Marked for Michael Santos
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Dec 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joaquín Mancuso
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces4 Dec 2028
Anger at Vélez spills outside the ground
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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A fracture rules Aaron Centurión out for 34 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match4 Dec 2028
Every point is an argument now for Vélez
Position 13 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Vélez
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Vélez is running low.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market4 Dec 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Vélez have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market4 Dec 2028
Emanuel Mammana wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Vélez hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Vélez
Tomás Marchiori 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Oct 2028
Matías Pellegrini had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Defensa y Justicia were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Match14 Oct 2028
6 matches without a win for Vélez
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Vélez are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Joaquín 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aarón Quiros, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Getting past Tomás Marchiori has become the hardest job in the division
10 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Match14 Oct 2028
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Sep 2028
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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad18 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Sep 2028
The goals have deserted Vélez
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Vélez can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Pol out for 51 days
The medical room confirms 51 days on the sidelines for Pol, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match16 Sep 2028
Newell's Old Boys left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Marked 5.19, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
5.42. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jul 2028
Kevin Vázquez breaks a bone — 67 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
A brace, and Michael Santos takes the afternoon — 7.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael Santos provided it, and the 7.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad31 Jul 2028
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.
Market31 Jul 2028
The deal that would have taken Alan Minaglia to Sarmiento has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Vélez with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Match29 Jul 2028
4 matches without a win for Vélez
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Vélez are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Vélez training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Vargas 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.
Match29 Jul 2028
Vélez come up short against Lanús
Lanús left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Apr 2028
Michael Santos damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Match8 Apr 2028
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match10 Apr 2028
Vélez refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 19 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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Diego Valdés, 34, rolls back the years — 8.43
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.43 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad10 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Tomás Marchiori 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.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Nicolás Colazo has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Vélez have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Apr 2028
Michael Santos damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
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.
Market3 Apr 2028
Vélez say no — this time
The offer from Charlotte Football Club for Ignacio Cellerino 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Vélez
Emanuel Mammana 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 Apr 2028
Words at Vélez training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín 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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Víctor Salazar has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Vélez have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match1 Apr 2028
Rosario Central made Vélez work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market3 Apr 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Elías Cabrera has his answer from Vélez; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michael Santos
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match25 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Vélez's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vélez has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad27 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tomás Marchiori 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.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ezequiel Parnisari has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Vélez have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match25 Mar 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Vélez
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match25 Mar 2028
Vélez hit back inside 2 minutes
Boca Juniors held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Vélez answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Market27 Mar 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Austin FC will make the call about Ignacio Cellerino this week. Vélez have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Mar 2028
Michael Santos damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market20 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vélez they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Vélez may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Aarón Quiros in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market20 Mar 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Vélez have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
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.
Match18 Mar 2028
Talleres left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Mar 2028
Michael Santos damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
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.
Match12 Mar 2028
A chastening European night for Vélez
1‑4 against Cruzeiro. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Squad13 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matías Acevedo is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matías Arias commits to Vélez for another 5 years.
Match11 Mar 2028
0‑2 to Gimnasia y Esgrima, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
Doors closed at Vélez
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The terraces13 Mar 2028
Everybody has an opinion about Florián Monzón
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Mar 2028
Michael Santos damages knee ligaments — 60 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Age has not caught Claudio Baeza yet — 7.86
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market6 Mar 2028
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tomás Marchiori and Vélez agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Vélez
Emanuel Mammana 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.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Vélez training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Marchiori 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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Damián Martínez has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Vélez have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match4 Mar 2028
Vélez are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michael Santos
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Matías Vargas out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
No sign of nerves from Matías Acevedo at 20 — 8.09
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Matías Acevedo did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market28 Feb 2028
Veres come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Vélez did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Rodrigo Aliendro has agreed terms with Newell's Old Boys for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad28 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Álvaro Busso is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Platense will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Víctor Cuesta has pre-agreed a move to Vélez, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michael Santos
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Matías Vargas out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Feb 2028
Vélez come up short in Europe
1‑2 away to the standard of Cruzeiro. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Manuel Lanzini, 35, rolls back the years — 8.08
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market21 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vélez they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Vélez
Emanuel Mammana 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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
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.
Match19 Feb 2028
Three points for Vélez, 1‑0 the final word against Lanús in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Feb 2028
Michael Santos damages knee ligaments — 85 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Matías Vargas breaks a bone — 31 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match12 Feb 2028
11 unbeaten for Vélez
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Vélez did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Matías Arias, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Diego Valdés, 34, rolls back the years — 7.93
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match12 Feb 2028
Nobody wins at Vélez
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Matías Acevedo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michael Santos
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Matías Vargas out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Matías Acevedo, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.69
A mark of 8.69 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
10 unbeaten for Vélez
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Vélez did not have in the autumn.
Market7 Feb 2028
Vélez say no — this time
The offer from Hapoel Raanana for Matías Arias 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
Aarón Quiros wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Vélez hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Vélez
Emanuel Mammana 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
Nobody wins at Vélez
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Claudio Baeza and Vélez agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michael Santos
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Matías Vargas out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad31 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Vélez training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Pellegrini 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.
