Cesar Vallejo U18

Peruvian Primera Division U18
15 Aug 2027
Sunday
Process
54 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Massimo Campana puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Cesar Vallejo, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Leonel Troncoso says Cesar Vallejo went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Jhonny Vidales in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Carlos Beltrán 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.

Squad

Renatto Chira signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Renatto Chira and Cesar Vallejo agree another 2 years.

Loan watch

Axel Cabellos has seen enough of Juan Aurich

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Cesar Vallejo, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.

The dugout

Italo Regalado knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cesar Vallejo, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

No hiding place for Bryan Córdova

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bryan Córdova, and the manager let it.

Squad

Leonel Troncoso wants out of the dugout

“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Cesar Vallejo will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.

In brief

Back issues
53 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Horacio Reyna has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Cesar Vallejo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Cesar Vallejo

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Massimo Campana’s move to Juan Aurich falls through

The deal that would have taken Massimo Campana to Juan Aurich has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Cesar Vallejo with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Market

Josué Estrada wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Transfer targets

Deval Muñóz stays at Melgar as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Cesar Vallejo will try again when the window opens; Melgar may not be selling by then.

Squad

Carlos Beltrán 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.

Squad

Renatto Chira signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Renatto Chira and Cesar Vallejo agree another 2 years.

The dugout

Cesar Vallejo keep their word to Josué Estrada

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.

In brief

52 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Cesar Vallejo has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Market

So close: Italo Regalado’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Ayacucho moved on, Italo Regalado reports back to Cesar Vallejo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Boardroom

Cesar Vallejo close the window on a squad of their own making

1 in and 1 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.

Transfer targets

Deval Muñóz due for a Cesar Vallejo medical

Everything agreed with Melgar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Transfer targets

Deadline beats Cesar Vallejo to Rafael Livia

The clock did what Melgar would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

Squad

Carlos Beltrán 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 dugout

Junior Catashunga gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Piero Serra knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Piero Serra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

51 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Massimo Campana has said yes to Deportivo Municipal

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cesar Vallejo have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Fernando Da Rosa asks to leave Cesar Vallejo

“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.

Transfer targets

$410.0K settles it between the clubs for Rafael Livia

Melgar have accepted the money. What Cesar Vallejo do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Eyes on Italo Regalado again

The phone has started ringing about Italo Regalado again, and this time the name on the line is Ayacucho. Cesar Vallejo are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Atletico Nacional tell Cesar Vallejo: Cristian Iguarán is not for sale

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Joel Quispe

“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.

Transfer targets

Cesar Vallejo ask about Cristian Iguarán

A loan enquiry to Atletico Nacional: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

50 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Ayacucho come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Cesar Vallejo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Massimo Campana puts it in writing

“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 Cesar Vallejo, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Jhonny Vidales in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

San Martín SJ tell Cesar Vallejo: Lautaro Garzón is not for sale

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.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Catashunga 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 dugout

No hiding place for Paulo Mesías

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paulo Mesías, and the manager let it.

Squad

Somebody is after Pedro Requena’s shirt

A new face in his position, and Pedro Requena suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Cesar Vallejo have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.

Market

Talks stall between Cesar Vallejo and Jair Moretti

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Market

Josué Estrada joins Cesar Vallejo on a free

No fee and no drama: Josué Estrada has signed at Cesar Vallejo, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.

In brief

49 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Cesar Vallejo put Horacio Reyna on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Match

The season ends: position 9 for Cesar Vallejo

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 14 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Cesar Vallejo

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Match

No end in sight to Cesar Vallejo's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cesar Vallejo has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Cesar Vallejo cannot find the net

7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Market

Cesar Vallejo turn down Juan Aurich for Massimo Campana

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

The dugout

Paulo Mesías: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cesar Vallejo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Squad

Piero Serra stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Piero Serra and Cesar Vallejo agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

48 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Cesar Vallejo board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Market

Terms done: Italo Regalado is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ayacucho waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cesar Vallejo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Match

The wait goes on for Cesar Vallejo

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.

Match

The goals have deserted Cesar Vallejo

6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cesar Vallejo can tell you which week it ends in.

Market

Valentino Felicetti puts it in writing

“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 Cesar Vallejo, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Diether Vásquez runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

No place for Italo Regalado in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Italo Regalado has his answer from Cesar Vallejo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Market

Eyes on Axel Cabellos again

The phone has started ringing about Axel Cabellos again, and this time the name on the line is Juan Aurich. Cesar Vallejo are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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.

In brief

47 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Cesar Vallejo are in real trouble now

Position 10, 12 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Fernando Da Rosa asks to leave Cesar Vallejo

“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.

