“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: San Lorenzo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Nahuel Curcio 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.
$21.0K was the most the club would pay and All Boys 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pedro De Luca after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
San Lorenzo have accepted the money. What Colón do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Colón close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 6 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.
Nahuel Curcio 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Colón and Temperley, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
$6.0K was the most the club would pay and Argentino de Merlo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ramiro Amembi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colón have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Colón will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
$6.0K on the table at Argentino de Merlo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Colón have gone to All Boys with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Aldosivi 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 Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Colón offered $35.0K; Aldosivi said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Zahir Yunis at his very best
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
Benjamín Alegre, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Nahuel Curcio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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 right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.46 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
6 goals in one match, Axel Beilis on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Colón and Talleres.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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 ratings18 Jun 2029
Nahuel Curcio was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Facundo Aguirre did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
1 for Nicolás Thaller, marked 7.51, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Up for the corner, and Zahir Yunis delivers — 7.77
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Zahir Yunis scored, was marked 7.77, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sarmiento have kept their man, and Colón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Facundo Aguirre, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Nahuel Curcio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Colón has been clear about where Facundo Aguirre stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Alegre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pedro De Luca after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Zahir Yunis will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Colón escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Facundo Aguirre did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 7.49 for the rest of it.
Nahuel Curcio 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 had been thinking. Jerónimo Buosi 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.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
In brief
The dugoutNicolás Talpone is still being punished for one mistake
Nahuel Curcio 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 7.04 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Minute 85, against Chacarita Juniors, 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.
“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 Colón, and 8 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 May 2029
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.” Pedro De Luca chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomás Paredes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Alegre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Qingdao West Coast runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
Boardroom94% of the income goes out in wages at Colón
Nehemías Portillo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Beilis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
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 Pedro De Luca left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nahuel Curcio 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 Leonel Ramírez 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.” Pedro De Luca after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iván Ojeda is on it.
In brief
SquadA Colón teenager takes the young player award
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nicolás Talpone scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Nahuel Curcio 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón 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.
He is 19 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.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Nahuel Curcio 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Deportivo Armenio spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Colón told Axel Beilis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nahuel Ciro 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Estanislao López has moved up it.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Gustavo Medina'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.
Nahuel Curcio 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.
“I did not go to Huracán to sit and watch. I want to come back to Colón and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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 Pedro De Luca to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Colón will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jerónimo Buosi 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.
It needed Alan Bonansea to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Temperley, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pedro De Luca was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Colón dressing room was either.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 terraces12 Mar 2029
Colón are taken apart by Talleres — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
The terraces12 Mar 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 5 of the 25 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Nehemías Portillo 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 finished 1‑0, and it was Nehemías Portillo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Colón.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Nahuel Curcio was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. 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.
Benjamín Alegre, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nehemías Portillo. 3‑1 against Defensores, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nehemías Portillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Defensores tried to reorganise, Colón did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nicolás Talpone scored, was marked 7.91, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Nahuel Curcio 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.
Nahuel Curcio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Nobody 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
12 new faces, and Colón 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.
5 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nehemías Portillo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There 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.
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pedro De Luca was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Colón dressing room was either.
Nobody at Colón will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nehemías Portillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Juan Domínguez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriel Navarro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The phone has started ringing about Valentino Albornoz again, and this time the name on the line is Qingdao West Coast. Colón are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Benjamín Alegre 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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iván Ojeda is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iván Ojeda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jeremías Sabbatini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nehemías Portillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jerónimo Buosi 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.
13 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“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 Colón, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mauro Peinipil signs something — a contract at Colón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón 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 Leonel Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nahuel Ciro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Banfield have kept their man, and Colón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Facundo Aguirre is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Zahir Yunis signs something — a contract at Colón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Colón, another week without a signature from Leonel Ramírez.
61 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Colón that is a harder question to answer.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Colón had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Nahuel Curcio 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.
Almirante Brown wanted more than $44.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nehemías Portillo 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 Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Maipú waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Colón is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Nicolás Utrera has gone, the accounts have $1.8M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Colón and Boca Juniors have settled on $360.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Banfield paid $1.7M and Colón took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Nahuel Curcio 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.
