“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mitre can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mitre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mitre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Bruno Vidal 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.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mitre has been clear about where Facundo Peralta stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tomás Buenrostro’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mitre needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Axel Tévez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Bruno Vidal 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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout26 Mar 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Mitre will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“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 Mitre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Federico Paz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mitre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Mitre are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mitre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Bruno Vidal 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.
Axel Tévez 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.
11 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Bruno Vidal 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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
A 1‑1 draw with Los Andes leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Mitre dressing room was either.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mitre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Axel Tévez 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.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Bruno Vidal 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Carlos Vázquez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Enzo Rossi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Juan Martín Ojeda has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Carlos Domínguez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 Mitre, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Deportivo Laferrere 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mitre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mitre offered $23.0K; Argentino de Quilmes said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Independiente 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.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Vidal has become a man the manager trusts
BoardroomNobody arrives at Mitre until somebody leaves
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Facundo Peralta's mistake
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mitre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Bruno Vidal 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 club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Mitre this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Nobody at Mitre will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Facundo Peralta's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Juan Martín Iglesias has his answer from Mitre; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Axel Tévez 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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑5 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mitre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑4 to Flandria, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
4 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.
Axel Tévez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Vidal 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Vidal 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 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mitre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑3 to Liniers, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Axel Tévez 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mitre can tell you which week it ends in.