From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valencia have kept their man, and Elche go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 21 in, 2 out at Elche
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Elche training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Lemar 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pedro Bigas, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.99. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Elche are still strangers to each other
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.
Loan watch7 Sep 2026
“I watch every Elche game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Atlético Madrid runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
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The dugout
Roy Revivo is still being punished for one mistake
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Match
Elche and Rayo Vallecano take a point apiece
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 18 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Elche
2‑12 against Real Madrid, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $8.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Deportivo La Coruña drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
David Mella gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. David Mella has just signed for Elche, and for once the answer mattered.
Match29 Aug 2026
14 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Elche and Real Madrid in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Elche asked and Tigre said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Elche
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Chust was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
Inquest at Elche
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Player ratings
Fer Niño turns it into his own net
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Transfer targets
Elche try to borrow Rafita
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on David Mella
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Elche have done the hard part with Deportivo La Coruña, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fehervar come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Elche did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Elche training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Lemar 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Elche
Christian Cepeda 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Both jobs done by Martim Neto — 7.16
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.16, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Match22 Aug 2026
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marc Aguado, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.86. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for David Alaba at that price
Elche offered $2.0M; Real Madrid 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Elche this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Thomas Lemar 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Elche turn down the training-ground plan
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
Looking ahead17 Aug 2026
Real Sociedad next, and one man in the Elche dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody is after Martim Neto’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Martim Neto suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Elche have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Market17 Aug 2026
Elche shop where it costs nothing
Claudio Villagra signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Real Madrid wanted more than $2.5M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Elche
Kevin Lomónaco 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Víctor Chust commits to Elche for another 4 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Almirante Brown have kept their man, and Elche go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Cristian Ortega is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Tomás Duran joins the Elche first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tomás Duran is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Gallardo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mateo Cabrera 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Elche training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Chust is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
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The dugout
Fer Niño gets it from the manager
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Squad
Elche are still strangers to each other
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Ricard Artero is in the works
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Elche say no — this time
The offer from FC Midtjylland for Yago Santiago 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Elche heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Germán Valera and Elche agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Elche this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Elche training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Lemar 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Elche asked and Paris FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market3 Aug 2026
Elche and Pedro Bigas are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Elche will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.