“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 The request is on a desk at Ponferradina, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ponferradina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Joaquín Leites 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.
Slavy 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.
Ponferradina asked and Villarreal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raul Talarico was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Position 2 on 83 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ponferradina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Emam Ashour 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.
A 1‑0 win over Celta Fortuna, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
A mark of 7.88, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad15 May 2028
7 new faces, and Ponferradina 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.
Slavy 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Ponferradina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emam Ashour 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.
At 22 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sandro. 1‑0 against Real Madrid Castilla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Position 2, 77 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Emam Ashour 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Mateus Ludke 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.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Zamora the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Ponferradina will enjoy reviewing.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Slavy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Ponferradina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emam Ashour 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 Ponferradina 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 Emam Ashour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑0, Lucas Espinosa could afford to be generous.
Slavy 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Ponferradina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateus Ludke 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
10 new faces, and Ponferradina 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 dugout10 Apr 2028
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 Lucas Espinosa left the room before anybody could ask which.
7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
In brief
The dugoutTomás Rossi is still being punished for one mistake
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sandro provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ponferradina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kevin Bautista has, at Ponferradina, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
He is 22 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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.” Lucas Espinosa kept it short after the 5‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutMateus Ludke dropped after a run of poor form
Player ratingsDavid Mella beats them one at a time
Position 2 and 61 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Up for the corner, and Emam Ashour delivers — 7.79
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Emam Ashour scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emam Ashour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout6 Mar 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Lucas Espinosa to a room that had heard them before.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cacereño waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ponferradina is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Ponferradina have gone to Alavés 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Emam Ashour 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Getafe have kept their man, and Ponferradina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Osasuna Promesas will want this one forgotten quickly: 8‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ponferradina were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The fee is $1.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Real Murcia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Emam Ashour 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Ponferradina and Osasuna Promesas, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valencia have kept their man, and Ponferradina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
Player ratingsSandro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ponferradina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Emam Ashour 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
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.” Lucas Espinosa, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Ponferradina 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Eugene Frimpong’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ponferradina needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutMateus Ludke knocks on the manager’s door
Emam Ashour 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.
“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 Ponferradina, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateus Ludke was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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 1‑2 Lucas Espinosa left the room before anybody could ask which.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sandro is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ponferradina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Lucas Espinosa on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutMateus Ludke dropped after a run of poor form
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ponferradina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Slavy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Tomás Rossi 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Joaquín Leites'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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
In brief
The dugoutEkain has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ponferradina will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.34 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ponferradina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ponferradina and Racing Santander in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sandro provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Slavy provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Slavy 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 7 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Emam Ashour 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.
“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 Ponferradina, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
At 22 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ponferradina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vicente Esquerdo, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Ponferradina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Rossi 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Ponferradina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emam Ashour 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Emam Ashour 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.
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.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ponferradina 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 Emam Ashour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.79, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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.” Lucas Espinosa kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Juan Larios 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Emam Ashour 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.
A 2‑1 win over Barakaldo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Mikael Doka was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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.” Lucas Espinosa kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ponferradina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJuan Larios unhappy with how he is being used
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ponferradina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Porto have kept their man, and Ponferradina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Emam Ashour was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ponferradina told Juan Larios something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
SquadWords at Ponferradina training over how hard people work
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Joaquín Leites has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutBorja Valle knocks on the manager’s door
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Ponferradina will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vicente Esquerdo 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.
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.
Position 4, 67 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ponferradina 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 Sandro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Ponferradina are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Ponferradina pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad10 May 2027
A Ponferradina teenager takes the young player award
Selton is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
67 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Selton, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.09
A mark of 8.09 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ponferradina can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrés Prieto and Ponferradina agree another 2 years.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Zamora kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ponferradina will be asked about the last half hour all week.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Ponferradina had all but put away. Real Avilés will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Slavy provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Slavy 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 Apr 2027
Words at Ponferradina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro 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.
