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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Estudiantes for Santiago Segovia was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ariel Molas 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar 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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Iker Zufiaurre wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I watch every Boca Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Liverpool Montevideo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
The offer from Aldosivi for Gonzalo Gelini 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
A season average of 7.20 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Boca Juniors know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Milton Giménez 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Add another name to the list: Sarmiento have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tomás Belmonte. The answer from Boca Juniors has not changed — yet.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 Boca Juniors, and 14 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A season average of 7.24 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Boca Juniors know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Leandro Brey's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I watch every Boca Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Independiente Medellin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
10 goals in 20 games at Astana — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Boca Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Barracas Central 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 Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateo Mendia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Milton Giménez 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.
2‑2 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Leandro Brey: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gonzalo Gelini did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca 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 Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
The tie is over and the right side of it is theirs. 1‑1 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.
“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.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Gonzalo Gelini, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.67
A mark of 8.67 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A season average of 7.20 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Boca Juniors know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Milton Giménez 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Milton Giménez obliged against Banfield. 2‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Boca Juniors.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Leandro Brey: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santiago Segovia did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.26, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
27 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Santino Viollaz, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 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.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.39, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Milton Giménez 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.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Agustín Medina, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
26 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.28, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Alan Velasco 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Gonzalo Gelini, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.19
A mark of 9.19 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gonzalo Gelini. 3‑2 against Lanús, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Agustín Medina 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santino Viollaz did not need any: 9.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Boca Juniors heard it as anything else.
A season average of 7.25 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Boca Juniors know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Alan Velasco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar 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.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Santino Viollaz, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.18
A mark of 9.18 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.
A season average of 7.32 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Boca Juniors know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Milton Giménez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Boca Juniors and Platense.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Milton Giménez. 4‑2 against Platense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Milton Giménez at his very best
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Agustín Medina did not need any: 8.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alan Velasco 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Agustín Medina. 2‑1 against San Lorenzo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Agustín Medina wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Aldosivi will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Santino Viollaz, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.25
A mark of 9.25 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomás Belmonte will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Alan Velasco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.15, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
In brief
SquadWords at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Agustín Medina did not need any: 9.39, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca 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 did not go to Nagoya Grampus to sit and watch. I want to come back to Boca Juniors and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
“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 Boca 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.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alan Velasco 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Boca Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Anorthosis runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santino Viollaz did not need any: 9.41, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Orsini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.12, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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: Gonzalo Morales. 3‑2 against Talleres, 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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nicolás Orsini has agreed terms with Vélez for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Alan Velasco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A season average of 7.12 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Boca Juniors know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dante González is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca 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.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Giovanni Cantizano did not need any: 9.33, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateo Mendia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mateo Mendia has agreed terms with Vélez for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Alan Velasco 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.
Agustín Medina, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.28
A mark of 9.28 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from San Marcos de Arica for Marcelo Weigandt 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.
24 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Alan Velasco 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors 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 Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Patronato for Agustín Lastra 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 rules permit it and it stings anyway. Agustín Heredia has agreed terms with Newell's Old Boys for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.18, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lautaro Petruchi and Boca Juniors agree another 3 years.
Alan Velasco 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I did not go to Nagoya Grampus to sit and watch. I want to come back to Boca Juniors and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 20 matches say the rest.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Exequiel Zeballos 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.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Sebastián Díaz Robles has come up in conversations Boca Juniors were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malcom Braida is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Boca Juniors, and 5 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Boca 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Newell's Old Boys for Marcelo Weigandt 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.
Alan Velasco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.11, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Exequiel Zeballos 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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Cruz Cortazzo wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The phone has started ringing about Gonzalo Maroni again, and this time the name on the line is Sport Huancayo. Boca Juniors are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I watch every Boca Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Liverpool Montevideo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Quilmes will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“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.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Santiago Segovia, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.39
A mark of 9.39 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.22 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The offer from Sarmiento for Tomás Belmonte 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alan Velasco 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 phone has started ringing about Tomás Belmonte again, and this time the name on the line is Sarmiento. Boca Juniors are listening politely and promising nothing.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Barracas Central 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Alan Velasco 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.
