39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Valencia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
$65.0M was the most the club would pay and Cádiz were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Valencia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Valencia asked and Girona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Stole Dimitrievski 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The chase for Javi Rodríguez ended with $34.7M changing hands and Celta out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The name of Arnaut Danjuma has come up in conversations Valencia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Javi Rodríguez is living that version at Valencia, and it tends to show in the first month.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $71.8M — a club that wants Rodrigo Mendoza enough to be asked twice.
Luis Rioja 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.
Young Boys paid $29.6M and Atlético Madrid took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Aymeric Laporte is living that version at Atlético Madrid, and it tends to show in the first month.
Atlético Madrid asked and Wycombe Wanderers 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Valencia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. José Giménez is living that version at Valencia, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valencia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Valencia asked and Real Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at Valencia 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arouca waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atlético Madrid is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Gijón for Pablo Barrios 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.
Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao have settled on $2.3M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Villarreal have kept their man, and Atlético Madrid go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Atlético Madrid, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kenan Yıldız is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atlético Madrid know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Huesca wanted more than $20.3M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
$1.6M settles it between the clubs for José Giménez
Atlético Madrid have accepted the money. What Valencia do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valencia can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Girona have kept their man, and Valencia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Valencia has been clear about where Arnaut Danjuma stands, which is more than many ever get.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Valencia can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“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; Valencia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atlético Madrid have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Deportivo La Coruña were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Atlético Madrid 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atlético Madrid know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Atlético Madrid 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atlético Madrid know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Atlético Madrid 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.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlético Madrid lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The fee is $28.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. RB Leipzig drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
RC Strasbourg wanted more than $35.7M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
A brace, and Achraf Hakimi takes the afternoon — 8.45
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Achraf Hakimi provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Johnny Cardoso scored, was marked 7.44, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kostantis Tzolakis has, at Atlético Madrid, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atlético Madrid lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Gonzalo Flores left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Atlético Madrid 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.
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlético Madrid lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atlético Madrid have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A 2‑1 win over Real Sociedad, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. José Giménez wants continental football; whether Atlético Madrid can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Franculino 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.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Atlético Madrid will be judged on one thing only.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.79, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Madrid can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atlético Madrid have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atlético Madrid 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.” Atlético Madrid have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Atlético Madrid hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
With 9 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
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.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atlético Madrid lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Atlético Madrid asked and Inter Miami CF said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Atlético Madrid, and it is not being withdrawn.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alejandro Grimaldo is on it.
6 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alejandro Grimaldo signs something — a contract at Atlético Madrid or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Cristian Romero 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Achraf Hakimi is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ademola Lookman signs something — a contract at Atlético Madrid or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Ademola Lookman has written the date down.
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 Atlético Madrid would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
In brief
SquadJosé Giménez has seen what the next man earns
The dugoutObed Vargas asks for a word with the manager
“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 Atlético Madrid hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newcastle United have kept their man, and Atlético Madrid go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
39 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Atlético Madrid now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
José Giménez 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.
Nobody at Atlético Madrid 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
6 new faces, and Atlético Madrid are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
10 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Kenan Yıldız has moved up it.
Deportivo La Coruña offered $15.4M; Castellón said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Oviedo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Deportivo La Coruña is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Deportivo La Coruña will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo La Coruña can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Deportivo La Coruña heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Giménez 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.
Riki 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.
$15.4M on the table at Castellón. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Position 1 on 102 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The offer from Real Madrid for Yeremay 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 phone has started ringing about Leo Román again, and this time the name on the line is FC Midtjylland. Deportivo La Coruña are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Deportivo La Coruña hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“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 Deportivo La Coruña, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Marc Casadó 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 José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 goals in 15 games at All Boys — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Deportivo La Coruña updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
97 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. 5‑4 against Leganés, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Deportivo La Coruña and Leganés, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Giménez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo La Coruña can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad3 May 2027
José Giménez 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.
Minute 93, against Granada, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo La Coruña can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Another one collected away from home
6 on the bounce on the road for Deportivo La Coruña. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad26 Apr 2027
José Giménez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.19 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match10 Apr 2027
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Deportivo La Coruña. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Deportivo La Coruña, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yeremay and Deportivo La Coruña agree another 5 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Giménez 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.
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.
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
José Giménez 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.
4 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.
Adrià Altimira 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo La Coruña have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Giménez 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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Huesca; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It needed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Huesca, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Two goals and a mark of 9.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
José Giménez 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.
Diego Villares 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Deportivo La Coruña will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than David Mella
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Germán Parreño
Two goals and a mark of 9.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marc Casadó 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
José Giménez 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 ratings22 Feb 2027
Adama Traoré was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.15 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
José Giménez 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adrià Altimira and Deportivo La Coruña agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Málaga have kept their man, and Deportivo La Coruña go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
6 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.
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.97, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Deportivo La Coruña until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Giménez 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Santander have kept their man, and Deportivo La Coruña 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 Deportivo La Coruña can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Betis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yeremay. The answer from Deportivo La Coruña has not changed — yet.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Giménez 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. Barcelona have kept their man, and Deportivo La Coruña go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Mirandés will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The offer from Atlético Madrid for Leo Román 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.36 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Deportivo La Coruña had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Panathinaikos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
José Giménez 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.
Angeliño 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Deportivo La Coruña will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Deportivo La Coruña heard it as anything else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leo Román wants continental football; whether Deportivo La Coruña can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Giacomo Quagliata 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.
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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Giménez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I did not go to Gijón to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo La Coruña and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Adrià Altimira was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Yeremay at his very best
9 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
4 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
José Giménez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
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 Deportivo La Coruña, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Eibar in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Two goals and a mark of 9.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Deportivo La Coruña hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Angeliño 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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.98 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Deportivo La Coruña heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Coruña this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Deportivo La Coruña, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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 José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
José Giménez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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.
Mariano Barreda was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I watch every Deportivo La Coruña game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Burgos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Dani Barcia
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Giménez 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: Yeremay. 1‑0 against Cádiz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Teun Gijselhart 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Rubén Castro, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Marc Casadó 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Yeremay was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.44. 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.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.