The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Argentinos Juniors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
1 for Ulises Abreliano, marked 7.81, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The offer from Newell's Old Boys for Franco Sivetti 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.
Gimnasia La Plata pay $250.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
In brief
SquadClaudio Bravo falls out with a teammate over standards
0‑0, and a season that ran to May has ended inside a fortnight. This is what a playoff is: nine months of work settled by a couple of evenings, and nobody who designed it was thinking about the losing dressing room.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportes Recoleta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Argentinos Juniors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 offer from Melgar for Tomás Molina 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.
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.
The name of Joaquín Ardaiz has come up in conversations Argentinos Juniors were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Past Belgrano and into the final. A club can go a generation without a day like this and then get two in four years, and nobody can tell in advance which kind of club they are.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportivo Riestra waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Argentinos Juniors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atlético Mineiro keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.99, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
1‑0 settles it, and a club that spent a season earning the right to play these games has won one of them. Somebody else's season ended tonight, which is the part nobody mentions in the celebrations.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Argentinos Juniors scored in the 116th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Argentinos Juniors have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Morón had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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.
The offer from Deportes Limache for Lucas Chaves 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Palmeiras is saying, and nobody at Argentinos Juniors is enjoying the guessing.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Claudio Bravo 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 tie is over and the right side of it is theirs. 2‑0 on the night, a dressing room that will not come down for a day and a half, and a next round nobody has thought about yet.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 deal with Palmeiras 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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Deportes Limache have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lucas Chaves. The answer from Argentinos Juniors has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Bravo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Leonardo Heredia 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Bravo 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.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Argentinos Juniors is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
“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.
Nicolás Tolosa 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 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 dugout15 May 2028
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.” Ricardo Escobar chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Belgrano? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emiliano Viveros and Argentinos Juniors agree another 4 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Claudio Bravo 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.
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.
A 1‑0 win over Gimnasia La Plata, 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 Claudio Bravo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Tomás Molina 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.
0‑3 against Racing Club, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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.
“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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Bravo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout17 Apr 2028
Pedro Morisco is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Bravo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
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.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Thiago Santamaría is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Argentinos Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nicolás Tolosa 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. Claudio Bravo 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.
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 Juan José Cardozo is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Argentinos Juniors, another week without a signature from Joaquín Gho.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomás Molina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
15 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.
“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 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Claudio Bravo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maximiliano Romero. 1‑0 against Godoy Cruz, 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 Argentinos Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Santamaría 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.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Pablo Minissale has his answer from Argentinos Juniors; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
14 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.
“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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Bravo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Juan José Cardozo has his answer from Argentinos Juniors; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Emiliano Viveros at his very best
“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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Máximo Seggio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Argentinos Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Claudio Bravo 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 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.
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 Juan José Cardozo is on it.
13 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
12 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Bravo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Argentinos Juniors will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Thiago Santamaría 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Bravo 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sergio Fernández 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. Sergio González is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Carlos Alberto González 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.
“I watch every Argentinos Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Almagro runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
The dugoutTomás Molina knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Argentinos Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Juan José Cardozo is on it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Argentinos Juniors will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Leonardo Heredia 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Bravo 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.
Mateo Antoni 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.
37 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Erik Godoy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Nicolás Villagra is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
43 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Claudio Bravo 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.
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.
Argentinos Juniors have let the market know Matías Giménez Rojas can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Nobody at Argentinos Juniors 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sebastián Meza signs something — a contract at Argentinos Juniors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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 from Südtirol for Joaquín Ardaiz 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Martín Reinoso reports back to Argentinos Juniors with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Gimnasia y Tiro wanted more than $240.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Emiliano Viveros and Argentinos Juniors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. La Equidad have kept their man, and Argentinos Juniors 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 Thiago Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Argentinos Juniors have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Argentinos Juniors have had the benefit of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Argentinos Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $255.3K — a club that wants Felipe Karabulut enough to be asked twice.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maximiliano Romero and Argentinos Juniors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
$240.0K on the table at Gimnasia y Tiro. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sebastián Muñoz 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matías Lucero is living that version at Argentinos Juniors, and it tends to show in the first month.
The chase for Matías Lucero ended with $240.0K changing hands and Arsenal out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Argentinos Juniors have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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. Argentinos Juniors will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The clubs have shaken hands with Arsenal; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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.
The offer from Liverpool Montevideo for Lucas Chaves 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Estudiantes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Argentinos Juniors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Santino Ortiz has agreed terms with Villa San Carlos for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The fee is $49.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Ferro Carril Oeste 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. Leonel Szalich is living that version at Argentinos Juniors, 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 Argentinos Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
The offer from Sampaio Corrêa for Miguel Acosta 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. Racing Club have kept their man, and Argentinos Juniors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Claudio Bravo has his answer from Argentinos Juniors; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Argentinos Juniors will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
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.
