14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Burgos 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 The request is on a desk at Burgos, and it is not being withdrawn.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.” Burgos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
8 new faces, and Burgos are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Burgos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Burgos 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 Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oier Luengo 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.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A brace, and Álex Forés takes the afternoon — 9.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Álex Forés provided it, and the 9.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Curro 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Burgos and Valladolid, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Álex Lizancos 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Burgos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Unai Vencedor and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Curro 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.
At 19 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jon Karrikaburu. 1‑0 against Eibar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Grego Sierra, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jaime Prieto kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
14 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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Domi Berlanga
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Iván Villarreal has just signed for Burgos, and for once the answer mattered.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignasi Vilarrasa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Burgos ran out of time with Córdoba. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Roberto Ruiz 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.
Mamadou Loum and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
7 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.
Burgos have gone to Córdoba with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Burgos until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Burgos heard it as anything else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Augusto Lucero is living that version at Burgos, and it tends to show in the first month.
Unai Vencedor 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Curro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mallorca have kept their man, and Burgos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I watch every Burgos game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Leganés runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
The terracesBurgos supporters have found a favourite in Fermín
Unai Vencedor and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
7 goals in one match, Jon Karrikaburu on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Burgos and Almería.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Curro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 4 saves does not settle it either way.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑6 Jaime Prieto left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Facundo Coelli
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Burgos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oier Luengo 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jaime Prieto was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Burgos dressing room was either.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Unai Vencedor wants continental football; whether Burgos can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about 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 Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Curro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zaragoza have kept their man, and Burgos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oihan Esteban 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.
Half the programme played, position 10, 30 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Everything agreed with Deportivo La Coruña, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Curro 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.
0‑1 to Andorra, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignasi Vilarrasa 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 whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7.93, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oier Luengo 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jaime Prieto after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Facundo Coelli
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Curro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Gijón? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Racing Santander next, and one man in the Burgos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Felipe Fernández trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Curro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Héctor Parra is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ricardo Gutiérrez 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.
Marcelo Expósito and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jaime Prieto chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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 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 Burgos game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Leganés runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Álex Forés. 1‑0 against Las Palmas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Álex Forés was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Rubén López was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and José Gragera has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Unai Vencedor and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jaime Prieto on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jaime Prieto on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignasi Vilarrasa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 combined actions and 7.06. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Leganés kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Burgos will be asked about the last half hour all week.
7.78, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Unai Vencedor was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Curro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Santiago Lencina 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 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jaime Prieto after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
13 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
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.
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.
Marcelo Expósito and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Jaime Prieto to a room that had heard them before.
Shots: 12. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Deportivo La Coruña next, and one man in the Burgos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Unai Vencedor 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: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Curro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Martí González is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mario López 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.
Three points for Burgos, 1‑0 the final word against Real Sociedad B in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Víctor Mollejo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 97th minute. Valladolid will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Unai Vencedor delivers — 7.95
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Unai Vencedor scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jon Karrikaburu. 3‑2 against Valladolid, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Jon Karrikaburu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.68. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Gragera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Curro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
13 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Burgos are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
7.57, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Burgos had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jaime Prieto chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Aitor Arias
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Málaga go through and Burgos go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Unai Vencedor delivers — 7.62
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Unai Vencedor scored, was marked 7.62, 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 Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Cultural Leonesa spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
Player ratingsCurro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Burgos will try again when the window opens; Almería may not be selling by then.
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.
Burgos asked and Colón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Antonio Soto is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Markel Castillo 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.
Albacete held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Burgos answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Jaime Prieto to a room that had heard them before.
The clubs have shaken hands with Almería; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Marked 7.96 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Burgos close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Aarón Ochoa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Gragera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Álex Forés is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
SquadAarón Ochoa, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
5Edition
The Burgos Courier
31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondentUneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David González 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marcelo Expósito 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.
7.84, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Burgos had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad31 Aug 2026
13 new faces, and Burgos are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Burgos will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Burgos offered $9.8M; Elche said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burgos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Burgos asked and Deportivo Riestra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
José Gragera falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Burgos have gone to Elche with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Burgos asked and Ceuta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Curro 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Burgos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Gragera 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.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cádiz in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester City have kept their man, and Burgos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luken Gil 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. Rubén Lozano has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gonzalo Santana 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. Markel Montero 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.
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.
Burgos asked and Rayo Vallecano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Leganés have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Brais Martínez. The answer from Burgos has not changed — yet.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Burgos have made the call to Manchester City. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Burgos have made the call to Deportivo La Coruña. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad3 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Burgos are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
The dugoutDavid González asks for a word with the manager