The Alavés Sentinel
Squad12 Jul 2027
115 days out for Mariano after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Alavés will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Jul 2027
Franco Déboli turns Roda down
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market12 Jul 2027
Ville Koski puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Alavés, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jul 2027
Lucas Boyé wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Alavés hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Alavés
Toni Martínez 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 dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Roony Bardghji
“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.
Market12 Jul 2027
One of our own: Miguel Vargas joins the Alavés first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Miguel Vargas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Miguel Rodríguez 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Adrián Pica stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adrián Pica and Alavés agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
In brief
- Loan watch Tomás Mendes wants to come home
- The dugout Nicolás Valentini asks for a word with the manager
- The dugout A door opens for Pablo Ibañez