The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Banfield can pretend not to have heard.
The fee is $150.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Mitre drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The name of Cristian Jiménez Osuna has come up in conversations Banfield were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Banfield can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Banfield has been clear about where Thomas Rodríguez stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banfield have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried 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 Banfield can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banfield have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Banfield that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Bruno Sepúlveda plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
He came through the session, took part in everything and finished it smiling. Banfield will not rush him, and he will spend the next fortnight trying to rush them.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
At 34, Bruno Sepúlveda has come through every age group this club has, and now watches a borrowed player of much the same level start every week. An academy notices these things, and so do the parents in the stand.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Banfield can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Banfield that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
In brief
The terracesThe spotlight tightens on Mauro Méndez
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
At 34, Bruno Sepúlveda has come through every age group this club has, and now watches a borrowed player of much the same level start every week. An academy notices these things, and so do the parents in the stand.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Banfield can pretend not to have heard.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Banfield have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Facundo Sanguinetti: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Ferro Carril Oeste go through and Banfield 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The captaincy has been taken off Santiago López García. Banfield will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Facundo Sanguinetti: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Banfield can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Augusto Kalayda, 21 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Marcos López, 19 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
24 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
24 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.