The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
The deal with Getafe is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$6.0K on the table at Sabadell. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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. Miguel Ortega 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. Miguel Vargas 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Ricardo Esteban 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. Pablo Vera 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.
$6.0K was the most the club would pay and Sabadell were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CE Europa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CE Europa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The offer from Algeciras for Toni Caravaca 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.
Dani González was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
$6.0K on the table at Sabadell. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlos González and CE Europa agree another 3 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
9 new faces, and CE Europa 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CE Europa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibuki Nemoto 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Adnane Ghailan was one of the reasons people came, and $4.2M does not replace that by itself.
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.
CE Europa have made the call to Ferro Carril Oeste. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and CE Europa will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Joey Groenbast'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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Real Madrid is saying, and nobody at CE Europa is enjoying the guessing.
Dani González and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CE Europa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutArnau Campeny asks for a word with the manager
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CE Europa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Dani González 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CE Europa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CE Europa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Adnane Ghailan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Everything was agreed with Oviedo and then the doctor spoke. CE Europa have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and CE Europa know which stage they are at.
David Vassilev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody will confirm 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CE Europa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
CE Europa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Real Madrid, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Dani González 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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.
Everybody at CE Europa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ourense CF waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CE Europa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Real Madrid is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Dani González 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.
CE Europa asked and Betis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. CE Europa have done the hard part with Racing Ferrol, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CE Europa 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 Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. CE Europa have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marcel Sgró has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutJoey Groenbast asks for a word with the manager
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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.
Meshack Babanzila 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CE Europa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. CE Europa had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CE Europa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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.
Joan Puig 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.
7.69, 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Toni Caravaca. 1‑0 against Betis Deportivo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Fran Sánchez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 May 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.” Aimar Peña kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Cano 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.
Fran Sánchez 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at CE Europa pretended it was anything other than a decision about 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.
“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 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CE Europa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CE Europa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Dani González 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.
Marked 7.27 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. CE Europa scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Two goals and a mark of 9.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Dani González 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Julián Mahicas. 2‑1 against Algeciras, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Cano 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 CE Europa can pretend not to have heard.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CE Europa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
In brief
The dugoutMarcel Sgró is still being punished for one mistake
5 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.
14 goals and a season average of 7.21. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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.
Meshack Babanzila 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 8.09 — 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Sanluqueño had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Aimar Peña after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CE Europa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CE Europa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Álex Cano 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Juan Flere’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and CE Europa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CE Europa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CE Europa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CE Europa 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.
15 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CE Europa told Jordi Cano something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CE Europa told Marvel something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Fran Sánchez 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.
“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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Marcel Sgró'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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CE Europa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Flere, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Cano 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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CE Europa know it.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Aimar Peña to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adnane Ghailan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CE Europa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 CE Europa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dani González 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CE Europa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Aimar Peña after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutJonathan Garín asks for a word with the manager
A brace, and Dani González takes the afternoon — 9.65
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dani González provided it, and the 9.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Álex Cano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Aimar Peña could afford to be generous.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CE Europa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Meshack Babanzila and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álex Cano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every CE Europa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alcorcón runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Aimar Peña after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The offer from Vissel Kobe for Ibuki Nemoto 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. CE Europa will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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 given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at CE Europa 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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anders Kristiansen and CE Europa agree another 1 years.
CE Europa have made the call to Racing Santander. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Aitor Buñuel
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ourense CF waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CE Europa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CE Europa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Racing Santander is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
CE Europa asked and Athletic Bilbao said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álex Cano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CE Europa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ourense CF will make the call about Adnane Ghailan this week. CE Europa have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Adnane Ghailan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
Position 8, 27 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Sevilla Atlético spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.78 for the rest of it.
The offer from Ibiza for Toni Caravaca 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 deal with Málaga is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CE Europa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Sevilla Atlético, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Flere, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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 deal with Eibar is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
CE Europa asked and Málaga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Joan Puig 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.
Alcorcón left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Cano 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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CE Europa know it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Cano 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.
Joan Puig 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 first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Algeciras; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Adnane Ghailan scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Algeciras, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Álex Cano 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for CE Europa is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Aimar Peña after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
5 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.
Fran Sánchez 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Juan Flere’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and CE Europa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Cano 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 96 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Luciano Cingolani is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
A 1‑1 draw with Sanluqueño leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Aimar Peña was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the CE Europa dressing room was either.
Dani González 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Dani González was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.57. 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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 not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CE Europa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Álex Plà has written the date down.
Julián Mahicas had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Real Murcia were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
8.01. 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.
Álex Cano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CE Europa told Luciano Cingolani something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
5 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.
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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Dani González was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.81. 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.
Villarreal B held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. CE Europa answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Minute 97, against Antequera, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Aimar Peña after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Teruel? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at CE Europa was different afterwards.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Up for the corner, and Arnau Campeny delivers — 7.71
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Arnau Campeny scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Everybody at CE Europa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Fran Sánchez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álex Cano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at CE Europa is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Dani González 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad12 Oct 2026
13 new faces, and CE Europa 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.
Dani González and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a 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.
A performance of 8.53 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Dani González was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 38 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CE Europa 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 Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CE Europa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutJonathan Garín wants a proper job in this side
CE Europa asked and Athletic Bilbao said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dani González. 1‑0 against Atlético Madrileño, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Aimar Peña could afford to be generous.
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.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. CE Europa have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alejandro Jay’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and CE Europa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at CE Europa 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. CE Europa have done the hard part with Gimnasia y Esgrima, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
CE Europa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rosario Central, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and CE Europa 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.
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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at CE Europa than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Atlético Madrileño next, and one man in the CE Europa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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 CE Europa, and it is not being withdrawn.
CE Europa have made the call to Gimnasia y Esgrima. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Gimnasia y Esgrima keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CE Europa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
CE Europa asked and Real Sociedad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Álex Cano 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 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.
Gimnasia y Esgrima have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adnane Ghailan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CE Europa, another week without a signature from Jonathan Garín.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Víctor Antúnez is living that version at CE Europa, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deal with Osasuna is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fernando Morales 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Diego Ríos 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.
CE Europa asked and Oviedo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Álex Cano 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.
CE Europa have made the call to Antequera. 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
Words at CE Europa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnane Ghailan 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.