“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.
The offer from Olympique Lyonnais for Adrián Pérez 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 easiest signature of my career.” Nico Serrano and Bilbao Athletic agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aingeru Olabarrieta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Bilbao Athletic had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Adrián Pérez 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Beñat García 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bilbao Athletic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Elijah Gift. 2‑1 against Cacereño, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Yeray is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
3 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Bilbao Athletic will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bilbao Athletic know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alejandro Rego will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bilbao Athletic the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Andoni Gorosabel 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 had been thinking. Beñat García 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.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Bilbao Athletic have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bilbao Athletic told Selton something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Adrián Pérez 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 Aingeru Olabarrieta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Johaneko Louis-Jean will call it something else in private.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bilbao Athletic told Nico Serrano something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
4 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.
Adrián Pérez 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 had been thinking. Aingeru Olabarrieta 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 is 22 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.
Gijón next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Aingeru Olabarrieta has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Adrián Pérez 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 had been thinking. Aingeru Olabarrieta 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Selton 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.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
Nobody at Bilbao Athletic 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Tarazona had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Barakaldo moved on, Eder García reports back to Bilbao Athletic, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yeray had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cacereño waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bilbao Athletic is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Adrián Pérez 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 phone has started ringing about Eder García again, and this time the name on the line is Barakaldo. Bilbao Athletic are listening politely and promising nothing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bilbao Athletic they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Selton did not need any: 8.20, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The name of Yeray has come up in conversations Bilbao Athletic were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bilbao Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Bilbao Athletic know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
At 22 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Cacereño spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Adrián Pérez 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 had been thinking. Álvaro Djaló 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Peio Huestamendia and Bilbao Athletic agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Gijón; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Bilbao Athletic who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Ibon Sánchez
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.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Adrián Pérez 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 Beñat García 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: Álvaro Djaló. 2‑1 against Cultural Leonesa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Selton 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.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bilbao Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Álvaro Djaló 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Bilbao Athletic will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bilbao Athletic they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Adrián Pérez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Álvaro Djaló 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Bilbao Athletic can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bilbao Athletic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bilbao Athletic. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bilbao Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Beñat García 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.
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 Iker Monreal has written the date down.
They sit in position 7 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Beñat Prados
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Oier Gastesi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alejandro Rego will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bilbao Athletic 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 Bilbao Athletic 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 Álvaro Djaló was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 3, 77 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Add another name to the list: Zamora have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yeray. The answer from Bilbao Athletic has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álvaro Djaló was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bilbao Athletic know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
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 Selton has written the date down.
Iker Varela has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“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.
Adrián Pérez 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 Beñat García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Bilbao Athletic will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nico Serrano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Oier Gastesi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Manex Gibelalde will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bilbao Athletic the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Adrián Pérez 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 had been thinking. Álvaro Djaló 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 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Betis waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bilbao Athletic is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alejandro Rego will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bilbao Athletic 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 Bilbao Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Beñat García 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.
Peio Canales 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.
40 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Bilbao Athletic now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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 Hércules this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Hércules are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
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.
Ricard Artero 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Anhá Candé 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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Hércules prefer.
“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 Hércules, and 1 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout8 May 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Javi Jiménez
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Unai Simón 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 3‑1 win over Deportivo La Coruña, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
At 21 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.
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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Athletic Bilbao told Izan Merino something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aitor Paredes signs something — a contract at Athletic Bilbao or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hércules lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“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 Hércules, and it is not being withdrawn.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hércules may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Hércules training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Sotillos 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.
Lucas Machado 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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hércules 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 Hércules, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
12 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.
Alejandro Sotillos 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.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hércules lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Mangada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hércules the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1 for Beñat Gerenabarrena, marked 7.70, 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.
11 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.
Ricard Artero 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes 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 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.
5 goals in 26 games at Hércules — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Athletic Bilbao updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hércules is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Carlos Mangada 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.
Ricard Artero 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 paid $710.0K and Hércules took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
Hércules asked and Modena said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Hércules, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 3, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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 Carlos Abad 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. Cádiz have kept their man, and Hércules go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hércules can pretend not to have heard.
Ricard Artero 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 Alejandro Sotillos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Getting past Carlos Abad has become the hardest job in the division
8 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Andrés Iglesias chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sebastián López will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hércules the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.72 for the rest of 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 Hércules this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 7.25 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alejandro Sotillos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Hércules had all but put away. Getafe will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Hércules prefer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hércules have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Hércules have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Hércules training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Abad 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: Andy Escudero. 1‑0 against Albacete, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hércules this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hércules 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 Alejandro Sotillos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hércules, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Gijón next, and one man in the Hércules dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hércules, another week without a signature from Retu.
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 Hércules would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 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 Hércules this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Hércules training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Sotillos 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.
10 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.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Toni Abad, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Andrés Iglesias chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Huesca defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hércules will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Javi 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 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sergio Montero 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 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hércules will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hércules they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alejandro Sotillos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Ramón Vilà 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hércules can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ceuta in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutFilippo Reale asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 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 Hércules this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Hércules training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Sotillos 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 fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Álvaro Torres 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 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hércules have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sebastián López will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hércules the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lucas Villagra has just signed for Hércules, and for once the answer mattered.
“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; Hércules are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Athletic Bilbao have kept their man, and Hércules go back to a list with one name crossed off it.