Stole Dimitrievski 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.
“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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nicolás Diez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pablo Maffeo is on it.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Valencia will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valencia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Nobody at Valencia 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.
7 goals in 15 games at Racing Santander — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Valencia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.53 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Mario Hermoso 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.
6 goals in one match, Javi Guerra on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Valencia and Oviedo.
He is 23 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.
50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Mario Hermoso was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Mario Hermoso 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hugo Duro. 1‑0 against Sevilla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Valencia told César Gelabert something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.78 on the card, and the Valencia support went home talking about one name.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Nicolás Diez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at Valencia 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Cristian Rivero: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Valencia support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Arnaut Danjuma 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jesús Vázquez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
Marked 8.41 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
José Gayà was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Barcelona next, and one man in the Valencia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Pepelu
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levante have kept their man, and Valencia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 22 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Valencia until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Arnaut Danjuma 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.
The phone has started ringing about Aliou Dieng again, and this time the name on the line is Cultural Leonesa. Valencia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Pablo Maffeo is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Valencia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The fee is $9.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Levante drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Deportivo La Coruña wanted more than $7.6M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Roger Brugué has just signed for Valencia, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valencia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Javi Guerra has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Betis have kept their man, and Valencia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deal with Levante 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.
Valencia have gone to Deportivo La Coruña with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Dani Raba reports back to Valencia with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicolás Diez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Raúl Asencio is in the works
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Valencia have paid $23.5M for César Gelabert, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Porto have kept their man, and Valencia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Real Sociedad for Javi Guerra was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. César Gelabert has just signed for Valencia, and for once the answer mattered.
Valencia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Real Madrid, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Pablo Maffeo 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
4 academy players handed senior numbers at Valencia
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Enrique Carrasco 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. Diego Prieto 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.
In brief
BoardroomNo investment in the facilities at Valencia
Valencia have gone to Gijón with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Valencia have paid $3.6M for Mario Hermoso, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mario Hermoso has, at Valencia, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The phone has started ringing about Javi Guerra again, and this time the name on the line is Real Sociedad. Valencia are listening politely and promising nothing.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $43.2M — a club that wants Vinícius Júnior enough to be asked twice.
The deal with Real Madrid 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 Valencia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Valencia asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Atlético Madrid wanted more than $27.3M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The offer went to AS Roma 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.
The offer from Anderlecht for Mouctar Diakhaby was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Valencia have gone to Independiente with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stole Dimitrievski and Valencia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Pablo Maffeo 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.