Position 13 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Argentinos Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The name of Matías Giménez Rojas has come up in conversations Argentinos Juniors were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Luciano Sánchez has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán López Muñoz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Mineiro have kept their man, and Argentinos Juniors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Argentino de Merlo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Argentinos Juniors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Coquimbo Unido for Emiliano Viveros was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The phone has started ringing about Alan Lescano again, and this time the name on the line is Banfield. Argentinos Juniors are listening politely and promising nothing.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alan Palavecino has, at Argentinos Juniors, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Argentinos Juniors asked and Flamengo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Gho 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.
Facundo Jainikoski 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.
In brief
The terracesThe Alan Lescano rumours reach the terraces
Argentinos Juniors and Colón have settled on $60.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Argentinos Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Racing have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Emiliano Viveros. The answer from Argentinos Juniors has not changed — yet.
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.
Argentinos Juniors asked and Ferrocarril Midland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nicolás Oroz 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 had been thinking. Hernán López Muñoz 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.
Benjamín Rey and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Alan Lescano 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 Joaquín Gho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Argentinos Juniors will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Argentinos Juniors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Luciano Sánchez has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Argentinos Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Argentinos Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kevin Coronel and Argentinos Juniors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Argentinos Juniors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pablo Ríos after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alan Lescano signs something — a contract at Argentinos Juniors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Argentinos Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Argentinos Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Belgrano were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Gho is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Argentinos Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 13 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Argentinos Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán López Muñoz 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Argentinos Juniors can tell you which week it ends in.
0‑3 to Huracán, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors has to find a result from somewhere.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thiago Berterame is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Facundo Carrizo and Argentinos Juniors agree another 5 years.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Argentinos Juniors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 20 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Huracán in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Argentinos Juniors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alejandro Leiva is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Nicolás Oroz 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pablo Ríos after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Alan Lescano 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.
10 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 dugout28 Sep 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Pablo Ríos to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Racing Club next, and one man in the Argentinos Juniors dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Alan Lescano 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.
Godoy Cruz will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Brian Orosco has pre-agreed a move to Argentinos Juniors, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Brayan Cortés'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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Fernández 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.
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against River Plate.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Javier Cabrera
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hernán López Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Argentinos Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The dugout14 Sep 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Pablo Ríos to a room that had heard them before.
Rosario Central next, and one man in the Argentinos Juniors dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Argentinos Juniors heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hernán López Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vélez will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Matías Pellegrini has pre-agreed a move to Argentinos Juniors, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Federico Mancuello has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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 Gonzalo Siri has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gonzalo Siri signs something — a contract at Argentinos Juniors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Federico Mancuello decided nobody was going anywhere. Aldosivi had no time left to answer.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Miguel Acosta 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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Pablo Ríos could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Berterame was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
90 minutes played. Hernán López Muñoz found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Barracas Central went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán López Muñoz 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.
San Lorenzo will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nahuel Barrios has pre-agreed a move to Argentinos Juniors, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Facundo Jainikoski 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Argentinos Juniors and Tigre in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hernán López Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Barracas Central next, and one man in the Argentinos Juniors dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Villarreal paid $4.0M and Argentinos Juniors took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alan Lescano and Argentinos Juniors agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Alan Lescano 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 had been thinking. Joaquín Gho 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Federico Mancuello and Argentinos Juniors agree another 2 years.
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.
Nicolás Oroz 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.