Marked for Adrià Vilanova
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Elche, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Marc Aguado pops up at the right end — 7.91
7.91, 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Elche
Kevin Lomónaco 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Kevin Lomónaco has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Fer Niño beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Graduation day at Elche
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Elche asked and Barcelona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Elche have done the hard part with Junior, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is saying, and nobody at Elche is enjoying the guessing.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Elche
Kevin Lomónaco 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Elche heard it as anything else.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Adrià Vilanova commits to Elche for another 3 years.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barcelona have kept their man, and Elche go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Elche training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Leites 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Elche
Kevin Lomónaco 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.
Market31 May 2027
A season away well spent by Roy Revivo
14 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Elche now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The dugout31 May 2027
Marc Aguado gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad31 May 2027
Joaquín Leites 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 dugout31 May 2027
Tiziano Perrotta asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout31 May 2027
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.
Market31 May 2027
The Fer Niño story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fer Niño signs something — a contract at Elche or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout31 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Elche. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market31 May 2027
19 appearances and 1 goals away from home. What he did there is settled; what happens now at Elche is not.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Elche
Kevin Lomónaco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Redondo, and the manager let it.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Elche
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Leites was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
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.
The dugout24 May 2027
Martim Neto knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Elche, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market24 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Germán Valera signs something — a contract at Elche or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 May 2027
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 Adrià Vilanova has written the date down.
Squad24 May 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Squad24 May 2027
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Gonzalo Villar: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Elche have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Elche this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Ninety minutes of Germán Valera at his very best
Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Elche.
Match27 Mar 2027
Elche rescue it on 88 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Mallorca had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adrià Vilanova, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Elche training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zico Buurmeester 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
It needed Fer Niño to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Mallorca, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The form table has caught Pedro Bigas
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Elche, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Elche have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match23 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Elche
8 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Braga come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Elche did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market25 Jan 2027
Business is business: Yago Santiago goes
Racing Santander paid $5.4M and Elche took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Elche
Kevin Lomónaco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Elche asked and San Diego Football Club said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match23 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Elche against Espanyol
0‑1 to Espanyol, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adrià Vilanova, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Elche training over how hard people work
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Squad
7 new faces, and Elche are still learning each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Elche
Kevin Lomónaco 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Celta made Elche work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Fer Niño at his very best
Marked 8.65. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Elche.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Germán Valera was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Adrià Vilanova
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Elche
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Leites was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Nov 2026
8 new faces, and Elche 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Héctor Cortés on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match5 Sep 2026
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Thomas Lemar decided nobody was going anywhere. Rayo Vallecano had no time left to answer.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with Almería, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marc Aguado pops up at the right end — 7.82
7.82, 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 19 in, 1 out at Elche
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
So close: Yago Santiago’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Cádiz moved on, Yago Santiago reports back to Elche, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Thomas Lemar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Elche.