Pepelu

Defensive Midfielder - Valencia
26 Dec 2026
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Marked for Pepelu

16 Edition

The Valencia Herald

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad16 Nov 2026

Javi Guerra out for 31 days

The medical room confirms 31 days on the sidelines for Javi Guerra, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Player ratings16 Nov 2026

Diego López runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad16 Nov 2026

Tempers go at Valencia

Arnaut Danjuma was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad16 Nov 2026

Words at Valencia training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guido Rodríguez 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.

Squad16 Nov 2026

Pepelu wants out of the spotlight

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.

Match14 Nov 2026

Juan Dinenno rescues a point for Valencia

It needed Juan Dinenno to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sevilla, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

Back issues
15 Edition

The Valencia Herald

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match7 Nov 2026

Villarreal take the derby

2‑3, and no way to dress it up. A derby defeat follows a supporter to work on Monday, and this one will follow him all week.

Match4 Nov 2026

Cup progress for Valencia

A 2‑1 win over Cádiz, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Player ratings9 Nov 2026

Diego López runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad9 Nov 2026

Luis Rioja in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valencia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market9 Nov 2026

Valencia may not be able to give Juan Dinenno what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Dinenno wants continental football; whether Valencia can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad9 Nov 2026

Arnaut Danjuma 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.

Player ratings9 Nov 2026

Dani Raba was the difference for Valencia

Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Loan watch9 Nov 2026

Ryunosuke Sato wants to come home

“I did not go to Dinamo Minsk to sit and watch. I want to come back to Valencia and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.

Squad9 Nov 2026

The manager makes an example of Jesús Vázquez

“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.

In brief

  • Squad Pepelu is still paying for one afternoon at Valencia
  • Player ratings An afternoon Pepelu will want back
  • The terraces Everybody has an opinion about Pepelu
14 Edition

The Valencia Herald

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings2 Nov 2026

Age has not caught Luis Rioja yet — 7.82

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market2 Nov 2026

César Tárrega wants European nights

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.

Squad2 Nov 2026

Words at Valencia training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arnaut Danjuma 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.

Squad2 Nov 2026

Tempers go at Valencia

Guido Rodríguez 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.

Player ratings2 Nov 2026

Nobody could get near Diego López

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match31 Oct 2026

Valencia see off Osasuna

Three points for Valencia, 1‑0 the final word against Osasuna in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings2 Nov 2026

One of those days for Arnaut Danjuma

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Loan watch2 Nov 2026

Daniel Jiménez counts the days

“I watch every Valencia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Burgos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Squad2 Nov 2026

A smaller club would suit Umar Sadiq now

He has had enough of the noise. Whether Valencia can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.

In brief

  • Squad Too much change too quickly at Valencia
  • Player ratings Pepelu spends the afternoon fouling
12 Edition

The Valencia Herald

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad19 Oct 2026

Valencia lose Javi Guerra

62 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad19 Oct 2026

Tempers go at Valencia

Luis Rioja 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.

Squad19 Oct 2026

Words at Valencia training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arnaut Danjuma 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.

In brief