Real Madrid have accepted the money. What Granada do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Granada people have started saying his name in the past tense.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Granada have had the benefit of it.
24 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Carlos Torres is living that version at Granada, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Casadó 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 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.
Position 4 on 80 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Casadó 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.
Match1 Jun 2030
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Granada. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kevin Páez has just signed for Granada, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada 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 Diego Pampín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diego Hormigo 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A season average of 7.46 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Casadó 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.
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Javi Ontiveros was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.53. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsSergio Rodelas was on a different afternoon 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 Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emanuel Aguilera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Casadó 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 Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Thyago Ayala wants continental football; whether Granada can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Position 3, 72 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Granada heard it as anything else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Pampín is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 37. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raúl Navarro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Granada can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Casadó 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.
Diego Hormigo 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Martín Morales on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Agustín Alaniz provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marc Casadó wants continental football; whether Granada can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A season average of 7.23 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Casadó is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Pampín is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Casadó 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.
Diego Hormigo 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Martín Morales after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 15 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Casadó 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.
Diego Hormigo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Granada can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
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 Martín Morales left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Iván Regules will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Pampín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diego Hormigo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Mar 2030
6 new faces, and Granada 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.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Martín Morales was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Granada dressing room was either.
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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Casadó is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Baïla Diallo, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Martín Morales was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Granada dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Iván Sandoval
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Agustín Alaniz provided it, and the 9.07 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 Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Casadó 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. Andrea Dorigo is living that version at Granada, and it tends to show in the first month.
Diego Hormigo 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Pampín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diego Hormigo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Agustín Alaniz. 1‑0 against Huesca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Marc Casadó 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Granada can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Emanuel Aguilera has agreed terms with Espanyol for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Granada will try again when the window opens; Almería may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Casadó 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 Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Granada offered $20.8M; Atlético Madrid said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Granada ran out of time with Barcelona. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Franco Pelozo has just signed for Granada, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Diego Pampín 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.
Granada and Barcelona have settled on $10.6M. 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.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The chase for Marc Casadó ended with $23.2M changing hands and Barcelona out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Javi Ontiveros provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Granada heard it as anything else.
The clubs have shaken hands with Atlético Madrid; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal with Barcelona 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 Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Granada have gone to Almería 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Pampín is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Granada have lost him in all but the paperwork.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Pampín 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.
Granada asked and Universitatea Craiova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
Agustín Alaniz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Atlético Madrid wanted more than $23.3M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Valladolid will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Granada people have started saying his name in the past tense.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada 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 Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Granada had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AZ, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Granada had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Granada heard it as anything else.
Granada had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Atlético Madrid, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Pampín 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.
Diego Hormigo 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 particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Emiliano Viveros provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gastón Gil Romero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Diego Pampín 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.
Tommy McDermott 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Granada will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Agustín Alaniz provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Mirandés had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Granada did not stop to explain themselves.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
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.
Diego Hormigo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Marked 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Granada will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The bid was some way short and Granada did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Diego Pampín 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.
Diego Hormigo 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada 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 Granada 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 Granada 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Alex Guaricuyu has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Granada have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Granada have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 7.09, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada 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 Diego Pampín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diego Hormigo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Marked 8.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Granada.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Pedro Alemañ was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Granada 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 Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Diego Pampín 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Granada can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
“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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Granada can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Pampín 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. 97 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 Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro Alemañ wants continental football; whether Granada can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Diego Pampín 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dominik Livaković is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.62, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Pedro Alemañ was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada 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.
Diego Hormigo 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.
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.
The dugout15 Oct 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 Martín Morales left the room before anybody could ask which.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gerardo Ortiz has his answer from Granada; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutJordi Alba asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutThe manager makes Thyago Ayala a promise
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada 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. 113 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 Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Gastón Gil Romero 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lázaro Brítez has just signed for Granada, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Pampín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Espanyol will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Luis Quintero has pre-agreed a move to Granada, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Baïla Diallo
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Granada 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 Granada they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Granada heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Livaković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 127 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Larroza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dominik Livaković 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 8.08 — 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.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Baïla Diallo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lucas Larroza 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Lucas Larroza reports back to Granada with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Diego Pampín 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.
