Marked for Darwin Rincon
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Rafael Ferraresi out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Llaneros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market18 Jan 2027
The deal that would have taken Darwin Rincon to Aragua has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Llaneros with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad18 Jan 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Sergio Otero has come up in conversations Llaneros were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Llaneros
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jair Andara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Llaneros are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Rafael Ferraresi out for 50 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Llaneros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Jan 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Deportivo La Guaira 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Llaneros
Alejandro Moreno and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Llaneros have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Santiago Vergara and Llaneros agree another 3 years.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Rafael Machis for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Llaneros will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Diego Guallama is in the works
Llaneros have made the call to All Boys. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Llaneros
Jhon González and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Fabian Sanchez and Llaneros agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Gabriel Cordova 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.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Banfield: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
PAOK 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
Oscar Ferraresi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Llaneros 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Darwin Rincon has his answer from Llaneros; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market14 Dec 2026
The name of Oscar Ferraresi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Llaneros say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Llaneros
Alejandro Moreno 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Rincon 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
Diego Rondon 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 Llaneros, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Sep 2026
The name of Oscar Ferraresi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Llaneros say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Gabriel Cordova damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Llaneros
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Gonzalez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.