The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Villarreal B have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Villarreal B is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marc González and Villarreal B agree another 5 years.
Squad14 Jul 2036
Fábio Vieira 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.
Add another name to the list: CE Europa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Pol Cabrera. The answer from Villarreal B has not changed — yet.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Villarreal B will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Villarreal B, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Villarreal B have no good answer.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Àlex Martínez had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Villarreal B people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
Squad23 Jun 2036
Fábio Vieira 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Villarreal B they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Levante were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Ismael Ferrer 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad26 May 2036
Words at Villarreal B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Gómez 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.
20 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tyrhys Dolan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Villarreal B the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Villarreal B, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Juanmi Latasa 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.36 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejandro Romero provided it, and the 7.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Àlex Martínez did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Villarreal B is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alejandro Romero. 3‑1 against Racing Ferrol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Mateo Guerrero 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.
Squad7 May 2035
A place in the month's best eleven for Pol Cabrera
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Pol Cabrera has come out of that comparison in the side, and Villarreal B have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Villarreal B they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villarreal B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Words at Villarreal B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Rey 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 dugout9 Apr 2035
Somebody else is better right now than Julen Reyes
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bilbao Athletic in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutJulen Reyes knocks on the manager's door
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Villarreal B is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Squad4 Dec 2034
A place in the month's best eleven for Pol Cabrera
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Pol Cabrera has come out of that comparison in the side, and Villarreal B have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Villarreal B they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 21. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timofey Kashintsev signs something — a contract at Villarreal B or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Timofey Kashintsev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Villarreal B was different afterwards.