A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arenteiro 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.” Arenteiro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marked 9.70 — 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.
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 dugout11 Mar 2030
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.” Andrés Santos kept it short after the 4‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arenteiro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arenteiro is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Abdulaziz Al-Awardi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Arenteiro have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Arenteiro asked and Barcelona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Jordi Tur 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arenteiro people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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 ratings21 Jan 2030
Up for the corner, and Álex Pastor delivers — 7.79
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Álex Pastor scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Everything agreed with Atlético Madrid, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Arenteiro offered $8.0K; 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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 Arenteiro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andrés Santos after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arenteiro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $104.4K of what Arenteiro paid for Alan Ferreyra is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arenteiro can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Arenteiro until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Arenteiro offered $410.0K; Hércules 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Pablo Picón has just signed for Arenteiro, and for once the answer mattered.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 50 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arenteiro is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arenteiro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Arenteiro and Lugo, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Pontevedra will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Arenteiro were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Aleix Febas 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.
Something was said to Nil Ruiz and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Danyil Sydoruk has come out of that comparison in the side, and Arenteiro have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Andrés Santos could afford to be generous.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arenteiro 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 Arenteiro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Arenteiro pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrés Iglesias will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arenteiro the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lander Olaetxea 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 Aleix Febas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nacho Ramón. 2‑1 against Barakaldo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Yonathan del Valle will call it something else in private.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arenteiro can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arenteiro they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Aleix Febas 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.
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.
István Albert 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Gimeno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arenteiro the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The name of Andrés Iglesias has come up in conversations Arenteiro were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Arenteiro have gone to Tenerife 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Elche have kept their man, and Arenteiro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andrés Santos after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Huesca had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Nacho Ramón will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Arenteiro escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Arenteiro have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Arenteiro had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Celta, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Víctor Mingo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Aleix Febas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Zakaria Eddahchouri provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arenteiro 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 Aleix Febas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.22 on 10 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 dugout18 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Andrés Santos, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Lander Olaetxea 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Arenteiro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleix Febas 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“I watch every Arenteiro game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sanluqueño runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Andrés Santos to a room that had heard them before.
Lander Olaetxea 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Aleix Febas 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.
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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Andrés Santos could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arenteiro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.38. 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.
At 38, 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.
Minute 86, against Real Sociedad B, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Andrés Santos was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Arenteiro dressing room was either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arenteiro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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 club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“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 Arenteiro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Arenteiro asked and Las Palmas 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 could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Arenteiro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleix Febas 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 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
“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 Arenteiro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Lander Olaetxea 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
$700.0K was the most the club would pay and Huesca 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.
Lander Olaetxea 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Arenteiro can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Arenteiro asked and Huesca 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 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.
120 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arenteiro 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 Arenteiro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Arenteiro have gone to Huesca 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.
$150.0K on the table at Castellón. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Víctor Mingo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Huesca have kept their man, and Arenteiro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
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 dugoutNacho Ramón knocks on the manager’s door