Market

Eyes on Italo Regalado again

The phone has started ringing about Italo Regalado again, and this time the name on the line is Ayacucho. Cesar Vallejo are listening politely and promising nothing.

Match

The wait goes on for Cesar Vallejo

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.

Match

The goals have deserted Cesar Vallejo

5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cesar Vallejo can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Cesar Vallejo against UTC

0‑1 to UTC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Diego Ulloa did the work nobody counts — 6.93

11 combined actions and 6.93. 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

46 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Massimo Campana asks to leave Cesar Vallejo

“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.

The dugout

Junior Catashunga: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cesar Vallejo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Match

No end in sight to Cesar Vallejo's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cesar Vallejo has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Cesar Vallejo cannot find the net

4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

Jhonny Vidales in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Cesar Vallejo rebuffed over Joaquín Freitas

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Flamengo have kept their man, and Cesar Vallejo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Diether Vásquez

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Miguel Trauco

7.22, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Cesar Vallejo had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

In brief

45 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Cesar Vallejo

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Cesar Vallejo is running low.

Market

Juan Canahualpa hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cesar Vallejo can pretend not to have heard.

Market

UTC come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Cesar Vallejo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Match

The goals have deserted Cesar Vallejo

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cesar Vallejo can tell you which week it ends in.

Transfer targets

Cesar Vallejo rebuffed over Facundo Milán

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Central Espanol have kept their man, and Cesar Vallejo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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.

Looking ahead

Cesar Vallejo face Ayacucho in the game that matters most

Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.

Squad

Diego Ulloa named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Diego Ulloa is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

44 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Angel Romero

17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesar Vallejo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The terraces

The mood at Cesar Vallejo has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

The dugout

Jeferson Nolasco keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cesar Vallejo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Cesar Vallejo against Melgar

0‑1 to Melgar, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

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 Horacio Reyna to a room that had heard them before.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Catashunga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Junior Catashunga

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Junior Catashunga, and the manager let it.

Looking ahead

Miguel Trauco goes back to face Universitario

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Miguel Trauco’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Cesar Vallejo needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

43 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Angel Romero

25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesar Vallejo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Cesar Vallejo are in real trouble now

Position 11, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Fernando Da Rosa asks to leave Cesar Vallejo

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Cesar Vallejo come up short against Cienciano

Cienciano left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Massimo Campana

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Horacio Reyna: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

Osnar Noronha named player of the week

One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Osnar Noronha has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.

In brief

42 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Angel Romero out for 32 days

32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Massimo Campana hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cesar Vallejo can pretend not to have heard.

Match

The drought breaks for Cesar Vallejo

11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Deportivo Municipal were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Player ratings

Osnar Noronha, 35, rolls back the years — 8.59

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.59 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Jhonny Vidales in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Diether Vásquez runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Cesar Vallejo find a way past Deportivo Municipal

Deportivo Municipal made Cesar Vallejo work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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 dugout

Horacio Reyna has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Horacio Reyna on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

41 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Angel Romero

39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesar Vallejo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

The wait goes on for Cesar Vallejo

11 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.

Match

4 matches without a goal for Cesar Vallejo

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Angel Romero 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Cesar Vallejo against Sport Huancayo

0‑1 to Sport Huancayo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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.

Looking ahead

A six-pointer for Cesar Vallejo

Deportivo Municipal next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.

The dugout

Horacio Reyna faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Horacio Reyna after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Erwin Paiva

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erwin Paiva, and the manager let it.

In brief

40 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Angel Romero out for 46 days

46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The terraces

The mood at Cesar Vallejo has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Match

10 matches without a win for Cesar Vallejo

The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Cesar Vallejo are no longer polite ones.

Match

Cesar Vallejo taken apart

0‑6 to Sporting Cristal, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cesar Vallejo and Sporting Cristal in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Match

The goals have deserted Cesar Vallejo

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cesar Vallejo can tell you which week it ends in.

The dugout

No hiding place for Miguel Trauco

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Miguel Trauco, and the manager let it.

Squad

Carlos Beltrán 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.

In brief

  • Boardroom Nobody left the Cesar Vallejo dressing room in a hurry
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Squad A day to forget for Martín Quiróz
39 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Angel Romero damages knee ligaments — 54 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.

Match

The wait goes on for Cesar Vallejo

9 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.

Market

Fernando Da Rosa asks to leave Cesar Vallejo

“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.

Squad

Martín Quiróz stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Alianza Lima take the points off Cesar Vallejo

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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 dugout

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 0‑1 Horacio Reyna left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Cesar Vallejo

Something was said to Joel Quispe and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

In brief

38 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Angel Romero damages knee ligaments — 62 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.

