Girona ran out of time with Gijón. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
15 combined actions and 7.24. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Girona heard it as anything else.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Espanyol were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“I watch every Girona game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Castellón runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Vladyslav Vanat’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Girona.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Francés is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
$13.7M on the table at Villarreal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Valencia 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The offer went to Gijón 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 name of Vladyslav Vanat has come up in conversations Girona were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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 Girona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gerónimo Patritti has, at Girona, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Girona offered $11.3M; Real Sociedad 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Girona and Real Madrid, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAbel Ruiz falls out with a teammate over standards
“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 Girona, and it is not being withdrawn.
$11.3M on the table at Real Sociedad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zaragoza have kept their man, and Girona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Bryan Gil 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Girona have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Girona offered $10.6M; Villarreal 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.
The fee is $6.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Córdoba drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Ángel Fortuño has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
Bryan Gil 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.
Girona asked and Palmeiras said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Girona have gone to Villarreal 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.
$6.3M on the table at Córdoba. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$4.5M on the table at Espanyol. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1‑6 to Atlético Madrid, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, Abel Ruiz on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Girona and Atlético Madrid.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bryan Gil wants continental football; whether Girona can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Girona and Elche, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Three points for Girona, 4‑2 the final word against Elche in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Abel Ruiz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.62. 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jan Salas has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Ruiz 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 Oier Olazabal
Bryan Gil 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 have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Girona, and 0 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Ruiz 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.” Roberto Campos after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Girona heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alejandro Francés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Roberto Campos could afford to be generous.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paulo Gazzaniga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Ruiz 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Girona, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Bryan Gil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Betis were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Correa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Roberto Campos could afford to be generous.
Mallorca next, and one man in the Girona dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Bryan Gil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Girona game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Castellón runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Roberto Campos to a room that had heard them before.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Girona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Fran Beltrán
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑4 against Villarreal, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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 Girona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Girona can give him that is a question about the club, 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 Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Abel Ruiz 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 is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Girona can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Bryan Gil 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.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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 Roberto Campos left the room before anybody could ask which.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Cristhian Stuani 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 Oct 2026
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Francés 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 Oct 2026
Bryan Gil was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Roberto Campos after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Successful dribbles: 9. 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 afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I watch every Girona game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Castellón runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mateo Gil is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nicolás Vázquez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Correa 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Bryan Gil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Francés 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Bryan Gil 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Girona can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
0‑6 against Real Madrid, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Girona are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Sep 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Girona and Real Madrid in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Correa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 4 saves does not settle it either way.
0‑3 against Real Sociedad, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Girona 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Girona heard it as anything else.
The deal that would have taken Juan Carlos to Villarreal has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Girona with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Francés 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Estudiantes did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $3.3M for Joaquín Correa, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Joaquín Correa has, at Girona, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Cristhian Stuani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Málaga have kept their man, and Girona 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 Joaquín Correa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Aug 2026
13 new faces, and Girona 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Estudiantes have accepted the money. What Girona do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Bryan Gil 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Almería have kept their man, and Girona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Roberto Campos to a room that had heard them before.
Girona have gone to PSV 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Veracruz have kept their man, and Girona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deal with Mallorca 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alejandro Francés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Athletic Bilbao.
Girona have gone to Betis 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.
Bryan Gil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. David Atanga is living that version at Girona, and it tends to show in the first month.
Girona asked and Lanús said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marcos Bravo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Francisco Fernández is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Felipe López is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Girona asked and Werder Bremen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Girona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona 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 Alejandro Francés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 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.