25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Enes Ünal had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Mirandés were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe 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 The request is on a desk at Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.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 Getafe 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 Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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 The request is on a desk at Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe 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 Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 90 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.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcos Benítez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Soria 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Getafe has been clear about where Aitor Buñuel stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
A brace, and Borja Mayoral takes the afternoon — 9.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Borja Mayoral provided it, and the 9.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Soria 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Johan Mojica falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Getafe will quote 19 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe 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 Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Getafe can tell you which week it ends in.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Position 20 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ferley Valencia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Nemanja Gudelj
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jonathan Gradit 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Johan Mojica 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.48 on the card, and the Getafe support went home talking about one name.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Getafe dressing room was either.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Valentín Silva has his answer from Getafe; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Valladolid spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Getafe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Soria 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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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.
1‑3 to Eibar, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout5 Nov 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 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Manuel Méndez 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Marcos Benítez
The dugoutNemanja Gudelj dropped after a run of poor form
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
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 7.85 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Soria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Johan Mojica 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.
Marked 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Cultural Leonesa had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe 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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Soria 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.
It needed Enes Ünal to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Burgos, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout22 Oct 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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
Player ratingsBorja Mayoral beats them one at a time
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Lionel Jatón's mistake
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Getafe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Johan Mojica 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.
Marked 8.11 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Getafe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Coba 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kiko Femenía and Getafe agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Johan Mojica 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.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcelo Pappano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imanol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe 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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
David Soria 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 Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gijs Groot is living that version at Getafe, and it tends to show in the first month.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica 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 Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe 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 Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Enes Ünal scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Rayo Vallecano, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout10 Sep 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 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
5 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.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Getafe have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Getafe may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Getafe 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe 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 Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcos Benítez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Getafe and Zaragoza in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Borja Mayoral scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Zaragoza, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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.
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Getafe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Getafe have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Salva Ruiz has agreed terms with Oviedo for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Johan Mojica was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadCoba falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 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.
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Getafe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Getafe can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Getafe people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Luzern have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sebastián Boselli. The answer from Getafe has not changed — yet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Getafe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
134 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have shaken hands with Cádiz; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zaragoza is saying, and nobody at Getafe is enjoying the guessing.
Johan Mojica 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Manuel Méndez is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Davinchi
142 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Getafe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Getafe have done the hard part with Alavés, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Genoa keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
David Soria 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 22 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.
150 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Getafe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Getafe asked and Girona 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 deal with Cádiz is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Charalabos Erotokritou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Getafe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Getafe people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Getafe and Alavés have settled on $2.3M. 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.
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
A loan enquiry to Borussia Dortmund: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Getafe have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Cádiz have accepted the money. What Getafe do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Soria 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 Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Piast have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luka Fuster. The answer from Getafe has not changed — yet.
Getafe have made the call to Ipswich Town. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Getafe have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Getafe have done the hard part with Cádiz, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Charalabos Erotokritou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sebastián Boselli wants continental football; whether Getafe can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe 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 Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Getafe have done the hard part with Celta, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
41 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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.
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
David Soria 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Getafe heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bram van Driel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe 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 Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑1 to Burgos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 May 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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Sebastián Boselli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Borja Mayoral was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.75. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
The dugoutMario Martín is still being punished for one mistake
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Getafe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Enes Ünal decided nobody was going anywhere. Leganés had no time left to answer.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Leganés were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by 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 Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
Johan Mojica 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.
Day 13 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Getafe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Getafe heard it as anything else.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe 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 Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Getafe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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.
Davinchi 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sebastián Boselli wants continental football; whether Getafe can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
31 appearances at Antalyaspor and the goals have stopped going in. Getafe lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
David Soria 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Oviedo scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Getafe are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nemanja Gudelj and Getafe agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Johan Mojica falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Getafe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bram van Driel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Michael Ortega has his answer from Getafe; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Charalabos Erotokritou has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Johan Mojica 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 Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
29 appearances at Antalyaspor and the goals have stopped going in. Getafe lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
David Soria 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Enes Ünal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Loan watch12 Mar 2029
Luka Fuster’s loan is measured in nothing happening
11 clean sheets from 28 appearances at Antalyaspor. 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bram van Driel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Getafe hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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 brace, and Borja Mayoral takes the afternoon — 9.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Borja Mayoral provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
David Soria 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 Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Girona have kept their man, and Getafe go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Fabrício 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.
Getafe asked and Elche said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Elche left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch12 Feb 2029
Luka Fuster’s loan is measured in nothing happening
11 clean sheets from 26 appearances at Antalyaspor. 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 dugout12 Feb 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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Getafe is running low.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Getafe until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Bram van Driel has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bruno André has, at Getafe, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Enes Ünal provided it, and the 9.85 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 Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
David Soria was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Getafe and Real Sociedad B, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of David Soria
David Soria 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 Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Getafe have gone to Valencia 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.