Match

The wait goes on for Cesar Vallejo

8 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.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Cesar Vallejo

Position 10 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Market

Massimo Campana puts it in writing

“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 Cesar Vallejo, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Cesar Vallejo against Alianza Atletico

0‑2 to Alianza Atletico, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Fernando Da Rosa

“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.

Match

Cesar Vallejo at the halfway mark

Half the programme played, position 10, 7 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.

The dugout

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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Horacio Reyna to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

37 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Angel Romero

70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesar Vallejo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

No end in sight to Cesar Vallejo's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cesar Vallejo has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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 dugout

No hiding place for Martín Quiróz

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Quiróz, and the manager let it.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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.

Match

Honours even between Cesar Vallejo and Juan Aurich

2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

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.” Horacio Reyna chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.

Player ratings

Diether Vásquez was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 12. 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.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Piero Serra

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Alianza Atletico in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

36 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Angel Romero out for 79 days

79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

6 matches without a win for Cesar Vallejo

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Cesar Vallejo are no longer polite ones.

Match

4 matches without a goal for Cesar Vallejo

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Squad

Pedro Requena signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pedro Requena commits to Cesar Vallejo for another 2 years.

Match

A bad afternoon for Cesar Vallejo against UTC

0‑1 to UTC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Joel Quispe gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Horacio Reyna answers for it

“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.

In brief

35 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Angel Romero out for 86 days

86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

No end in sight to Cesar Vallejo's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cesar Vallejo has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Jhonny Vidales in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Cesar Vallejo

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Carlos Beltrán 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.

Player ratings

Jhonny Vidales beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Miguel Trauco takes the honours

Marked 7.63 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Cesar Vallejo had the best player on the pitch.

The dugout

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.” Horacio Reyna chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

The dugout

Adrián Fernández gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

34 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Angel Romero damages knee ligaments — 93 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.

Match

Cesar Vallejo sink to position 11

5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Massimo Campana asks to leave Cesar Vallejo

“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.

Match

No end in sight to Cesar Vallejo's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cesar Vallejo has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Universitario take the points off Cesar Vallejo

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Jeferson Nolasco 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 dugout

Horacio Reyna answers for it

“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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Leonel Troncoso

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonel Troncoso, and the manager let it.

In brief

33 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Angel Romero damages knee ligaments — 100 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Cesar Vallejo

A 0‑4 beating by Melgar was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

6 saves: Martín Quiróz was the team

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Jesús Rossi

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

The dugout

No hiding place for Martín Quiróz

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Quiróz, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Inquest at Cesar Vallejo

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 dugout

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 0‑4 Horacio Reyna left the room before anybody could ask which.

Looking ahead

Miguel Trauco faces his old club

Universitario next, and one man in the Cesar Vallejo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

In brief

32 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Angel Romero out for 107 days

107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

The small margins put Cesar Vallejo out

Out, 1‑2 to Ayacucho, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Squad

Jeferson Nolasco stands alone

8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Alejandro Ramírez scores twice — 8.30

Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Jair Moretti runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Osnar Noronha stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Osnar Noronha and Cesar Vallejo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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 dugout

No hiding place for Joel Quispe

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joel Quispe, and the manager let it.

Match

Cesar Vallejo caught on 93 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Cienciano scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

In brief

31 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Angel Romero out for 114 days

114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Italo Regalado scores twice — 9.12

Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Vintage Osnar Noronha — 9.06

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.06, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Jhonny Vidales in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Italo Regalado sends Cesar Vallejo past Deportivo Municipal

It finished 3‑1, and it was Italo Regalado’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cesar Vallejo.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Piero Serra gets it from the manager

“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.

Player ratings

Jhonny Vidales was unplayable

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.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Horacio Reyna, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief

30 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Angel Romero

121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesar Vallejo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

Piero Serra says Cesar Vallejo went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

The wait goes on for Cesar Vallejo

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.

Match

The goals have deserted Cesar Vallejo

4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cesar Vallejo can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Quispe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Italo Regalado

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cesar Vallejo told Italo Regalado something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Cesar Vallejo

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.

Player ratings

Diether Vásquez was unplayable

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.

In brief

29 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Angelo Rovegno

78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesar Vallejo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Cesar Vallejo

A 0‑3 beating by Sporting Cristal was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Player ratings

Jhonny Vidales did the work nobody counts — 6.84

14 combined actions and 6.84. 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.

Match

Cesar Vallejo cannot find the net

3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Miguel Trauco

“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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Cesar Vallejo

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 dugout

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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Horacio Reyna to a room that had heard them before.

