028
Depor have something to play for
Position 6 on 27 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Squad11 Sep 2028
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jan 2028
Yurdy Ramos gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Yurdy Ramos has just signed for Depor, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Aguilas Doradas is saying, and nobody at Depor is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Yayo stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yayo and Depor agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Depor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Depor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Oñate 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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Depor will try again when the window opens; Jaguares may not be selling by then.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Copete, and the manager let it.
Market10 Jan 2028
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Yurdy Ramos arrives at Depor with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
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.
In brief
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Market
The market said no: Stiwar Veira stays put
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Boardroom
Depor keep producing them
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Oct 2027
42 days out for José Palacios after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Depor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market25 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Depor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Depor
Alejandro Oñate and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
25 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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 Juan Diego Jaramillo is on it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Yayo 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Sep 2027
A fracture rules José Palacios out for 74 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Depor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market27 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Depor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Depor
Alejandro Oñate and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
54 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Depor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stiwar Veira 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Depor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dinamo Tbilisi had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Patriotas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Depor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad5 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
No thanks: Jhon Riascos rejects the move
Depor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Millonarios, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The deal with Deportivo Cali 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Depor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stiwar Veira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Wages eat 87% of everything Depor earn
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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Depor academy
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jhonier Julio
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Depor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match6 Mar 2027
Depor strike at the death to beat Tigres
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Tigres had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Depor did not stop to explain themselves.
Match8 Mar 2027
Depor sink to position 10
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan Mezú commits to Depor for another 2 years.
Match6 Mar 2027
At last: Depor win one
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Tigres. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Depor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Eraso 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Tigres made Depor work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Depor
Stiwar Veira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Carlos Restrepo
“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.