51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Almería lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Almería have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Patrick Soko 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Luna was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Javi Guerra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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 ratingsThe game went through Gustavinho — 6.78
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mikel Vesga
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Almería lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
A 2‑1 win over Córdoba, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Brian Cipenga 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Almería told Patrick Soko something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
“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.
Javi Guerra 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.
29 appearances away from home and 16 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Luna 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.
Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Almería.
Squad18 Oct 2027
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Selvi commits to Almería for another 5 years.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Marcos Luna 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.
“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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Andorra in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Rubén Quintanilla has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Almería, and both men came out saying it was fine.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Almería lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brian Cipenga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Almería, another week without a signature from Fernando.
Something was said to Obed Vargas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Luna was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Almería has been clear about where Nélson Monte stands, which is more than many ever get.
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Almería lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Almería interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Martí Fuentes keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
A 3‑2 win over Zaragoza, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Marcos Luna 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 words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
“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.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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.
Fernando 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 River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gustavinho wants continental football; whether Almería can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Brian Cipenga 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.
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Almería lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. AS Saint-Etienne moved on, Pau Víctor reports back to Almería, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 17 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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.
36 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Fernando 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jordan Wright has just signed for Almería, and for once the answer mattered.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Almería lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Almería offered $11.9M; Betis 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $98.2M — a club that wants Josh Sargent enough to be asked twice.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Newell's Old Boys is saying, and nobody at Almería is enjoying the guessing.
$410.0K on the table at Oviedo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
$180.0K on the table at Alavés. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
In brief
SquadMarcos Luna falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 121 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 offer went to Liverpool this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The fee is $14.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Valencia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sevilla have kept their man, and Almería go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Almería lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Almería have gone to Valencia 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Atlético Madrid is saying, and nobody at Almería is enjoying the guessing.
$380.0K on the table at Oviedo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Almería asked and Oviedo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Marcos Luna 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.
Gustavinho 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 words a physio says slowly. 135 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 phone has started ringing about Andrés Fernández again, and this time the name on the line is Osasuna. Almería are listening politely and promising nothing.
The fee is $840.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Antequera drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Juan Aspra is living that version at Almería, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Luna 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.
Fernando 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.
8 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Pau Víctor has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Almería are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Kang-In Lee is in the works
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Matías Aguirre
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Víctor Hernández clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
The words a physio says slowly. 142 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 offer went to Sevilla this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Martí Fuentes recited it perfectly.
The chase for Jony Álamo ended with $3.4M changing hands and Algeciras out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The deal with Atlético Madrid 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.
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.
In brief
SquadMarcos Luna falls out with a teammate over standards
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Almería lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Algeciras have accepted the money. What Almería do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Almería asked and Sevilla 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atlético Madrid keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Andrés Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Marcos Luna 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.
“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 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutMikel Vesga asks for a word with the manager
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Almería lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Osasuna for Andrés Fernández 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 a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Julián Delmás is living that version at Almería, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Luna 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.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Andrés Fernández again, and this time the name on the line is Osasuna. Almería are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Miguel De la Fuente and Almería agree another 4 years.
Andrés Fernández 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Luna 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 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Almería, another week without a signature from Caetano.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrés Fernández and Almería agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Luna 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.
37 games, 2 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Almería now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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.
Almería asked and Newell's Old Boys 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Patrick Soko is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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.
Leonardo Lelo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nico Melamed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 games, 2 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Almería now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Almería had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Athletic Bilbao, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Nico Melamed 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.
$48.0K on the table at Las Palmas. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Álex Balboa has just signed for Almería, and for once the answer mattered.
12 goals in 17 games at Vélez — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Almería updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad21 Jun 2027
5 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.
The offer from Rayo Vallecano for Chumi 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.
Add another name to the list: Gijón have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Andrés Fernández. The answer from Almería has not changed — yet.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santino Duarte is living that version at Almería, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nico Melamed 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.
Fernando 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Villarreal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Almería is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Almería can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 62 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The phone has started ringing about Jon Morcillo again, and this time the name on the line is Villarreal. Almería are listening politely and promising nothing.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Almería pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Something was said to Nico Melamed and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Albacete in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Andrés Fernández 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Román Sequeira has, at Almería, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The goal that put Andorra ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Almería equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
5 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.
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.
Leonardo Lelo 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.
A 2‑1 win over Racing Santander, 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. Gustavinho wants continental football; whether Almería can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Víctor Hernández could afford to be generous.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Zaragoza tried to reorganise, Almería did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Pedro Dacrema 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Almería told Logan Costa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Almería will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Braulio Gennaro is living that version at Almería, and it tends to show in the first month.
Nico Melamed 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.
13 combined actions and 7.18. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Léo Baptistão, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.” Víctor Hernández, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Almería interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Víctor Hernández keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
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.