Player ratings

Angel Romero's mistake decides it

Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Cesar Vallejo needed to.

In brief

28 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Angelo Rovegno damages knee ligaments — 86 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.

Match

Nowhere to hide for Cesar Vallejo

0‑3 against Alianza Lima, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Boardroom

3 academy graduates step up at Cesar Vallejo

Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.

Market

Cesar Vallejo promote Raul Benavente from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Raul Benavente 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.

Market

Cesar Vallejo promote Nelson Polo from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nelson Polo 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.

Market

One of our own: Juan Cueva joins the Cesar Vallejo first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Juan Cueva is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

No hiding place for Martín Quiróz

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Quiróz, and the manager let it.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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.

In brief

27 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Angelo Rovegno out for 94 days

94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A move Leonel Troncoso would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Leonel Troncoso is living that version at Cesar Vallejo, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Jhonny Vidales in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Quispe 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.

Looking ahead

Osnar Noronha goes back to face Alianza Lima

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Osnar Noronha’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Cesar Vallejo needing him to play as if none of it matters.

Market

Leonel Troncoso joins Cesar Vallejo on a free

No fee and no drama: Leonel Troncoso has signed at Cesar Vallejo, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.

In brief

26 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Angelo Rovegno out for 103 days

103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

7 new faces, and Cesar Vallejo 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

25 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Angelo Rovegno out for 110 days

110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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.

In brief

24 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Angelo Rovegno damages knee ligaments — 118 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 118 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.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the José Rivera deal

Cesar Vallejo ran out of time with Universitario. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

In brief

23 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Angelo Rovegno

125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesar Vallejo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Transfer targets

$2.8M settles it between the clubs for José Rivera

Universitario have accepted the money. What Cesar Vallejo do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Squad

Jhonny Vidales in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

The step up is real for Jesús Rossi

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Transfer targets

Deadline beats Cesar Vallejo to Nadhir Colunga

The clock did what Cienciano would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Álvaro Busso

Cesar Vallejo asked and Vélez said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The dugout

No hiding place for Fernando Da Rosa

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Da Rosa, and the manager let it.

Market

A long bet from Cesar Vallejo on Jair Moretti

He is 19, and nobody at Cesar Vallejo signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

Squad

Axel Cabellos is no longer first choice

The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Axel Cabellos 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.

In brief

22 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Angelo Rovegno damages knee ligaments — 132 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 132 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.

Market

Italo Regalado asks to leave Cesar Vallejo

“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.

Squad

Santiago Vera in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Cesar Vallejo rebuffed over Facundo Jáuregui

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Huracán have kept their man, and Cesar Vallejo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Carlos Beltrán 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.

Squad

Cesar Vallejo are still strangers to each other

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.

In brief

21 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Angelo Rovegno out for 141 days

141 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Cesar Vallejo pay UTC $1.2M for a proper upgrade

UTC did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $1.2M for Piero Serra, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.

Transfer targets

Cesar Vallejo baulk at the price for Francisco Galván

Deportivo Municipal wanted more than $1.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Valentino Felicetti gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Valentino Felicetti has just signed for Cesar Vallejo, and for once the answer mattered.

The terraces

The town asked, and Cesar Vallejo paid $1.2M

Piero Serra was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.2M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.

Transfer targets

Ferro Carril Oeste tell Cesar Vallejo: Leonel Szalich is not for sale

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Jhonny Vidales 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Quispe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Cesar Vallejo try to borrow Álvaro Busso

Vélez 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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jorge Luis Ramos

66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesar Vallejo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Piero Serra

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Cesar Vallejo have done the hard part with UTC, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

Cesar Vallejo make their move for Francisco Galván

$880.0K on the table at Deportivo Municipal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

Cesar Vallejo rebuffed over Maxloren Castro

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sporting Cristal have kept their man, and Cesar Vallejo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A move Kevin Medina would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kevin Medina is living that version at Cesar Vallejo, and it tends to show in the first month.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Cesar Vallejo walk away from Jair Moretti

$37.0K was the most the club would pay and Sporting Cristal 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Carlos Beltrán 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.

Squad

Axel Cabellos stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Axel Cabellos and Cesar Vallejo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Axel Cabellos

“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.

In brief

19 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jorge Luis Ramos damages knee ligaments — 75 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 75 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Transfer targets

Deportivo Municipal tell Cesar Vallejo: Francisco Galván is not for sale

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.

Transfer targets

Cesar Vallejo make their move for Maxloren Castro

$37.0K on the table at Sporting Cristal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Fernando Da Rosa signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fernando Da Rosa and Cesar Vallejo agree another 3 years.