“I did not go to Deportes Limache to sit and watch. I want to come back to Argentinos Juniors and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
0‑1, and a season that ran to May has ended inside a fortnight. This is what a playoff is: nine months of work settled by a couple of evenings, and nobody who designed it was thinking about the losing dressing room.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Joaquín Gho 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.
11 clean sheets from 30 appearances at Deportes La Serena. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns 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 Argentinos Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Gastón Bouhier 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.
7 goals in 25 games at Colo-Colo — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
7 goals in 33 games at Dock Sud — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nobody at Argentinos Juniors 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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Argentinos Juniors who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
12 goals in 38 games at Brown de Adrogué — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lautaro Giaccone has come out of that comparison in the side, and Argentinos Juniors have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
9 shut-outs in 17 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Agustín Mangiaut has been having a lot of them.
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.
“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.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Gastón Bouhier 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gastón Bouhier. 1‑0 against Belgrano, 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 Argentinos Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Joaquín Gho 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.
8.33. 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.
12 goals in 21 games at Atlético Tucumán — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
11 shut-outs in 30 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Federico Lanzillotta has been having a lot of them.
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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Joaquín Gho 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.
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.
Gastón Bouhier 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.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Diego Bolaños 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Joaquín Gho 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.
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.
11 goals in 20 games at Atlético Tucumán — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolás Oroz and Argentinos Juniors agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
12 goals in 30 games at Defensores — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Erik Godoy 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors 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 Argentinos Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Joaquín Gho 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mateo Russo 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. Gael Arias is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors 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 Argentinos Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
Something was said to Joaquín Gho and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ricardo Escobar after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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.
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.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
“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.
The offer from University of Pretoria for Juan Velázquez 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 no worse way to lose a footballer. Alan Ovelar 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Joaquín Gho 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.
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.
“I did not go to Deportes Limache to sit and watch. I want to come back to Argentinos Juniors and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
In brief
The dugoutJoaquín Gho asks for a word with the manager
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Gastón Verón’s exile
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
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.
11 shut-outs in 28 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Federico Lanzillotta has been having a lot of them.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
7.96, 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.
“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.
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.
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.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
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.
Rolando García Guerreño 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.
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.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“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.
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.
The deal that would have taken Martín Reinoso to Estudiantes has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Argentinos Juniors with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
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.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“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.
1 for Claudio Bravo, marked 7.90, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The deal that would have taken Kevin Coronel to Boca Juniors has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Argentinos Juniors with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Joaquín Gho 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.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Argentinos Juniors have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
7.84, 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.
3 in and 8 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.85, and 2 involvements.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
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.
“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.
“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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Leonardo Escalante has, at Argentinos Juniors, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Botafogo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Valentín Catalán 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.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Alianza Petrolera waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Argentinos Juniors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lautaro Giaccone and Argentinos Juniors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Huracán will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Santino Piccinetti 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.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Argentinos Juniors asked and Racing Club said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors 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 Argentinos Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Argentinos Juniors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee is $160.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Patronato drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
At 19 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.
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.
Alan Alcaraz 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Miguel Acosta
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Argentinos Juniors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Argentinos Juniors and Patronato have settled on $160.0K. 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.
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
The dugoutTomás Molina asks for a word with the manager
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Union La Calera waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Argentinos Juniors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Alan Lescano was one of the reasons people came, and $14.6M does not replace that by itself.
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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 116 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.
Boca Juniors go through. The table said this team was good enough for months and the format does not care what the table said, which is the argument every eliminated club has had with itself since playoffs were invented.
“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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Add another name to the list: Nacional have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Joaquín Gho. The answer from Argentinos Juniors has not changed — yet.
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 words a physio says slowly. 124 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.
“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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutNicolás Oroz knocks on the manager’s door
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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ricardo Escobar on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Something was said to Nicolás Tolosa and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Manuel Brondo’s exile
8 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 7.35, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
Joaquín Gho 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.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Gimnasia La Plata held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Argentinos Juniors answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
7 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
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.
Minute 90, against Huracán, 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Miguel Acosta: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Central Norte go through and Argentinos Juniors go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
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 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.
At 22 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Alan Núñez
4 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.
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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
A point taken on 89 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Benjamín Rey and Argentinos Juniors agree another 5 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.
“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.
“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.
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 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.
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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ricardo Escobar after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Everybody at Argentinos Juniors saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lucas Ambrogio has come out of that comparison in the side, and Argentinos Juniors have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ricardo Escobar after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
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.
