Marked for Julian Santos
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Juventud
Rodrigo Chagas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
A move Uriel Soto Maior 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. Uriel Soto Maior is living that version at Juventud, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad27 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Juventud
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
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 dugout27 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Julian Santos commits to Juventud for another 3 years.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Geiner Martínez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Juventud 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.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Esteban González trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market27 Nov 2028
No fee and no drama: Uriel Soto Maior has signed at Juventud, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventud is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Juventud
Rodrigo Chagas 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Juventud
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Pablo Lago
“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 dugout20 Nov 2028
Álvaro Veliez 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.
The dugout20 Nov 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
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.
Market20 Nov 2028
The name of Bruno Larregui keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Juventud say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Competition arrives for Alejo Cruz
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Juventud have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Fabian Giraldo
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Universitario Popayan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad17 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 Universitario Popayan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Universitario Popayan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Mejia 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 dugout17 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oscar Medina, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
Miguel Zapata knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Universitario Popayan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Dec 2027
129 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Universitario Popayan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets13 Dec 2027
Universitario Popayan and Deportivo Pereira have settled on $72.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market13 Dec 2027
Julian Santos hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Universitario Popayan can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets13 Dec 2027
The deal with Union Magdalena 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Francisco Mejia 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.
Transfer targets13 Dec 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.
Transfer targets13 Dec 2027
Santa Fe 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 dugout13 Dec 2027
Luis Pacheco knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luis Pacheco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout13 Dec 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
Steady
Market22 Nov 2027
“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 Universitario Popayan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Francisco Mejia 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.
The dugout22 Nov 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 Hector Sanchez is on it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Oscar Medina knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Universitario Popayan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
The stands have heard the Oscar Medina talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Universitario Popayan would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Questions about Sebastián Bonilla on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Market22 Nov 2027
Two seats in the directors' box were spoken for, and the name in the notebook was Oscar Medina. Nothing has been offered yet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Nov 2027
Julian Santos hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Universitario Popayan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Hector Sanchez 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Francisco Mejia 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.