Colón offered $49.0K; Estudiantes said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
In brief
Squad9 new faces, and Colón are still learning each other
He is going to Independiente Rivadavia, the club has $1.2M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Independiente Rivadavia pay $1.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Estudiantes this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$44.0K on the table at Almirante Brown. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: San Martín have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Elías Santini. The answer from Colón has not changed — yet.
Barracas Central paid $140.0K and Colón took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
Colón asked and Temperley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Iván Ojeda 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.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Yunnan Yukun runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ian Bobadilla is in the works
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Colón will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Colón have done the hard part with San Martín SJ, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Leandro Allende was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alan Bonansea trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Castet signs something — a contract at Colón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Utrera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castet 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.
Iván Ojeda 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.
13 goals in 30 games at Chengdu Rongcheng — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Facundo Aguirre is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Colón that is a harder question to answer.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Colón will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Elías Santini is on it.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
Position 4, 61 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Nahuel Curcio 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.
Everybody at Colón 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Julián Marcioni is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Iván Ojeda was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Colón will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Position 4, 61 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
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 Alan Bonansea has written the date down.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
7 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
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Facundo Castet
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castet 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.
13 goals in 28 games at Chengdu Rongcheng — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Caldas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 7.87 for the rest of it.
Julián Marcioni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castet 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 1‑0 win over Chacarita Juniors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I did not go to San Martín de Burzaco to sit and watch. I want to come back to Colón and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 36 matches say the rest.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Loan watch11 Sep 2028
Tomás Paredes is tired of being somebody else's player
“Another season, another badge, another dressing room to win over. I would like one pre-season at Colón where somebody actually looks at me.” He belongs to CRB until the spell ends; the argument is with the club that owns him.
Something was said to Rodrigo Borzone and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jeremías Sabbatini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Gimnasia y Esgrima tried to reorganise, Colón did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Alan Bonansea had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Estudiantes were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Utrera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Iván Ojeda 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Aguirre, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
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.” Pedro De Luca chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Jerónimo Buosi’s exile
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicolás Talpone provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Persik for Estanislao López 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet 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 Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsNahuel Curcio was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nahuel Curcio 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 had been thinking. Facundo Castet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 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.
“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 Colón, and 0 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Nahuel Curcio
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer from Trofense for Elías Santini 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 that would have taken Mateo Lizondo to San Martín SJ has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Colón with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Julián Marcioni 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Lorenzo have kept their man, and Colón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“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 Colón, and 0 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Temperley had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The deal that would have taken Julián Marcioni to Independiente Rivadavia has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Colón with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Colón 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.
Julián Marcioni 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 had been thinking. Facundo Castet 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and San Martín SJ waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Colón is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Colón asked and Argentino de Quilmes 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 first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Brown de Adrogué; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Match15 Jul 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Colón. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
6 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
41 points, a place near the top and a ground that has begun to enjoy itself. Nobody will say the word out loud, which is the surest indication that everybody is thinking it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 7.82 for the rest of it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Tigre keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Colón and Barracas Central have settled on $79.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Nagel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$90.0K was the most the club would pay and San Telmo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Barracas Central paid $63.0K and Colón took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Colón asked and Unión de Santa Fe said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 3, 35 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nicolás Nagel has agreed terms with Platense for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Alan Bonansea decided nobody was going anywhere. Mitre had no time left to answer.
The bid was some way short and Colón did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
A brace, and Alan Bonansea takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alan Bonansea provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Gimnasia La Plata paid $420.0K and Colón took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colón have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Agropecuario Argentino will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Colón were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Tigre keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Matías Budiño 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.
Marked 9.85 — 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.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: San Lorenzo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sacachispas have kept their man, and Colón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Julián Marcioni 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Nagel, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 May 2028
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 Pedro De Luca left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Up for the corner, and Zahir Yunis delivers — 7.67
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Zahir Yunis scored, was marked 7.67, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Colón can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Matías Budiño now has 25 of them across 257 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Caldas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nicolás Talpone scored, was marked 7.64, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castet 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.