David Soria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Johan Mojica 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kevin Lugo is living that version at Getafe, and it tends to show in the first month.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Getafe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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 Cultural Leonesa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Position 12, 31 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Marked 7.91. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
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.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Getafe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Getafe people have started saying his name in the past tense.
David Soria 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 Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Add another name to the list: Ceará have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yvan Neyou. The answer from Getafe has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Salva Ruiz 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.
Minute 95, against Huesca, 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Getafe scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Getafe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mario Martín. 2‑1 against Leganés, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Getafe are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Getafe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yvan Neyou 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 Getafe 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 Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and David Soria now has 25 of them across 468 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The bid was some way short and Getafe did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Up for the corner, and Johan Mojica delivers — 7.63
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Johan Mojica scored, was marked 7.63, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
David Soria 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Getafe hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jonathan Gradit 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Getafe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
David Soria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Coba 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutDjéné Dakonam asks for a word with the manager
Loan watchLuka Fuster’s loan is measured in nothing happening
The terracesThe Davinchi rumours reach the terraces
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica 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 Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Getafe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Johan Mojica 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
David Soria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Johan Mojica falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The medical room confirms 23 days on the sidelines for Sergio Postigo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad23 Oct 2028
10 new faces, and Getafe are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Nemanja Gudelj
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 Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Johan Mojica 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Getafe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Johan Mojica 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 9.90 — 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Coba 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.
Marked 8.21 — 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Soria 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Johan Mojica 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Johan Mojica 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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sem Pepers has just signed for Getafe, and for once the answer mattered.
A 1‑0 win over Elche, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Borja Mayoral was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Eneko Satrústegui has his answer from Getafe; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Johan Mojica 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.
Fabrício 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Huesca waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Getafe is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 19 gone
That is the business done at Getafe 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raffaele Di Gennaro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Soria 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Getafe hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sergio Martín is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe 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 Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Castellón wanted more than $53.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Coba 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Enes Ünal will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Getafe escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The name of Abdelkabir Abqar has come up in conversations Getafe were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Mario Martín 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 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Soria 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Manuel Méndez is 16, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Getafe asked and AS Roma 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Getafe have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gerard Deulofeu has just signed for Getafe, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
37 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
David Soria 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 offer went to Granada 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Getafe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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 words a physio says slowly. 118 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Getafe, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Getafe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerard Deulofeu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Soria 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.
Getafe offered $600.0K; Alavés 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 Jul 2028
Mario Martín has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Coba 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Imanol is living that version at Getafe, and it tends to show in the first month.
He is going to Sporting CP, the club has $25.6M 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Soria 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Getafe have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Add another name to the list: FC Copenhagen have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Christantus Uche. The answer from Getafe has not changed — yet.
Getafe asked and Huesca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Getafe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Universidad de Chile waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Getafe is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Manuel Torres has agreed terms with Girona for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
David Soria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
SquadJohan Mojica falls out with a teammate over standards
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Getafe have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sebastián Boselli had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nicolás Herrera has agreed terms with Granada for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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 training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Getafe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from O'Higgins for Yvan Neyou 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerard Deulofeu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe 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 Getafe 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 Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
MarketDjéné Dakonam wants to know where this is going
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Néstor Albiach will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout29 May 2028
Johan Mojica is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Enes Ünal provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
David Soria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Getafe and Ceuta in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
SquadJohan Mojica falls out with a teammate over standards
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Borja Mayoral at his very best
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marco Sangalli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
David Soria 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 Christantus Uche was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Getafe are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe 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 Getafe 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 Johan Mojica was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Getafe can tell you which week it ends in.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Néstor Albiach will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Getafe know it.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Austin FC had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Johan Mojica 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Coba 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 ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alejandro Vidal was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Getafe dressing room was either.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Getafe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Marco Sangalli has agreed terms with Villarreal for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Getafe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
40 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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 words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
Borja Mayoral had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Eibar were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe 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.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Getafe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ramón Terrats will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Getafe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
David Soria 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Soria 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Mojica 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alejandro Vidal after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Getafe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Getafe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Getafe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Coba 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.
12 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ramón Terrats. 2‑1 against Huesca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Pedro Esteban clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Alejandro Vidal recited it perfectly.
“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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Néstor Albiach has agreed terms with Deportivo La Coruña for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Getafe 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 Getafe can pretend not to have heard.
11 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 rules permit it and it stings anyway. Rubén Rochina has agreed terms with Deportivo La Coruña for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Getafe know it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Johan Mojica falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Soria 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 Coba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Getafe scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Getafe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Getafe 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 Getafe, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Salva Ruiz is living that version at Getafe, and it tends to show in the first month.
7.46, 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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Getafe close the window on a squad of their own making
7 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.