An average of 7.11 in a first team he is several years too young for. Boca Juniors have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Exequiel Zeballos 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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Iker Zufiaurre wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I watch every Boca Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Liverpool Montevideo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
7 goals in 10 games at Astana — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Boca Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Boca Juniors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santino Viollaz did not need any: 9.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santino Viollaz did not need any: 9.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
6 goals in one match, Milton Giménez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Boca Juniors and Independiente.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Santino Viollaz 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Santiago Segovia, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.69
A mark of 8.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kevin Zenón and Boca Juniors agree another 4 years.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ayrton Costa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Boca Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nagoya Grampus runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Boca Juniors scored in the 109th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Boca Juniors may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Agustín Medina, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.35
A mark of 8.35 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
28 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Alan Velasco 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
1‑2 away to the standard of Bragantino. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.16, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
3‑2 against Bragantino, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Match9 Apr 2028
Alan Velasco wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Alan Velasco found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Bragantino went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Giovanni Cantizano did not need any: 9.33, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Alan Velasco 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Ayrton Costa 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Agustín Medina did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ayrton Costa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Boca Juniors, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Agustín Medina 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.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alan Velasco 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Boca Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nagoya Grampus runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giovanni Cantizano provided it, and the 9.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santiago Segovia did not need any: 8.58, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Boca Juniors know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giovanni Cantizano. 3‑1 against Instituto, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.21 — 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Leandro Brey: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santiago Segovia did not need any: 8.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Alan Velasco 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.
At 20 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.
35 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Boca Juniors scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Nothing has been signed and nothing has been denied. Supporters who have lived through one of these before know the quiet part lasts months and the loud part lasts a week.
“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.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Gonzalo Gelini, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Santino Viollaz, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.10
A mark of 8.10 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Alan Velasco 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Baltazar Blum Macías is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Flamengo will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The offer from Breidablik for Iker Zufiaurre 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Agustín Medina, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.57
A mark of 8.57 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Marco Pellegrino and Boca Juniors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Alan Velasco 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alan Velasco. 2‑1 against Central Córdoba SdE, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.93 — 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.
The phone has started ringing about Giovanni Cantizano again, and this time the name on the line is Inter Turku. Boca Juniors are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boca Juniors moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Iván Di María, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Raúl Domínguez 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 Quiroga has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The 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 Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Eintracht Frankfurt paid $3.2M and Boca Juniors took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The offer from Hapoel Haifa for Mateo Mendia 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.
Alan Velasco 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar 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 Boca 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.
The name of Rodrigo Bacidalupe has come up in conversations Boca Juniors were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Brian Aguirre wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Boca Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Alan Velasco 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Boca Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from RC Strasbourg for Rodrigo Bacidalupe 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.
A season average of 7.16 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Boca Juniors know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody 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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
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. Boca Juniors will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Facundo Lencioni wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
21 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Boca Juniors now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alan Velasco 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar 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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leandro Lozano wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Sol de America will make the call about Simón Bodnar this week. Boca Juniors have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“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 Boca Juniors, and 5 appearances in 35 say he has earned the hearing.
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. Boca Juniors will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Banfield paid $4.5M and Boca Juniors took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Estudiantes paid $4.2M and Boca Juniors took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The offer from Alvarado for Dante González 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
2‑1 against Libertad, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Milton Giménez was at the centre of the description.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Boca Juniors have paid $5.5M for Facundo Lencioni, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Facundo Lencioni has just signed for Boca Juniors, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustin Colmegna will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
In brief
Player ratingsKevin Zenón was on a different afternoon to everybody 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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
2‑1 against Universidad de Chile, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Santiago Ascacíbar was at the centre of the description.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Ascacíbar provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Universidad de Chile spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Alan Velasco 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Ayrton Costa falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Cruz Cortazzo wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Newell's Old Boys 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Braian Morales 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Blanco 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 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.
Position 1, 30 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Boca Juniors support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Alan Velasco 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar 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 tie is over and the right side of it is theirs. 3‑2 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.
0‑2 against Bragantino. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
“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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Santiago Segovia, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.08
A mark of 9.08 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca 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.
Simón Bodnar had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Belgrano were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
1 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.
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.
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.
Alan Velasco 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
1‑1 against Bragantino, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Alan Velasco was at the centre of the description.
Agustín Marchesín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Calegari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Boca Juniors and Independiente, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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 20 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.
Alan Velasco had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Lanús were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Alan Velasco 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Juan Cruz Cortazzo did not need any: 9.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca 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 Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Juan Cruz Cortazzo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
2‑2 against Libertad, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Santiago Segovia was at the centre of the description.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Santiago Segovia, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.01
A mark of 9.01 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.
Alan Velasco 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Santiago Segovia, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 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.
Agustín Marchesín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Calegari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
1‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Boca Juniors came through the finding-out well against Universidad de Chile.