Boardroom

Cesar Vallejo agree a free transfer for Fabián Cabanillas

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Squad

Italo Regalado in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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.

Market

Italo Regalado is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cesar Vallejo has been clear about where Italo Regalado stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

No hiding place for Erwin Paiva

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erwin Paiva, and the manager let it.

In brief

18 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Jorge Luis Ramos out for 82 days

82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Santiago Vera in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Quispe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

17 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Jorge Luis Ramos out for 91 days

91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Santiago Vera 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.

Squad

Cesar Vallejo lose Diego Ulloa

49 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

In brief

16 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jorge Luis Ramos damages knee ligaments — 100 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.

Market

Italo Regalado puts it in writing

“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 Cesar Vallejo, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Santiago Vera 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.

In brief

15 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jorge Luis Ramos damages knee ligaments — 107 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 107 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Santiago Vera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Joel Quispe 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.

In brief

14 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Jorge Luis Ramos out for 115 days

115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Carlos Beltrán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Cesar Vallejo and Fernando Da Rosa are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

13 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jorge Luis Ramos damages knee ligaments — 122 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 122 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.

Boardroom

Jair Moretti will join Cesar Vallejo for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Jair Moretti has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Cesar Vallejo have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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.

In brief

12 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Jorge Luis Ramos out for 129 days

129 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cesar Vallejo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Italo Regalado hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cesar Vallejo can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Carlos Beltrán 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.

In brief

11 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jorge Luis Ramos damages knee ligaments — 137 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 137 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Santiago Vera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Miguel Trauco finally belongs at Cesar Vallejo

The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.

In brief

10 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jorge Luis Ramos

145 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesar Vallejo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Santiago Vera in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Beltrán 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.

In brief

9 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Santiago Vera 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.

Squad

Words at Cesar Vallejo training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Quispe 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Fernando Da Rosa

“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.

In brief

8 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Santiago Vera 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 dugout

Fernando Da Rosa knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fernando Da Rosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

The penny has dropped for Aldhy Valencia

He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Cesar Vallejo the difference is visible from the back of the stand.

In brief

7 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Carlos Beltrán 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Fabián Tapia 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.

Squad

An aura around Miguel Trauco

Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Cesar Vallejo. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.

In brief

6 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Carlos Beltrán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Joel Quispe 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.

Squad

Santiago Vera slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Santiago Vera is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

In brief

5 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Carlos Beltrán 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.

Squad

13 new faces, and Cesar Vallejo 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.

Market

Fernando Da Rosa runs his contract down

4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Cesar Vallejo money.

In brief

4 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words exchanged at Cesar Vallejo

Santiago Vera 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.

Market

Cesar Vallejo may not be able to give Italo Regalado what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Italo Regalado wants continental football; whether Cesar Vallejo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

3 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The small margins put Cesar Vallejo out

Out, 0‑2 to Ayacucho, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Squad

A falling-out at Cesar Vallejo

Santiago Vera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Paulo Mesías 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.

Market

Cesar Vallejo and Miguel Trauco are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Diether Vásquez

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Horacio Reyna answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Martín Quiróz

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.

The dugout

Santiago Vera does not fit this one

Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.

Squad

Pedro Requena says his piece

“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.

In brief

2 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Miguel Trauco arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Miguel Trauco has, at Cesar Vallejo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Tempers go at Cesar Vallejo

Santiago Vera 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.

Boardroom

Cesar Vallejo beat the market to Jesús Rossi from Alianza Atletico

Alianza Atletico will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Jesús Rossi has pre-agreed a move to Cesar Vallejo, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Market

Cesar Vallejo promote Luis Caceda from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luis Caceda 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.

Market

One of our own: Gabriel Hurtado joins the Cesar Vallejo first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriel Hurtado is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Fernando Polo steps up from the Cesar Vallejo academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fernando Polo 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.

Market

One of our own: Wilder Hurtado joins the Cesar Vallejo first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Wilder Hurtado is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Renatto Chira signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Renatto Chira commits to Cesar Vallejo for another 1 years.

Squad

Renatto Chira is a square peg at Cesar Vallejo

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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Cesar Vallejo Sentinel

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Cesar Vallejo say no — this time

The offer from Hamrun Spartans for Italo Regalado 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.

Squad

Osnar Noronha stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Osnar Noronha and Cesar Vallejo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Santiago Vera in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesar Vallejo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Cesar Vallejo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Beltrán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

The clock runs on Jeferson Nolasco's contract

49 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.

Squad

Cesar Vallejo are still strangers to each other

10 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.

In brief