“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 Colón, and 10 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout15 May 2028
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.” Pedro De Luca kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Lucas Cuffia
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Colón, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“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 dugout8 May 2028
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 Pedro De Luca to a room that had heard them before.
Julián Marcioni 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.
“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 Colón, and 0 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A mark of 7.91, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout1 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Facundo Castet'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.
Out, 1‑2 to Gimnasia La Plata, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Matías Budiño'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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Matías Budiño 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 won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.87, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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 Pedro De Luca to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Julián Marcioni 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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Conrado Ibarra has his answer from Colón; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at San Martín de Burzaco runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón 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.
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.
“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 Colón, and 0 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Colón, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Temperley in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Colón know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
3 goals in 3 games at Chengdu Rongcheng — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Conrado Ibarra wants continental football; whether Colón can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Conrado Ibarra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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 Colón, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Iván Ojeda
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 7.99 for the rest of it.
Julián Marcioni 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Paysandu FC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
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 0‑2 Pedro De Luca left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Alan Bonansea had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Talleres were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Matías Budiño 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.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at San Martín de Burzaco runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chengdu Rongcheng waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Colón 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.” Colón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matías Budiño 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 Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
12 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.
The offer from Tianjin Jinmen Tiger for Nahuel Ciro 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.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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 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.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Colón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Conrado Ibarra 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.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Colegiales runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Dalian Yingbo will make the call about Nehemías Portillo this week. Colón have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Budiño trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Castet signs something — a contract at Colón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nahuel Curcio 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 a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Colón can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“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 Colón, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamín Alegre 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.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Colón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matías Budiño signs something — a contract at Colón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Colón that is a harder question to answer.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón 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 Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Colón, another week without a signature from Matías Budiño.
14 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Julián Marcioni trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 5 on 54 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alan Bonansea had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Colón had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The phone has started ringing about Lucas Cuffia again, and this time the name on the line is Chaco For Ever. Colón are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Maipú; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentino Albornoz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$8.0K was the most the club would pay and Atlanta 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Godoy 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and San Martín waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Colón is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Colón have done the hard part with Güemes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Colón have gone to Atlanta with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jonás Ravano 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colón have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Matías Godoy 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.
Everybody at Colón saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 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.
Gimnasia La Plata paid $210.0K and Colón took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
11 clean sheets from 29 appearances at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
In brief
The dugoutMatías Budiño knocks on the manager's door
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alan Bonansea will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Matías Godoy 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.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
Tomás Paredes’s loan is measured in nothing happening
14 clean sheets from 41 appearances at Dock Sud. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The phone has started ringing about Jerónimo Buosi again, and this time the name on the line is Alvarado. Colón are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Colón and a proper look at me.” He remains Shenzhen Peng City’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentino Albornoz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
40 appearances at Dock Sud and the goals have stopped going in. Colón lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportivo Riestra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Matías Budiño 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 had been thinking. Nicolás Talpone 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
6 goals in 29 games at Dalian Yingbo — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matías Budiño 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Matías Godoy 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.
29 appearances at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger and the goals have stopped going in. Colón lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mauro Peinipil signs something — a contract at Colón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
3 goals in 22 games at Shenzhen Peng City — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Matías Godoy 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.
38 appearances at Dock Sud and the goals have stopped going in. Colón lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Colón that is a harder question to answer.
22 goals in 27 games at Nova Iguaçu — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportivo Riestra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
In brief
The dugoutMatías Budiño knocks on the manager's door
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Godoy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There 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.
11 shut-outs in 36 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Tomás Paredes has been having a lot of them.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 54 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Matías Godoy 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón 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 Nicolás Talpone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Paysandu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
19 goals in 24 games at Nova Iguaçu — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentino Albornoz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Godoy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7.28, 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.
Matías Budiño 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 had been thinking. Matías Godoy 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.
Level with 85 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Colón had all but put away. Nueva Chicago will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Talpone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 clean sheets from 27 appearances at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
7.81, 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
16 goals in 21 games at Nova Iguaçu — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Colón, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Altamura runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Colón who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Colón and a proper look at me.” He remains Shenzhen Peng City’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
10 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.