7 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Parma can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Enrico Delprato'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 ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Parma has been clear about where Melvin Nwajei stands, which is more than many ever get.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sabadell they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Carlos García 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hugo Solís was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Sabadell dressing room was either.
In brief
Looking aheadSabadell take on the side everybody is chasing
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Carlos García
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.
Jonás Luna 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. Enrico Delprato 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Parma can tell you which week it ends in.
7 clean sheets from 22 appearances at Sabadell. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Parma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Jonás Luna 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enrico Delprato was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to Abdoulaye Ndiaye and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Javi López-Pinto 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Peralta 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
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 0‑2 Hugo Solís left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Owen Falconis
The dugoutCarlos García knocks on the manager's door
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Pignotta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sabadell the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dani Ángel 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Peralta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Matías Sánchez'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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sabadell, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Sabadell, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Mérida for Diego Fuoli 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Celta have kept their man, and Sabadell go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The fee is $620.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Mérida drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Hugo De Bustos from Mérida for $620.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
In brief
SquadWords at Sabadell training over how hard people work
“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 Sabadell, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sabadell have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Javi López-Pinto 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Peralta 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Javi López-Pinto 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Peralta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 combined actions and 6.58. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Parma heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacob Ondrejka 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.
“I watch every Parma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sabadell runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diogo Casimiro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sabadell the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Javi López-Pinto 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Peralta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sabadell told Agustín Russo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sabadell can pretend not to have heard.
Diego Fuoli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Peralta 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sabadell, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Juventud Torremolinos next, and one man in the Sabadell dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diego Fuoli signs something — a contract at Sabadell or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Ricardo Schutte is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sabadell can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Peralta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mateo Peralta 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.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sabadell, and 6 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sabadell is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sabadell have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Javi López-Pinto 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.
Rodrigo Escudero scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Gimnàstic, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos García 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Javi López-Pinto, and the manager let it.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Hugo Solís to a room that had heard them before.
A 2‑1 win over Deportivo La Coruña, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Javi López-Pinto 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Mateo Peralta 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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 Sabadell, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dani Ángel. 3‑1 against CE Europa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos García 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Dani Ángel 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sabadell can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Arthur Bonaldo scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Mateo Peralta 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sabadell lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Barakaldo for Sergio Olano 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sabadell is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Espanyol keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Javi López-Pinto 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sabadell can pretend not to have heard.
Rodrigo Gallo has gone, the accounts have $2.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Deportivo La Coruña paid $2.2M and Sabadell took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The deal with Parma 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Javi López-Pinto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Parma have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Parma can pretend not to have heard.
Parma asked and Picerno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$880.0K on the table at Udinese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Parma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have shaken hands with Juventus; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer went to Atalanta 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 deal with Catanzaro 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.
“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.
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.
Parma asked and Casarano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simone Russini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Parma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Parma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to Slavia Sofia to sit and watch. I want to come back to Parma and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 45 matches say the rest.
The dugout22 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Emanuele Ricci to a room that had heard them before.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Adrián Bernabé has taken the hint, and Parma are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Romero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7.95, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacob Ondrejka 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Parma know it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Parma told Jacob Ondrejka something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcello Altieri commits to Parma for another 3 years.
The dugout15 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Angelo Piras, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simone Russini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Parma the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Simone Russini has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Ondrejka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Parma, and 11 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Bernabé signs something — a contract at Parma or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Enrico Delprato’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Parma needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Parma can pretend not to have heard.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Parma can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Karlo Pajsar 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Parma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Nobody at Parma is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tiago Arraygada has, at Parma, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrián Bernabé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sebastian Otoa 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 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.
Tiago Arraygada is 20, and Parma have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“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 Parma hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán Perrone 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Parma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 clean sheets from 23 appearances at Catania. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Parma that is a harder question to answer.