Position 1, 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 43 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
36 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Unión de Santa Fe the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Boca Juniors will enjoy reviewing.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Boca Juniors scored in the 98th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santiago Segovia did not need any: 9.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Cruz Cortazzo. 2‑1 against Instituto, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Agustín Medina wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Agustín Marchesín 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matías Galarza wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 39 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nicolás Figal has agreed terms with Racing Club for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Defensa y Justicia spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Agustín Medina, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.59
A mark of 8.59 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Figal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Thomas Villafañe has agreed terms with Gimnasia La Plata for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Agustín Marchesín 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Santiago Segovia. 2‑1 against Defensa y Justicia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Cibalia for Santiago Roggero 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ascacíbar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I did not go to Atlanta United FC to sit and watch. I want to come back to Boca Juniors and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
27 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Matías Calegari 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.
Agustín Marchesín 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
37 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Lautaro Blanco reports back to Boca Juniors with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Defensive actions: 26. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
A first appearance Tobías Astorga will want to forget — 5.50
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.50, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca 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.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Agustín Marchesín 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Boca Juniors will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
9 goals in 24 games at Racing — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Boca Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca 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 Boca Juniors 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.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Cesar Vallejo for Agustín Medina 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I watch every Boca Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Atlanta United FC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Position 3, 23 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.
The offer from Atletico Bucaramanga for Lucas Janson 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.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lautaro Petruchi has just signed for Boca Juniors, and for once the answer mattered.
The fee is $370.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Gimnasia y Esgrima drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Agustín Marchesín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca 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 Boca Juniors 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.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Patriotas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lucas Janson. The answer from Boca Juniors has not changed — yet.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alan Ovelar is living that version at Boca Juniors, and it tends to show in the first month.
8 goals in 21 games at Racing — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Boca Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Unión de Santa Fe paid $8.7M and Boca Juniors took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
He is going to Unión de Santa Fe, the club has $8.7M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santiago Roggero is living that version at Boca Juniors, and it tends to show in the first month.
Agustín Marchesín 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Fenix will make the call about Giovanni Cantizano this week. Boca Juniors have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Boca Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Lucas Janson obliged against All Boys. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Boca Juniors.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Lucas Janson decided nobody was going anywhere. All Boys had no time left to answer.
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.36 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Boca Juniors have paid $5.4M for Matías Galarza, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
29 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Matías Galarza has just signed for Boca Juniors, and for once the answer mattered.
The offer from Godoy Cruz for Tomás Belmonte 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.
Agustín Marchesín 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.
Add another name to the list: Godoy Cruz have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tomás Belmonte. The answer from Boca Juniors has not changed — yet.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Malcom Braida wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Milton Delgado has his answer from Boca Juniors; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Estudiantes will make the call about Tomás Aranda this week. Boca Juniors have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malcom Braida 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.
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.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Boca Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Cruz Cortazzo wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Boca Juniors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Agustín Marchesín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Milton Delgado wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malcom Braida is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
6 goals in 16 games at Racing — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Boca Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Boca 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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Lautaro Di Lollo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Boca Juniors and Independiente.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Lautaro Di Lollo 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Agustín Marchesín 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.
Marked 8.72 — 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.
Boardroom10 May 2027
Nobody left the Boca Juniors dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Cantizano is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Boca Juniors, and 3 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.72, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad3 May 2027
Malcom Braida falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Boca Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Astana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
A mark of 9.52 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.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A first appearance Benjamín Pérez will want to forget — 5.75
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.75, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Agustín Marchesín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Milton Giménez will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Boca Juniors escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Milton Giménez provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Agustín Marchesín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Cantizano 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 Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leandro Lozano wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Malcom Braida falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Boca Juniors, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Nothing has been signed and nothing has been denied. Supporters who have lived through one of these before know the quiet part lasts months and the loud part lasts a week.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Milton Delgado did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Milton Delgado is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Agustín Marchesín 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.
10 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.
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giovanni Cantizano is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Cruz Cortazzo wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
1‑1 against Deportivo Riestra, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Agustín Marchesín: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
32 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Juan Cruz Payal did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
25 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Agustín Marchesín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Milton Delgado wants continental football; whether Boca Juniors can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
A mark of 8.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Giovanni Cantizano has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
Agustín Marchesín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
8 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tomás Aranda is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Boca Juniors will try very hard not to make too much of it.
1‑0 against Deportivo Riestra, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
The 3-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Lautaro Di Lollo was at the centre of it, Deportivo Riestra were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.74 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tomás Belmonte scored, was marked 7.46, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Agustín Marchesín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A 3‑2 win over Gimnasia y Esgrima, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 9.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Nobody at Boca 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malcom Braida 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.
Central Córdoba SdE will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Boca Juniors were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
25 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Agustín Marchesín 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alejandro Muñoz has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Benjamín Pérez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Raúl Escobar is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Work is signed off on a capacity of 59418. It is the sort of decision a club is judged on twenty years later, by people who were not there when it was taken.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Agustín Marchesín 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
In brief
SquadWords at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work