The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and André Horta decided nobody was going anywhere. Valladolid had no time left to answer.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.95 for the rest of it.
Jon Morcillo 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar De Marcos 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.
Jon Morcillo 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriel Rodríguez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martí Márquez 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Almería can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Óscar De Marcos 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.
Almería asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Horta 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Francisco Sciarini has just signed for Almería, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar De Marcos 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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bologna have kept their man, and Almería go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deal with Villarreal 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Real Madrid keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Almería asked and Valencia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daijiro Chirino 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.
Thiago Perruisset is 20, and Almería have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Almería this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lucas Picech has just signed for Almería, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Córdoba have kept their man, and Almería go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Markel Guerrero is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and André Horta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Cádiz spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sergio Arribas provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Position 3, 42 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.
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. Almería will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Almería this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar De Marcos 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Almería has been clear about where Sergio Arribas stands, which is more than many ever get.
0‑5 against Sevilla, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
A cup hiding at Sevilla leaves Almería explaining themselves
0-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Jon Morcillo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar De Marcos 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: 17. 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Almería, and 4 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Almería will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Almería 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 Almería this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.50. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Almería.
Squad21 Dec 2026
André Horta 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.
In brief
Player ratingsJon Morcillo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Almería will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Almería can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Jon Morcillo 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nicolás Ruiz is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Racing Santander scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Óscar De Marcos 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Sergio Arribas’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Almería.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daijiro Chirino 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.
Racing Santander next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Successful dribbles: 47. 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.
Óscar De Marcos 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 André Horta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Almería game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Villarreal runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ignacio Rodríguez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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.
Jon Morcillo 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar De Marcos 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.
6 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad23 Nov 2026
6 new faces, and Almería 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutGaspar Iñíguez dropped after a run of poor form
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Almería this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Málaga made Almería work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daijiro Chirino 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ignacio Rodríguez on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Granada are out and Almería go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Jon Morcillo takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jon Morcillo provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Almería this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. José Navarro 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Pedro Vargas 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.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Ibrahima Koné decided nobody was going anywhere. Ceuta had no time left to answer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar De Marcos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Federico Bonini 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nazareno Roselli wants continental football; whether Almería can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
“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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ignacio Rodríguez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“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 Almería, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jon Morcillo 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 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Leganés had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
15 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Almería this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
André Horta 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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Almería can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Almería has been clear about where Gaspar Iñíguez stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mario Ceballos, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting André Horta's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Mikel Vesga
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Abel Amaya has just signed for Almería, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Almería this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Áron Yaakobishvili is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oihan Serrano is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Raúl Molina is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Granada, and it could have been more.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Dani Díaz, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.34
A mark of 8.34 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.
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.
Óscar De Marcos 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 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.
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Almería.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Jon Morcillo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mikel Vesga is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Dani Díaz 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.
Marked 8.48. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Almería.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jorge Pulido 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
14 new faces, and Almería 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.
In brief
The dugoutMikel Vesga dropped after a run of poor form
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Álex Muñoz
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
Mikel Vesga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar De Marcos 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.
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ignacio Rodríguez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Almería know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar De Marcos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Javi Muñoz 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levante have kept their man, and Almería go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sergio López 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Santiago Marín is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sergio Arribas. 1‑0 against Eibar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Almería.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ignacio Rodríguez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutMikel Vesga knocks on the manager’s door
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Almería close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The phone has started ringing about Federico Bonini again, and this time the name on the line is Oviedo. Almería are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Osasuna have kept their man, and Almería go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and André Horta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Almería have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar De Marcos 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.
Jon Morcillo 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.
Almería asked and Osasuna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Minute 91, against Burgos, 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Almería will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
7.36, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Almería this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: André Horta. 2‑0 against Huesca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Almería offered $8.6M; Elche 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.
Almería have gone to Zaragoza with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Óscar De Marcos 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.
Almería asked and Estudiantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Deportivo La Coruña will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Jonatan Goya has pre-agreed a move to Almería, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Nazareno Roselli is 20, and Almería have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad17 Aug 2026
André Horta 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.
Almería have gone to Elche with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The offer from Deportivo La Coruña for Miguel De la Fuente 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Independiente have kept their man, and Almería go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar De Marcos 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.
Léo Baptistão 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Lucas Pérez 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rubén Herrero is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Almería have gone to Defensa y Justicia with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Independiente have kept their man, and Almería go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Almería hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Mikel Vesga 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 Aug 2026
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Baptistão 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.