Ourense CF made Ponferradina work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad19 Apr 2027
7 new faces, and Ponferradina 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Lucas Espinosa could afford to be generous.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Eugene Frimpong’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ponferradina needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Germán’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ponferradina needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Position 3, 58 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Slavy 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 Sandro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Slavy’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ponferradina needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ponferradina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thomas Romero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Borja Valle has written the date down.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ponferradina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A brace, and Diego Collado takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Diego Collado provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
He is 20 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Lucas Espinosa could afford to be generous.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ponferradina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 9.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marked 9.92 — 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.
10 goals in one match, Diego Collado on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ponferradina and Osasuna Promesas.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Selton.
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ponferradina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Ponferradina, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ponferradina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo Scipioni 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Horacio Almada and Ponferradina agree another 1 years.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
Slavy 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 Sandro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Ponferradina are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
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 0‑1 Lucas Espinosa left the room before anybody could ask which.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ponferradina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Arenas Club will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ponferradina were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mahamadou Baldé provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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.” Lucas Espinosa, on a 4‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
Ponferradina asked and Antequera said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Lucas Espinosa could afford to be generous.
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ponferradina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ponferradina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ponferradina asked and Gimnàstic said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Juan Larios 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.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ponferradina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 3 and 41 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Ponferradina 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.
The fee is $800.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Racing Ferrol drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Everything agreed with San Martín SJ, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Slavy 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juventud Torremolinos have kept their man, and Ponferradina go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Las Palmas, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 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.
The offer from Burgos for Adrián Suárez 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.
Ponferradina paid $2.1M and Las Palmas took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Las Palmas have done the hard part with Gimnasia La Plata, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The name of Sergio Ruiz has come up in conversations Las Palmas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ceuta have kept their man, and Las Palmas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The chase for Sandro ended with $2.1M changing hands and Las Palmas out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ponferradina can pretend not to have heard.
Slavy 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Ponferradina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Larios 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.
Ponferradina asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
4 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.
The offer from Córdoba for Jonathan Viera 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 had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Banfield keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Las Palmas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 22 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.
The phone has started ringing about Adrián Suárez again, and this time the name on the line is Burgos. Las Palmas are listening politely and promising nothing.
Ponferradina and Las Palmas have settled on $2.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Burgos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ponferradina is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ponferradina have done the hard part with Benfica, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ponferradina had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Celta, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The offer from Cortulua for Sandro 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zaragoza have kept their man, and Las Palmas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Enrique Clemente has his answer from Las Palmas; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 Las Palmas, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juanma Herzog, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 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.” Enzo Santiago kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Jefté Betancor has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Nobody at Las Palmas 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.
In brief
The dugoutViti Rozada knocks on the manager’s door
Successful dribbles: 25. 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. Sergio Ruiz is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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 dugout7 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Álex Suárez
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Las Palmas man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Iker Bravo was the best thing in any of them.
“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 Las Palmas, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Cádiz next, and one man in the Las Palmas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Manu Fuster on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Las Palmas and Zaragoza.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Las Palmas can pretend not to have heard.
6 goals in one match, Matías Arezo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Las Palmas and Mirandés.
“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 Las Palmas know it.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Enzo Santiago to a room that had heard them before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Las Palmas has been clear about where Juanma Herzog stands, which is more than many ever get.
Las Palmas asked and Celta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer from Celta for Sandro 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.
Jefté Betancor 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Las Palmas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jonathan Viera has his answer from Las Palmas; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Deportivo La Coruña next, and one man in the Las Palmas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of 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 Las Palmas that is a harder question to answer.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Las Palmas would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“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; Las Palmas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Still no offer on the table, and Jefté Betancor’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Las Palmas 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.
Las Palmas have made the call to Penarol. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Las Palmas have made the call to Deportivo La Coruña. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
SquadSandro falls out with a teammate over standards