Marked for Ezequiel Berriel
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Basanez moved on, Ezequiel Berriel reports back to Atenas, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Atenas
Brian González and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lucas Sanchez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market11 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ramon Silva has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gonzalo Silva has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Atenas will try again when the window opens; Tacuarembo may not be selling by then.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Atenas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atenas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout11 Jan 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Promotion for Atenas
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Market4 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Basanez waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atenas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Tacuarembo is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Atenas
Facundo Briñón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Agustín Navarro
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ferreira 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Facundo Vigo is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Facundo Vigo has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Atenas
Facundo Briñón 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ferreira 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Atenas are still strangers to each other
17 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.