Marked for Cesar Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Jun 2036
“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.
Market2 Jun 2036
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Santos Laguna heard it as anything else.
Squad2 Jun 2036
Heriberto Jurado 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.
Squad2 Jun 2036
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sebastián Cervantes has just signed for Santos Laguna, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad2 Jun 2036
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Sergio Zampa, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad2 Jun 2036
Words at Santos Laguna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahmai Simpson-Pusey 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.
Boardroom2 Jun 2036
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Market2 Jun 2036
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market2 Jun 2036
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Miguel Vázquez has his answer from Santos Laguna; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Dec 2035
Only the photograph left for Ollie Scarles
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ollie Scarles will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Santos Laguna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match29 Dec 2035
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
Cesar Ramirez: 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.” Santos Laguna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Jahmai Simpson-Pusey 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.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Vila, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Dec 2035
Marked 7.86. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Cesar Ramirez 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.
Match29 Dec 2035
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jun 2035
Guadalajara come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Santos Laguna did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market25 Jun 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Santos Laguna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market25 Jun 2035
The shirt still fits. Santiago Erviti is back at Santos Laguna, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
The offer went to Guadalajara this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market25 Jun 2035
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Víctor Ríos 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.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Jhonier Salas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
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.
The dugout25 Jun 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cesar Ramirez, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jun 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Santos Laguna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jun 2035
The name of Víctor Ríos has come up in conversations Santos Laguna were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom18 Jun 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Martin Cuesta has agreed terms with Leon for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Ollie Scarles 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 targets18 Jun 2035
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.
Market18 Jun 2035
“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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Antonio Sánchez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Jun 2035
“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.
Market18 Jun 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Santos Laguna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.