Something was said to Iván Morales and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolás Tolosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sebastián Meza signs something — a contract at Argentinos Juniors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Facundo Jainikoski is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Lucas Ambrogio’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Argentinos Juniors needing him to play as if none of it matters.
3 goals in 6 games at Atlético Tucumán — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Luciano Gómez
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.
“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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alan Lescano. 2‑0 against Barracas Central, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Facundo Jainikoski 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 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.
“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.
Nobody at Argentinos Juniors is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Nicolás Villagra's mistake
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Erik Godoy and Argentinos Juniors agree another 2 years.
A 1‑0 win over Tigre, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Lucas Ambrogio was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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 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.
Miguel Acosta 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ricardo Escobar could afford to be generous.
“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.
“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.
4 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.
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.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Claudio Bravo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rolando García Guerreño and Argentinos Juniors agree another 1 years.
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.
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.
12 combined actions and 6.83. 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.
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.
“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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ricardo Escobar was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Argentinos Juniors dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sarmiento defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“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.
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.
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 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Ricardo Escobar to a room that had heard them before.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nicolás Peralta 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. Bautista Ponce is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gigante 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.
“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 Argentinos Juniors, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Francisco Álvarez signs something — a contract at Argentinos Juniors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Argentinos Juniors 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
The dugoutMiguel Acosta knocks on the manager’s door
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Changchun Yatai for Máximo Seggio 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martín Reinoso and Argentinos Juniors agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Ambrogio 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 words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
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.
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.
12 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.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
The name of Máximo Seggio has come up in conversations Argentinos Juniors were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joaquín Gho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Argentinos Juniors have had the benefit of it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nicolás Villagra is living that version at Argentinos Juniors, and it tends to show in the first month.
The chase for Nicolás Villagra ended with $290.0K changing hands and All Boys out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Rampla Juniors had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Union Espanola for Juan José Cardozo 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.
At 19 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.
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.
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.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Sebastián Prieto may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
The dugoutAlan Lescano asks for a word with the manager
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Argentinos Juniors asked and Boca Juniors 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Argentinos Juniors had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Juan José Cardozo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosario Central have kept their man, and Argentinos Juniors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Zahir Ibarra is living that version at Argentinos Juniors, and it tends to show in the first month.
Gimnasia y Tiro will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Franco Sivetti 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Argentinos Juniors has been clear about where Francisco Álvarez stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
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.
“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.
The offer from Alianza Atletico for Gabriel Florentin 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 name of Juan José Cardozo 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.
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 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.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
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 at Argentinos Juniors will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
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.
“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.
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.
Something was said to Brayan Cortés and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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.
7 appearances at Deportes La Serena and the goals have stopped going in. Argentinos Juniors lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
83 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
“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.
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 never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
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.
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 Franco Paredes is on it.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Position 3, 21 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.
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.
5 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 19 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Francisco Gerometta has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Argentinos Juniors have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAlan Lescano asks for a word with the manager
129 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 Franco Paredes is on it.
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.
138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Argentinos Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Marked 6.59 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
146 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Argentinos Juniors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Mauricio Cardillo has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Argentinos Juniors have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Something was said to Tomás Molina and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ricardo Escobar after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutBrayan Cortés knocks on the manager's door
“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.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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.
Marked 7.18 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Argentinos Juniors had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout21 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.” Ricardo Escobar chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Argentinos Juniors has been clear about where Javier Cabrera stands, which is more than many ever get.
Atlético Tucumán will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Argentinos Juniors were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gino Infantino provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Argentinos Juniors and Defensa y Justicia 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.
At 23 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“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.
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 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A 2‑0 win over Independiente Rivadavia, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Aldosivi will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Argentinos Juniors were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Argentinos Juniors scored in the 108th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Alan Lescano takes the afternoon — 8.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alan Lescano provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Zaragoza for Matías Giménez Rojas 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gastón Verón had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The name of Emiliano Viveros has come up in conversations Argentinos Juniors were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Juan José Cardozo 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.
2 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Hernán López Muñoz scored in the 86th minute, Barracas Central had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Argentinos Juniors took the lot.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Thiago Berterame, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Vicenza have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gastón Verón. The answer from Argentinos Juniors has not changed — yet.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gino Infantino 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.
A 1‑0 win over Barracas Central, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gonzalo Siri had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
AS Roma paid $6.5M 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.
Diego Porcel has gone, the accounts have $6.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS Roma waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Argentinos Juniors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Cartagena had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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.
9 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 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAlan Lescano asks for a word with the manager