Two goals and a mark of 8.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Osasuna heard it as anything else.
Osasuna 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.
$12.6M settles it between the clubs for Lukáš Červ
Bologna have accepted the money. What Osasuna do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$28.6M was the most the club would pay and Zenit were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Daniel Gómez 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.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 Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Racing Ferrol have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Moi Gómez. The answer from Osasuna has not changed — yet.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Osasuna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto Arroyo 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.
Nobody at Osasuna 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.
Daniel Gómez 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zaragoza have kept their man, and Osasuna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kike Barja 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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Osasuna has been clear about where Aitor Fernández stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Osasuna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The offer from Sevilla for Ante Budimir 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna 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 Kike Barja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Osasuna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 7.78 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan Dubasin. 2‑1 against Alavés, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Lucas Torró will call it something else in private.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kike Barja 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.
11 seasons and 353 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Jorge Herrando 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Asier Osambela 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Osasuna told Sergio Herrera something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Carlos Montes could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutLucas Torró asks for a word with the manager
Giuliano Simeone 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 Bitello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Bitello’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Osasuna.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Bitello was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Osasuna told Daniel Gómez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Carlos Montes kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Flavien-Enzo Boyomo signs something — a contract at Osasuna or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Osasuna 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Real Sociedad in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Raúl García has written the date down.
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.
Daniel Gómez had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Oviedo were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Osasuna close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Giuliano Simeone 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bitello 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Osasuna are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Veracruz did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $26.8M for Daniel Gómez, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Daniel Gómez is living that version at Osasuna, and it tends to show in the first month.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Villarreal is saying, and nobody at Osasuna is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Osasuna arrived with $26.8M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
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.
Daniel Gómez has gone, the accounts have $26.8M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Tigres paid $1.0M and Veracruz took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all 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 Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$26.8M settles it between the clubs for Daniel Gómez
Veracruz have accepted the money. What Osasuna do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market18 Jan 2027
Bitello arrives at Osasuna in a $55.8M statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Osasuna have paid $55.8M for Bitello, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna 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 Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Bitello from Dinamo Moscow for $55.8M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Hirving Montes 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ulises Torres 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 4 points down on what he was, and the question for Veracruz is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Veracruz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Queretaro the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Veracruz will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Gabriel Romo takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gabriel Romo provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Veracruz can pretend not to have heard.
0‑5 to Toluca, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Kevin Escamilla 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.
“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 Veracruz, and 4 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ulises Torres 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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Veracruz prefer.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Jesús García 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.
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Uriel Rodriguez kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Jorge Hernández 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulises Torres 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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Jesús Isijara is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Morelia next, and one man in the Veracruz dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Veracruz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Puebla had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Veracruz did not stop to explain themselves.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Gómez. 1‑0 against Puebla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jero 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Veracruz, and 6 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
“56 caps is more than I ever expected, and it is time somebody else had them.” At 39 he is finished with his country and nowhere near finished with Veracruz.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Uriel Rodriguez could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Paolo Medina
Ulises Torres and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Rodrigo López 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriel Romo and Veracruz agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
13 new faces, and Veracruz 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.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Bladimir Angulo arrives at Veracruz with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑2 to Tigres, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo López 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 dugout21 Sep 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 0‑2 Uriel Rodriguez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Pumas UNAM next, and one man in the Veracruz dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Daniel Gómez had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Veracruz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Gómez 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. Santos Laguna have kept their man, and Veracruz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Sporting CP arrived with $21.3M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gabriel Romo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Gerardo Romo has gone, the accounts have $21.3M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Veracruz spend $3.0M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.0M for Rodrigo López, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sebastian Corona had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Morelia for Eduardo Corona 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.
$3.0M on the table at Pumas UNAM. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $455.0K — a club that wants Jaziel Martínez enough to be asked twice.
Hirving Montes 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 offer went to Pumas UNAM 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.
Add another name to the list: Sporting CP have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gerardo Romo. The answer from Veracruz has not changed — yet.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Gerardo Romo 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Gómez 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Veracruz, and both men came out saying it was fine.