“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 The request is on a desk at Las Palmas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The chase for Abel Galbán ended with $750.0K changing hands and Ibiza out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yago Santiago was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Filippo Scotti has come up in conversations Las Palmas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Las Palmas have accepted the money. What Zaragoza do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Álvaro Aceves will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zaragoza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.2M — a club that wants Francisco Tcherkaski enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zaragoza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Wellity Lucky again, and this time the name on the line is Elche. Zaragoza are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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.
“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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $297.5K — a club that wants Víctor Barrionuevo enough to be asked twice.
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.
Las Palmas asked and Mérida said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Algeciras wanted more than $270.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Las Palmas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yago Santiago 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.
Las Palmas have made the call to Cultural Leonesa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Las Palmas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Real Sociedad for Rafa Mir 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arenas Club waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Las Palmas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Las Palmas offered $1.4M; Málaga said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
$610.0K on the table at Mérida. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $700.0K — a club that wants Dani Raba enough to be asked twice.
Enrique Clemente 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.
Las Palmas have gone to Algeciras 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Las Palmas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Las Palmas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Getafe, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The offer went to Málaga this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from Real Avilés for Filippo Scotti 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateo Aćimović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Las Palmas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$600.0K on the table at Albacete. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $600.0K — a club that wants Brandon Barbas enough to be asked twice.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 53 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The offer went to Ponferradina 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.
Las Palmas have gone to Getafe 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.
“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.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Las Palmas
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Add another name to the list: Valencia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nicholas Opoku. The answer from Las Palmas has not changed — yet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Chacarelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Las Palmas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicholas Opoku will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Las Palmas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1 for Enrique Clemente, marked 7.55, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Rafa Mir was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Las Palmas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kai Andrews will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Las Palmas 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 Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Las Palmas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manu Fuster 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Las Palmas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Las Palmas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Rafa Mir 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Las Palmas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Las Palmas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 9.62 — 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.
Osasuna will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. João Lourenço has pre-agreed a move to Las Palmas, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Las Palmas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Las Palmas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Paulo Gazzaniga, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Las Palmas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manu Fuster 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.
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, 7.10, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateo Aćimović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Las Palmas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pep Biel 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.
“I watch every Las Palmas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Racing Santander runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Las Palmas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Rafa Mir scored in the 86th minute, Leganés had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Las Palmas took the lot.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Las Palmas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Rafa Mir 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
In brief
SquadManu Fuster falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Las Palmas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Las Palmas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rafa Mir 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 Manu Fuster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Las Palmas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Andorra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Las Palmas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Las Palmas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 7.68 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Las Palmas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Las Palmas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Las Palmas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Gimnàstic will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Pau Martínez has pre-agreed a move to Las Palmas, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Rafa Mir’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Las Palmas.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Manu Fuster 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.
Cristian Gutiérrez had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Granada were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicholas Opoku will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Las Palmas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nicholas Opoku 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.
Rafa Mir was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Danilo Gómez has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Las Palmas have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kai Andrews will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Las Palmas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
Marked 7.39 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Yago Santiago’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Las Palmas.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Manu Fuster 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 offer from Cacereño for Filippo Scotti 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manu Fuster 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Las Palmas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Rafa Mir 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.
Las Palmas asked and Real Sociedad 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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Zaragoza; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Las Palmas, another week without a signature from Enzo Loiodice.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pep Biel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Las Palmas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Racing Santander runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Andorra waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Las Palmas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
“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 Las Palmas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Las Palmas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Granada have kept their man, and Las Palmas go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Las Palmas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Kirian 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.
Las Palmas asked and Mallorca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A 2‑0 win over Tenerife, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Las Palmas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pep Biel 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
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Marvin Park's mistake
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafa Mir provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The deal that would have taken Lior Kasa to Cacereño has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Las Palmas with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The offer from Real Avilés for Mateo Aćimović 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.
Rafa Mir 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.
Las Palmas asked and Benfica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I watch every Las Palmas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Racing Santander runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Enzo Loiodice
Successful dribbles: 33. 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Las Palmas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Leixões for Miguel Nóbrega 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.
“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.
Rafa Mir 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.
“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 Las Palmas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Las Palmas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Hércules made Las Palmas work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Las Palmas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pep Biel 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.
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.
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.
10 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Chacarelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Las Palmas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Franco Chacarelli has agreed terms with Granada for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
0‑2 to Real Madrid Castilla, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Manu Fuster 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.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Las Palmas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Las Palmas heard it as anything else.
Rafa Mir was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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.
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.
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 Enzo Loiodice is on it.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Las Palmas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Las Palmas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manu Fuster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Las Palmas had all but put away. Ceuta will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Las Palmas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Las Palmas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Rafa Mir 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 Pep Biel 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 Las Palmas, and 4 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Las Palmas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 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.
Rafa Mir 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Las Palmas can tell you which week it ends in.
Leganés left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Manu Fuster 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Las Palmas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” José Antonio Caro and Las Palmas agree another 2 years.
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.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
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 Juan Rubio to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Las Palmas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Córdoba go through and Las Palmas go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rafa Mir wants continental football; whether Las Palmas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Córdoba scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
In brief
Player ratingsThe kick that got away from Pep Biel
SquadSandro falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Las Palmas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Las Palmas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Rafa Mir 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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.65, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manu Fuster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafa Mir provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Las Palmas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
“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.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Marvin Park was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.52. 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.
