Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nacho Vidal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aarón Escandell signs something — a contract at Oviedo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Oviedo would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
2‑3 to Levante, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peio Canales 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 ratings1 Nov 2027
Jacobo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Felipe Carrasco left the room before anybody could ask which.
19 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Carlos Fernández 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 Oviedo can tell you which week it ends in.
0‑2 to Racing Santander, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Nacho Vidal 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Felipe Carrasco after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Oviedo told Brandon Domingues something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Jacobo has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Dani Rebollo
Alberto Reina 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Ovie Ejaria 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alberto Reina’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oviedo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Ovie Ejaria has written the date down.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Oviedo would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Jacobo’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑2 to Athletic Bilbao, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Nacho Vidal 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Oviedo are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Peio Canales 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 17 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oviedo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
A brace, and Ilyas Chaira takes the afternoon — 7.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ilyas Chaira provided it, and the 7.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oviedo can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Almería for Ruly 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 morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
In brief
SquadDavid Costas falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alberto Reina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Sociedad have kept their man, and Oviedo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Oviedo have made the call to Newell's Old Boys. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jacobo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oviedo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell 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.
Carlos Fernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Oviedo has been clear about where Dani Villahermosa stands, which is more than many ever get.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Oviedo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There were 7 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.
Squad24 May 2027
David Carmo 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.
Alberto Reina 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 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutIlyas Chaira knocks on the manager's door
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Oviedo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Oviedo pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Oviedo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Oviedo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell 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.
13 goals in 36 games at Guadalajara — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Oviedo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jacobo.
David Costas damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
David Carmo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Colombatto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Atlético Madrid in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Dani Calvo has written the date down.
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Chris Ramos. 3‑1 against Girona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” José Álvarez kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Oviedo has been clear about where Ruly stands, which is more than many ever get.
Something was said to Estanis Pedrola and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Carlos Fernández provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oviedo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Oviedo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aarón Escandell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Celta tried to reorganise, Oviedo did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Betis left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Colombatto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Mallorca next, and one man in the Oviedo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Oviedo is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
David Carmo 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Oviedo has been clear about where Kwasi Sibo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alberto Reina’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oviedo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Álvaro Lemos has written the date down.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
At 41 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” José Álvarez on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Carlos Fernández’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oviedo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Kwasi Sibo