Marked for Valentín Vada
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Feb 2029
Nicolás Otamendi damages knee ligaments — 149 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 149 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.
Market19 Feb 2029
“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.
Market19 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at River Plate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alejo Montero has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Galeno beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobías Ramírez 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 Feb 2029
River Plate are still strangers to each other
33 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 dugout19 Feb 2029
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Feb 2029
156 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. River Plate lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Feb 2029
Juan Saborido has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around River Plate they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Valentín Vada: 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.” River Plate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Galeno 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 ratings12 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch12 Feb 2029
“I did not go to Excursionistas to sit and watch. I want to come back to River Plate and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Jul 2028
Francisco Ortega damages knee ligaments — 114 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
River Plate asked and Málaga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match3 Jul 2028
30 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market3 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around River Plate people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market3 Jul 2028
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Aarón Molinas had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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.
Market3 Jul 2028
Iñaki Peña has left for Villarreal in a $7.7M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” River Plate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Newell's Old Boys wanted more than $1.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 May 2028
“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 River Plate, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout29 May 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Nico Paz 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.
Squad29 May 2028
The medical room confirms 35 days on the sidelines for Aníbal Moreno, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Loan watch29 May 2028
16 appearances at Guarani and the goals have stopped going in. River Plate lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Squad29 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Vargas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch29 May 2028
“I watch every River Plate game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kalamata runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout29 May 2028
Thiago Almada has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at River Plate 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.
The dugout29 May 2028
“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
Uneasy
Match7 Dec 2027
0‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Independiente came through the finding-out well against Guarani.
Market13 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.
Market13 Dec 2027
“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 Independiente, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match7 Dec 2027
6 matches without a win for Independiente
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Independiente are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets13 Dec 2027
No thanks: Jaime Seoane rejects the move
Independiente had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Faisaly, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market13 Dec 2027
Business is business: Valentín Vada goes
River Plate paid $800.0K and Independiente took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market13 Dec 2027
Belgrano paid $430.0K and Independiente took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Transfer targets13 Dec 2027
Independiente asked and Deportivo Merlo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
Santiago Arias damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Rodrigo Rey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Nov 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.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
8 goals in 14 games at Puebla — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Independiente updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout15 Nov 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.
Market15 Nov 2027
The name of Facundo Zabala keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Independiente say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
37 appearances at Sacachispas and the goals keep coming. Independiente are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
27 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
24 appearances at Huracán and the goals keep coming. Independiente are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Sep 2027
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Independiente lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Independiente, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Pablo Aguiar: 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.” Independiente have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market6 Sep 2027
The bid was some way short and Independiente did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Facundo Valdez has agreed terms with Deportivo Merlo for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad6 Sep 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 Independiente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“I watch every Independiente game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cerro Largo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Lautaro Millán
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lautaro Millán has come out of that comparison in the side, and Independiente have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.