At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
David Jiménez 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 Iker Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑1 win over Osasuna Promesas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
David Jiménez 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 Iker Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sergio Mendoza has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unionistas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Unionistas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vasco Sousa 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Unionistas, and 0 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Pol Prieto could afford to be generous.
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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Unionistas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
David Jiménez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Iker Muñoz 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Unionistas.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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.” Pol Prieto kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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 Jiménez 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
Words at Unionistas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iker Muñoz 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Unionistas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A side in position 10 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Unionistas heard it as anything else.
David Jiménez 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 Vasco Sousa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ibai Santos has his answer from Unionistas; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pol Prieto after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unionistas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iker Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unionistas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
David Jiménez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Iker Muñoz 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Unionistas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“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.
Nobody at Unionistas 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7.90, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Juan Artola 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Unionistas, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
$860.0K 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.
David Jiménez 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 easiest signature of my career.” Sergio Mendoza and Unionistas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Unionistas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iker Muñoz 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.
Unionistas ran out of time with Espanyol. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Unionistas have gone to Espanyol 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iker Muñoz 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. Defensor Sporting have kept their man, and Unionistas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Unionistas, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Unionistas has been clear about where Dylan Albornoz stands, which is more than many ever get.
The chase for David Jiménez ended with $4.9M changing hands and Real Madrid out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer went to Espanyol 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.
Juan Artola 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 Iker Muñoz 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 Unionistas, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Unionistas have gone to Albacete 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $5.3M — a club that wants David Jiménez enough to be asked twice.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Estudiantes keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Juan Artola 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 Iker Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Unionistas asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 dugoutVadik Murria knocks on the manager's door
Unionistas offered $3.6M; Celta 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 offer went to Albacete 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unionistas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Iker Muñoz 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Unionistas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Unionistas, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Unionistas have made the call to Estudiantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The offer went to Celta 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unionistas can pretend not to have heard.
Unionistas offered $860.0K; Albacete 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.
Juan Artola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Unionistas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iker Muñoz 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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“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 Unionistas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Almería for Jota 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 chase for Joshua Farrell ended with $690.0K changing hands and Zamora out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Juan Artola and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Unionistas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iker Muñoz 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Unionistas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Unionistas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Position 12 on 47 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
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 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Olmedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Osasuna Promesas will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Unionistas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.45, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Aarón Ochoa, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Mamadou Loum 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Aarón Ochoa 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Raúl Prada 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.
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 Jonatan Goya.
Mamadou Loum 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Unionistas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iker Muñoz 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. Adam Arvelo 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.
8.10. 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 has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Aarón Ochoa
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Aarón Ochoa has come out of that comparison in the side, and Unionistas have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Marked 7.60 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Up for the corner, and Marc Jurado delivers — 7.54
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Marc Jurado scored, was marked 7.54, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unionistas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Unionistas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iker Muñoz 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Pol Tristán knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
6 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.
Mamadou Loum 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 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 dugout8 Mar 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 0‑2 Pol Prieto left the room before anybody could ask which.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Unionistas pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unionistas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Unionistas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isi 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.
8 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pol Prieto after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilyas Azizi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Mamadou Loum 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gerónimo Poblete, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Raúl Prada 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.” Pol Prieto after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Unionistas has been clear about where Federico Montiel stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutIlyas Azizi knocks on the manager’s door
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Gimnàstic paid $5.3M and Osasuna took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Osasuna offered $1.2M; Getafe 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 chase for Iker Muñoz ended with $4.6M changing hands and Osasuna out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
$450.0K was the most the club would pay and Girona 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.
Mamadou Loum 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. Vasco Sousa has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Unionistas have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sheffield United have kept their man, and Unionistas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Rubén García 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 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.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Alavés in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
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.
“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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Lucas Torró delivers — 7.34
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Lucas Torró scored, was marked 7.34, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Rufino Lucero 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.
Something was said to Romain Del Castillo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Rufino Lucero 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.
Getafe next, and one man in the Osasuna dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Osasuna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Osasuna. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
A side in position 12 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
500 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Biel Parra after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Osasuna 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Osasuna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Osasuna asked and PSV 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 offer from Alavés for Iker Muñoz 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Dubasin, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
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 0‑2 Biel Parra left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Rufino Lucero
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.