Diego Hormigo 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.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada 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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Taylor Moore will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal that would have taken Eneko Jauregi to Espanyol has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Granada with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Granada asked and Almería said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 59 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, wages agreed, and Celta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Granada is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Granada asked and Atlético Madrid 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 offer from Atlético Madrid for Dominik Livaković 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 17 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danilo Quaranta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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. Eneko Jauregi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Taylor Moore 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 name of Baïla Diallo has come up in conversations Granada were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Pampín 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.
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Granada and Barcelona have settled on $14.8M. 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.
The offer from Slavia Prague for Javi Ontiveros 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.
“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; Martín Morales recited it perfectly.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
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.
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Espanyol waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Granada is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Granada have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Add another name to the list: Slavia Prague have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Javi Ontiveros. The answer from Granada has not changed — yet.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro Alemañ wants continental football; whether Granada can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Granada have done the hard part with Frosinone, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Pampín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Granada and Atlético Madrid have settled on $20.8M. 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.
Granada asked and Atlético Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Oviedo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Granada is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Sergio Rodelas 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. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Pampín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Madrid have kept their man, and Granada go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Diego Pampín 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Javi Ontiveros has improved at 31, 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Fabián Noguera has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Granada have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Granada have done the hard part with Atlético Madrid, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Santino Barbi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: LOSC Lille keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Pampín 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.
Jordi Alba 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Agustín Alaniz has improved at 27, 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Granada people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Fortaleza for Ignacio Chicco 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lisandro Musso is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Pampín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Granada asked and Barcelona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Granada have made the call to LOSC Lille. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Granada and Atlético Madrid have settled on $20.8M. 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Granada people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danilo Quaranta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Barcelona is saying, and nobody at Granada is enjoying the guessing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikola Bukumira is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Club Brugge arrived with $38.0M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The words a physio says slowly. 132 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Abel Bretones has gone, the accounts have $38.0M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Granada have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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.
Granada had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Como, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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, wages agreed, and Almería waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Granada is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A conversation is coming this week. Granada will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Abel Bretones 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 Granada can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Diego Hormigo 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 words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Granada people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Atlético Madrid, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Independiente Medellin for Ignacio Chicco 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro Alemañ wants continental football; whether Granada can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Abel Bretones 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 words a physio says slowly. 34 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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gijón have kept their man, and Granada go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Granada have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Granada had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
$410.0K settles it between the clubs for Iván Sandoval
Alavés have accepted the money. What Granada do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 75 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
$5.1M on the table at Castellón. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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 a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mateo Reynoso is living that version at Granada, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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 Granada hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Duma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
In brief
Transfer targetsAn offer of $510.0K for Adrián Lapeña
Transfer targetsNo deal for Tayo Adaramola at that price
SquadWords at Granada training over how hard people work
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Abel Bretones wants continental football; whether Granada can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Abel Bretones 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones 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.
Jordi Alba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Pedro Alemañ 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada 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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones 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. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Javi Ontiveros provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Duma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Abel Bretones 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Abel Bretones 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.
A 1‑0 win over Deportivo La Coruña, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Granada will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 Bretones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raúl Fernández 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Rayo Vallecano had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Granada pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Granada they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Santino Barbi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Zaragoza spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Raúl Fernández 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 Apr 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Emiliano Viveros. 1‑0 against Zaragoza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Granada know it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The 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 Raúl Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Granada may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones 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.
Diego Hormigo 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Granada has been clear about where Majed Hassan stands, which is more than many ever get.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Raúl Fernández 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Abel Bretones 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Granada will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada 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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
Abel Bretones 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Granada will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Granada heard it as anything else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Jordi Alba 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Córdoba scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Granada, and 5 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada 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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Granada is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Bretones 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 Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Granada know now that the thought has arrived.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“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.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Raúl Fernández 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones 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.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Granada people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Granada can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The deal with Elche 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nikola Bukumira has just signed for Granada, and for once the answer mattered.
