Marked for Jesus Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Sep 2027
Jesús Martínez breaks a bone — 123 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Valledupar is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jesus Ramirez and Valledupar agree another 3 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
The offer from La Equidad for Jesus Ramirez 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.
Market14 Jun 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 The request is on a desk at Valledupar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Brian Giraldo 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 targets14 Jun 2027
No deal for Ivan Giraldo at that price
Valledupar offered $20.0K; Millonarios 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Valledupar asked and Independiente Medellin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“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.
Match12 Jun 2027
A 1‑0 win over Real Santander, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Julián Figueroa 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Diego Rangel beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.46, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Market7 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Valledupar have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad7 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Jun 2027
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match5 Jun 2027
Three points for Valledupar, 3‑1 the final word against Llaneros in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Valledupar asked and America de Cali said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 May 2027
“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.
Match22 May 2027
5 matches without a win for Valledupar
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Valledupar are no longer polite ones.
The dugout24 May 2027
Franco Gozzerino: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valledupar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 May 2027
Brian Giraldo 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Murillo 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 dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jesus Ramirez, and the manager let it.
Match22 May 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Wages swallow 107% of the Valledupar income
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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Mar 2027
Breidablik come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Valledupar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Vargas 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
1‑3 to Bogota, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Jesus Ramirez
“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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Jorge Vargas
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jorge Vargas has come out of that comparison in the side, and Valledupar have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Oct 2026
“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 Valledupar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jorge Vargas 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian 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.