85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Argentinos Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Argentinos Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Matías Giménez Rojas has come up in conversations Argentinos Juniors were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Gho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Argentinos Juniors asked and Racing Club 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Argentinos Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Alan Lescano 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 Hernán López Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at Argentinos Juniors saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lucas Ambrogio has come out of that comparison in the side, and Argentinos Juniors have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ricardo Escobar after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Argentinos Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Juan José Cardozo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosario Central have kept their man, and Argentinos Juniors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Zahir Ibarra is living that version at Argentinos Juniors, and it tends to show in the first month.
Gimnasia y Tiro will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Franco Sivetti has pre-agreed a move to Argentinos Juniors, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Argentinos Juniors has been clear about where Francisco Álvarez stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Argentinos Juniors 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.” Argentinos Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alan Lescano 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 Brayan Cortés and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Argentinos Juniors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
7 appearances at Deportes La Serena and the goals have stopped going in. Argentinos Juniors lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Argentinos Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Alan Lescano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Fernández 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.
Marked 7.18 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Argentinos Juniors had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Ricardo Escobar chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Argentinos Juniors has been clear about where Javier Cabrera stands, which is more than many ever get.