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.
“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 Las Palmas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Elías Machuca is living that version at Las Palmas, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manu Fuster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Las Palmas told Viti Rozada something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Rafa Mir 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.
Zaragoza made Las Palmas work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Las Palmas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manu Fuster 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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Marvin Park was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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.
“I watch every Las Palmas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Racing Santander runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Rafa Mir 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.
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.
Las Palmas ran out of time with Cartagena. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never 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 Las Palmas 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 Manu Fuster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
13 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.
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 Enzo Loiodice is on it.
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.
The offer went to Colón 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 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.
Everything agreed with Real Madrid, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Las Palmas can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Something was said to Nicholas Opoku and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I did not go to Racing Santander to sit and watch. I want to come back to Las Palmas and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Viti Rozada
“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.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
A brace, and Enzo Loiodice takes the afternoon — 8.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Enzo Loiodice provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Algeciras have kept their man, and Las Palmas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Rafa Mir 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Las Palmas and Tenerife in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucas Pino is living that version at Las Palmas, and it tends to show in the first month.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Andrés Sánchez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
The offer from Zamora for Pep Biel 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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manu Fuster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Aug 2028
10 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.
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.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Las Palmas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have shaken hands with Girona; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
10 seasons and 313 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has 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 Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Pep Biel again, and this time the name on the line is Zamora. Las Palmas are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Espanyol have kept their man, and Las Palmas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Las Palmas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer went to Mallorca 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.
Rafa Mir 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.
Las Palmas asked and Estudiantes 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 Manu Fuster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Las Palmas have made the call to Real Sociedad. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Pep Biel is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
The fee is $3.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Almería drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The name of Enrique Clemente has come up in conversations Las Palmas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $13.6M — a club that wants Ezequiel Ponce enough to be asked twice.
Rafa Mir 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.
29 games, 6 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Las Palmas now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Las Palmas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adam Arvelo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Las Palmas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $190.0K — a club that wants Jaume Cuéllar enough to be asked twice.
Rafa Mir 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.
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Las Palmas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Las Palmas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Andorra for Ale García 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 transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Rafa Mir is a Las Palmas player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
“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.
Las Palmas have gone to Real Sociedad 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.
Sevilla and Nashville SC have settled on $22.8M. 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.
“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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is saying, and nobody at Sevilla is enjoying the guessing.
Sevilla have gone to Everton 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.
Sevilla offered $11.0M; Espanyol said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. César Gelabert has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. César Gelabert has, at Sevilla, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Las Palmas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer went to Granada 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.
Las Palmas have gone to Betis 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.
Las Palmas have gone to Sevilla with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The phone has started ringing about Ale García again, and this time the name on the line is Andorra. Las Palmas are listening politely and promising nothing.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edu Altozano 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Endrick 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.
Rafa Mir 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.
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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Sevilla pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Manu Bueno is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sevilla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Kochorashvili 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 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.
9 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.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Kike Salas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. 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.
Rafa Mir 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.
A goal on 88 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Kochorashvili 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sevilla told Endrick something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
The dugoutLucien Agoumé has become a man the manager trusts
Out, 1‑1 to Athletic Bilbao, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
0‑3 to Barcelona, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“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.
Marvin Keller 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
27 games, 10 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Sevilla now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sevilla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Sevilla asked and Athletic Bilbao said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$9.8M was the most the club would pay and Barcelona were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Rafa Mir reports back to Sevilla with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Endrick, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market14 Feb 2028
Sevilla may not be able to give Marcão what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marcão wants continental football; whether Sevilla can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sevilla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Girona have kept their man, and Sevilla 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 Sevilla, and it is not being withdrawn.
$9.8M on the table at Barcelona. 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 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Marvin Keller reports back to Sevilla with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Tamiou Kpebane has agreed terms with Gijón for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Osasuna waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sevilla is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Rubén Vargas had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
$10.3M was the most the club would pay and Alavés were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Add another name to the list: Villarreal have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sergio Reguilón. The answer from Sevilla has not changed — yet.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sevilla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Sevilla, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Inter for Marvin Keller 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
$10.3M on the table at Alavés. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mawuli Mensah had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Endrick, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.15
A mark of 8.15 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Real Murcia the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Sevilla will enjoy reviewing.
“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 run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sevilla are no longer polite ones.
Market13 Dec 2027
Sevilla may not be able to give Marcão what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marcão wants continental football; whether Sevilla can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 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.
Rafa Mir 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sevilla told Rodrigo Zalazar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Adrià Pedrosa is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rodrigo Zalazar has come out of that comparison in the side, and Sevilla have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“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.
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 César Azpilicueta is on it.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Miguel Sierra
Marvin Keller 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.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucien Agoumé signs something — a contract at Sevilla or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Valencia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“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 Sevilla, and it is not being withdrawn.
Something was said to Lucien Agoumé and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Sevilla 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Cristian Reyes could afford to be generous.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sevilla know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Lucien Agoumé is on it.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Cristian Reyes after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sevilla know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Barcelona next, and one man in the Sevilla dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Isaac Romero. 1‑0 against Mallorca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 José Ángel Carmona is on it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Cristian Reyes could afford to be generous.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sevilla will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Sevilla have gone to Aston Villa 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.
Sevilla have gone to Gijón with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Manu Bueno had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sevilla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $13.0M — a club that wants Hugo Guillamón enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.