Logan Costa 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Víctor Hernández after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.46 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Day 42 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Almería and Mirandés in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pau Víctor. 4‑2 against Mirandés, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
“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 5 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Víctor Hernández on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Almería, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Almería. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
3 goals in 8 games at Lusitânia Lourosa — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Almería updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 7.82 for the rest of it.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Almería know it.
Something was said to Logan Costa and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
14 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Pedro Dacrema 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout15 Mar 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 0‑1 Víctor Hernández left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Almería are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Leganés next, and one man in the Almería dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Víctor Hernández recited it perfectly.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Pedro Dacrema is living that version at Almería, 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 Almería this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 bill for the sacking has arrived. Gabriel Iglesias leaves with $48.8K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
Andrés Fernández 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Almería know it.
Something was said to Leonardo Lelo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Deportivo La Coruña arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
A 2‑0 win over Real Sociedad B, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 7.80 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Almería had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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.” Gabriel Iglesias, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
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 Chumi is on it.
Leonardo Lelo 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.
2‑3 to Valladolid, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Gabriel Iglesias to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Almería, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Logan Costa arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Pierotti provided it, and the 9.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Almería asked and Zaragoza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A 2‑1 win over Cultural Leonesa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gabriel Iglesias after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Logan Costa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The offer from Valladolid for Jon Morcillo 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.
Almería asked and Athletic Bilbao said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Logan Costa 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.
Sevilla paid $11.7M and Almería took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Almería asked and Ceuta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Almería have made Andrés Fernández available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gabriel Iglesias chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
In brief
The dugoutChumi is still paying for one afternoon at Almería
The dugoutMikel Vesga knocks on the manager's door
Real Sociedad paid $19.9M and Almería took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Villarreal is saying, and nobody at Almería is enjoying the guessing.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Almería will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Marcos Luna 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.
Position 12, 28 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arvin Appiah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Almería the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with Villarreal, 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zaragoza have kept their man, and Almería go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Almería can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Daijiro Chirino 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.
“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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Almería will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“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.
Javi Muñoz 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.
A 2‑0 win over Racing Santander, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 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.
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.
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 7.84 for the rest of it.
Marcos Luna 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.
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.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Mallorca go through and Almería go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arvin Appiah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Almería the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Leonardo Lelo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sergio Arribas. 1‑0 against Zaragoza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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.
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.
Marked 7.93 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Almería had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Andrés Fernández'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 dugout7 Dec 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.” Gabriel Iglesias kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jorge Pulido is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Almería have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
André Horta 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Almería training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Luna 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.
Something was said to Sergio Arribas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.35 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Something was said to Pau Víctor and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Almería they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” André Horta has his answer from Almería; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Almería 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Almería, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Mirandés next, and one man in the Almería dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
At 21 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Andrés Fernández'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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Javi Muñoz was at the centre of it, Castellón were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Almería have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
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.
Leonardo Lelo 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.
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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Gabriel Iglesias to a room that had heard them before.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Almería is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Santiago Pierotti had Almería level again within 2 minutes, and Granada never got to play with a lead at all.
A 1‑1 draw with Granada leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gabriel Iglesias was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Almería dressing room was either.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“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.
André Horta 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.
11 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Granada in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Almería. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
Andrés Fernández 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.
A 1‑0 win over Real Sociedad B, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
10 combined actions and 6.75. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Santiago Pierotti is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stefan Džodić is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rodrigo Ely wants continental football; whether Almería can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
A 1‑1 draw with Valladolid leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gabriel Iglesias chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Almería they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Thalys reports back to Almería with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Almería and Eibar, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Almería will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 2‑4 Gabriel Iglesias left the room before anybody could ask which.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cacereño waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Almería is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Las Palmas moved on, André Horta reports back to Almería, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
11 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 offer from Celta for Adrián Embarba 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Almería people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Federico Bonini to Valencia has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Almería with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Almería close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 1 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Sociedad have kept their man, and Almería go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Almería people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal with Lecce 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.
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.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sergio Arribas provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
$9.7M was the most the club would pay and Rayo Vallecano 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 phone has started ringing about André Horta again, and this time the name on the line is Las Palmas. Almería are listening politely and promising nothing.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Almería have gone and got theirs early.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo La Coruña have kept their man, and Almería go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have shaken hands with Braga; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Almería asked and Celta 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $11.4M — a club that wants Isi Palazón enough to be asked twice.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Villarreal is saying, and nobody at Almería is enjoying the guessing.
Andrés Fernández 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Caetano is living that version at Almería, and it tends to show in the first month.
Huesca next, and one man in the Almería dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Almería offered $24.4M; RC Strasbourg 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.
$5.7M on the table at Rayo Vallecano. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zaragoza is saying, and nobody at Almería is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Girona 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. Francisco Delgado 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. Tomás Lozano 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. Carlos Lorenzo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer went to RC Strasbourg this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“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.
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.
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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.
“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; Almería are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Still no offer on the table, and Mikel Vesga’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.