Loan watch31 Jan 2028
“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 Vélez, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michael Santos
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Matías Vargas out for 53 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Vélez
Emanuel Mammana 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Vélez have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Vélez training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Marchiori 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Vélez will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michael Santos
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Matías Vargas out for 60 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Tomás Marchiori 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: River Plate will make the call about Tobías Andrada this week. Vélez have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market17 Jan 2028
The Aarón Quiros story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aarón Quiros signs something — a contract at Vélez or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michael Santos
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Matías Vargas out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Jan 2028
Vélez say no — this time
The offer from Estudiantes de Merida for Tobías Andrada 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thiago Silvero and Vélez agree another 5 years.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Vélez
Emanuel Mammana 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
A conversation is coming this week. Vélez will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michael Santos
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Matías Vargas breaks a bone — 76 days out
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.
Market3 Jan 2028
Vélez say no — this time
The offer from Ferro Carril Oeste for Aarón Quiros 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Vélez have had the benefit of it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Santiago Hegler: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vélez have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market3 Jan 2028
The name of Santiago Hegler has come up in conversations Vélez were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Dec 2027
Michael Santos damages knee ligaments — 139 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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.
Market27 Dec 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Lucas González 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 Dec 2027
Juan Pablo Pignani 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Fernando Juárez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market27 Dec 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Agustín Romero leaves Central Córdoba SdE the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Dec 2027
Michael Santos damages knee ligaments — 146 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 146 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Martínez 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Lucas González has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market20 Dec 2027
Central Córdoba SdE have let the market know Marco Lambert can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market20 Dec 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Sergio Ocampo leaves Central Córdoba SdE the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Dec 2027
Matías Vargas breaks a bone — 94 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Dec 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Vélez have had the benefit of it.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A move Tiago Ferreyra would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tiago Ferreyra is living that version at Vélez, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market20 Dec 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Loan watch20 Dec 2027
The goals keep arriving from Francisco Pozzo’s exile
20 goals in 27 games at Union La Calera — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vélez updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad20 Dec 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market20 Dec 2027
Business is business: Alex Verón goes
Boca Juniors paid $2.0M and Vélez took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market20 Dec 2027
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Tomás Ferreyra has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Michael Santos
154 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Central Córdoba SdE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Lucas González 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Lisandro Musso is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Fernando Martínez 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.
Loan watch13 Dec 2027
“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 Central Córdoba SdE, and 13 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Market13 Dec 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Central Córdoba SdE will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
Elías Gómez breaks a bone — 80 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
“I did not go to NK Maribor to sit and watch. I want to come back to Vélez and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 41 matches say the rest.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Emanuel Mammana has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Vélez will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Andres Lioi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market15 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Florián Monzón signs something — a contract at Vélez or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Oct 2027
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market18 Oct 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Central Córdoba SdE can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Lucas González 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael Santos, and the manager let it.
Match16 Oct 2027
Newell's Old Boys left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Juan Pablo Pignani 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Oct 2027
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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad18 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Oct 2027
Nobody wins at Vélez
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emanuel Mammana, and the manager let it.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes of Matías Vargas at his very best
Marked 8.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Vélez.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
“I watch every Vélez game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at NK Maribor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match16 Oct 2027
It needed Matías Vargas to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Talleres, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
A brace, and Michael Santos takes the afternoon — 8.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael Santos provided it, and the 8.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A one-man rearguard from Alan Aguerre
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuri Casermeiro 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Lucas González 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Yuri Casermeiro 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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Lucas González was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
Lucas González 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 terraces6 Sep 2027
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.
Match4 Sep 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diego Barrera. 2‑0 against Ferro Carril Oeste, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Diego Barrera at his very best
Marked 8.54. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Central Córdoba SdE.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Fernando Martínez 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.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Horacio Tijanovich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“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 Central Córdoba SdE, and 15 appearances in 35 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Fernando Juárez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Aug 2027
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Central Córdoba SdE has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Aug 2027
Lucas González scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Lanús, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Juárez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Lucas González was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Martínez 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
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.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2027
0‑3 to Vélez, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match14 Aug 2027
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Central Córdoba SdE has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Central Córdoba SdE may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market16 Aug 2027
Sergio Ocampo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Central Córdoba SdE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Martínez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Aug 2027
The offer from San Martín SJ for Tomás Iturre 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Central Córdoba SdE are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Martínez, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lisandro Musso and Central Córdoba SdE agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Pignani 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 terraces2 Aug 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Santiago Moyano
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Sergio Ocampo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergio Ocampo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Central Córdoba SdE the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Central Córdoba SdE have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Fernando Juárez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match17 Jul 2027
Estudiantes left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Martínez 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Lucas González has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Central Córdoba SdE may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Córdoba SdE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Central Córdoba SdE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Martínez 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Alvarado are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Central Córdoba SdE will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
7 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Michael Santos has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Central Córdoba SdE will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.