Marked for Alejandro Pérez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Pérez
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Merlo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market15 Jan 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Deportivo Merlo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Tiago Goncalvez: 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.” Deportivo Merlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market15 Jan 2029
The offer from Almirante Brown for Franco Lopresti 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Merlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
The numbers do not look good at Deportivo Merlo
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
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.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
Wages swallow 97% of the Deportivo Merlo 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florencio Alric was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Pérez
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Merlo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Jan 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Merlo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Cristian Colmán has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Tomás Figueroa 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.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
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.
Market8 Jan 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Deportivo Merlo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
A loan enquiry to Atlético Tucumán: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Aguerre, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Deportivo Merlo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Pérez
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Merlo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match1 Jan 2029
Deportivo Merlo refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 81 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Deportivo Merlo have had the benefit of it.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Deportivo Merlo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets1 Jan 2029
The deal with Huracán 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Tomás Figueroa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ferrocarril Midland have kept their man, and Deportivo Merlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market1 Jan 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Dec 2028
Alejandro Pérez damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Market25 Dec 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.
Market25 Dec 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Deportivo Merlo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets25 Dec 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Deportivo Merlo have done the hard part with Racing Club, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets25 Dec 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Estudiantes keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Mariano Penepil 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 targets25 Dec 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aldosivi have kept their man, and Deportivo Merlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Cambilla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Dec 2028
Racing Club 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.