Marked for Leonardo Cabrera
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Jun 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Martín can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2036
Everything agreed with Independiente, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2036
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.
Boardroom23 Jun 2036
No signings allowed at San Martín
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.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2036
A loan enquiry to Barracas Central: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2036
A loan move for Luis Luna is in the works
San Martín have made the call to Belgrano. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout23 Jun 2036
A promise honoured for Bostero
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. San Martín told Bostero something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market23 Jun 2036
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Laureano Rodríguez signs something — a contract at San Martín or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout23 Jun 2036
When it matters, Beto plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom5 Nov 2035
The owner puts $58.8K into San Martín
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Market5 Nov 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. San Martín know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match5 Nov 2035
Continental football is in reach for San Martín
24 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugout5 Nov 2035
Lucho knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at San Martín, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boardroom5 Nov 2035
100 graduates from an academy now rated 4 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
Squad5 Nov 2035
A programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Oct 2035
273 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
$83.4K of the owner's money at San Martín
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.
Market8 Oct 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. San Martín know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match8 Oct 2035
Continental football is in reach for San Martín
24 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugout8 Oct 2035
Daniel Navarro asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
96 graduates from an academy now rated 4 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Aug 2035
“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 San Martín, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market20 Aug 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Italo Espinoza signs something — a contract at San Martín or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market20 Aug 2035
San Martín have made Franco Di María available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Jul 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matías Navarro 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.
Market30 Jul 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Juan Castro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market30 Jul 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tuerto 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.
Market30 Jul 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonardo Cabrera 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.
Boardroom30 Jul 2035
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom30 Jul 2035
The borrowing at San Martín reaches $20.2M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $20.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.