Marked for Marcus Odegaard
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Oct 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Arsenal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Oct 2028
Only the photograph left for Alexis Payes
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexis Payes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Dylan Cabral has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Arsenal is pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Oct 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 Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Arsenal know it.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Facundo Filinich 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.
Market23 Oct 2028
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Arsenal money.
Market23 Oct 2028
The shop window has Iván Peralta in it
Arsenal have let the market know Iván Peralta can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Julián Lobelos 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 Julián Lobelos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Oct 2028
Iván Peralta 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 Arsenal can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Oct 2028
Dylan Cabral has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Joaquín Ochoa Giménez has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Arsenal is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Nahuel Pezzini 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 dugout2 Oct 2028
Dylan Cabral 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 Arsenal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A wage question at Arsenal
Matías Lucero has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Market2 Oct 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Matías Lucero may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market2 Oct 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Joaquín Santos’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
Iván Peralta keeps his manager's vote
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Iván Peralta plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Aug 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.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market28 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Julián Lobelos
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Julián Lobelos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Dylan Cabral has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Arsenal is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Arsenal
Iván Peralta 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
0‑1 to Gimnasia y Tiro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Agustín 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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Dylan Cabral gets it from the manager
“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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
Arsenal are still strangers to each other
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Squad
Marcus Odegaard signs a new deal
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Aug 2028
Matías Lucero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market21 Aug 2028
“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 Arsenal, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Alexis Payes has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Arsenal is pretending otherwise.
Match19 Aug 2028
Nobody wants to play Arsenal right now
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.
Match19 Aug 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Rodrigo Cano’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arsenal.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Alexis Payes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces21 Aug 2028
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 dugout21 Aug 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.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.