In brief
SquadWords at Granada training over how hard people work
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sergio Rodelas had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada 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 Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Abel Bretones 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Castellón have kept their man, and Granada go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Granada are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Emiliano Viveros has just signed for Granada, and for once the answer mattered.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Almería keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Raúl Fernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Abel Bretones 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Athletic Bilbao have kept their man, and Granada go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Sociedad have kept their man, and Granada go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.89, 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Granada heard it as anything else.
Raúl Fernández 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 Abel Bretones 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 Granada will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Raúl Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Abel Bretones 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Granada will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Granada, 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 Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Independiente Medellin had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Raúl Fernández 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 Abel Bretones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Granada people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Gimnasia La Plata for Ignacio Chicco 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.
Raúl Fernández 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.
Add another name to the list: Independiente Medellin have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gerard Gumbau. The answer from Granada has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Bretones 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: Abel Bretones. 1‑0 against Castellón, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.20 — 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Julen Gutiérrez could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jordi Alba
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jordi Alba and Granada agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Abel Bretones 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.
A 1‑0 win over Deportivo La Coruña, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Javi Ontiveros was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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 has re-ordered his thinking and Jordi Alba has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jordi Alba 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Abel Bretones 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.
“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 Granada know it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Granada 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 Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Raúl Fernández 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Abel Bretones 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.
Cádiz held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Granada answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Jordi Alba 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Abel Bretones 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.
Zaragoza made Granada work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Javi Ontiveros was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jean-Pierre Rhyner has his answer from Granada; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Julen Gutiérrez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Jordi Alba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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 Abel Bretones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Granada game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cádiz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad30 Oct 2028
6 new faces, and Granada 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jordi Alba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Málaga had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Granada did not stop to explain themselves.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Abel Bretones was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
Jordi Alba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Abel Bretones 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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.
Jordi Alba 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kike García and Granada agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Abel Bretones 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Julen Gutiérrez left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Granada have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Granada can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Jordi Alba 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.” Kike García and Granada agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Abel Bretones 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.
9 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Granada have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Raúl Fernández 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Abel Bretones 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergio Rodelas 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Granada can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Pedro Alemañ was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Diego Hormigo
“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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Granada can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Bretones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.26 — 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Granada told Benedikt Gimber something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gerard Gumbau has his answer from Granada; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jordi Alba
Granada asked and Real Sociedad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Granada have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jordi Alba 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Granada have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kryvbas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Granada is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Granada close the window on a squad of their own making
24 in and 15 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Bretones 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Sergio Rodelas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. 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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 7.96 for the rest of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Abel Bretones 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergio Rodelas 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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.
“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.
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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Abel Bretones falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Sociedad have kept their man, and Granada go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
“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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sergio Rodelas is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Granada 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 Granada, and it is not being withdrawn.
Osasuna have accepted the money. What Granada do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Granada have gone to Cultural Leonesa 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.
The offer from Lokomotiv Sofia for Francisco Silva was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The offer went to Cultural Leonesa 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.
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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Granada training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones 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.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Granada and Deportivo La Coruña have settled on $2.2M. 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jean-Pierre Rhyner has, at Granada, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Jordi Alba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Abel Bretones has improved at 27, 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.
Córdoba paid $190.0K and Granada took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Almería waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Granada is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Santa Fe moved on, Benedikt Gimber reports back to Granada, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Granada this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Add another name to the list: Seattle Sounders have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Santino Barbi. The answer from Granada has not changed — yet.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Granada lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Sociedad have kept their man, and Granada go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Santa Fe have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Benedikt Gimber. The answer from Granada has not changed — yet.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriel Bravo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Granada the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jordi Alba 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.