A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I 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 Huesca hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Huesca can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The medical room confirms 49 days on the sidelines for Cristian Herrera, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Diego Aznar 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 much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Huesca told Carlos Espí something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
19 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Algeciras were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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 The request is on a desk at Huesca, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dani Ojeda. 2‑0 against Algeciras, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
10 combined actions and 7.37. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
19 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
0‑2 to Sabadell, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Diego Aznar 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huesca, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Óscar Valentín 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Diego Aznar 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Huesca has been clear about where Oakley Cannonier stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Óscar Valentín trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Sabadell next, and one man in the Huesca dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Huesca. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guillem Molina signs something — a contract at Huesca or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Huesca, and it is not being withdrawn.
Óscar Valentín 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 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.
“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 Huesca, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tarazona left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Aznar 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 no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Huesca has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Aznar 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 needed Dani Ojeda to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Atlético Madrileño, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Escario is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Nobody at Huesca is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The deal that would have taken Guillem Molina to Oviedo has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Huesca with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 22 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Carlos Espí 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 Sep 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Aznar 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 Huesca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Defensor Sporting have kept their man, and Huesca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Aznar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dylan Encina has his answer from Huesca; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Huesca know it, and so does everybody who watches 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.
Huesca have made the call to Real Madrid. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Jaime Escario 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huesca know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Huesca would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oakley Cannonier trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The offer from Levante for Juan Pérez 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.
Óscar Valentín 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: Alverca have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oakley Cannonier. The answer from Huesca has not changed — yet.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ro Abajas 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.
6 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Daniel Luna has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huesca, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The bid was some way short and Huesca did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ro Abajas 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jesús Álvarez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Huesca says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“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 Huesca hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Rubén Vargas has taken the hint, and Huesca are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juventud Torremolinos have kept their man, and Huesca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ro Abajas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Iván Gutiérrez 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Cristian Herrera has his answer from Huesca; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huesca, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valencia have kept their man, and Huesca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 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 Ro Abajas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huesca, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Huesca and Espanyol have settled on $9.5M. 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 fee is $22.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sevilla drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The fee is $3.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Cacereño drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Huesca, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Huesca heard it as anything else.
Óscar Valentín 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.
Rubén Vargas was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $22.4M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Huesca and Sevilla have settled on $22.4M. 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.
Huesca have gone to Valencia with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Huesca asked and Espanyol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
$3.6M on the table at Cacereño. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Huesca asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Huesca have gone to Espanyol 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 went to Castellón this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from Cádiz for Ro Abajas 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.
Efe Aghama 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.
38 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Huesca now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Jesús Álvarez 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 offer went to Valencia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Castellón have kept their man, and Huesca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Huesca offered $1.4M; Marbella 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ro Abajas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Huesca are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
$3.1M 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.
CE Europa wanted more than $1.6M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Jesús Álvarez 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 loan enquiry to Rayo Vallecano: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Something was said to Salva Ruiz and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
14 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Enrique González has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Position 21 on 17 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.
“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 Huesca, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to CE Europa 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Real Sociedad is saying, and nobody at Huesca is enjoying the guessing.
13 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad31 May 2027
Ro Abajas 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 much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Huesca told Dani Jiménez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
0‑2 to Andorra, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salva Ruiz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
0‑4 to Racing Santander, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Yeray 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moi Gómez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Alejandro Cantero will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Huesca escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huesca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Moi Gómez 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 did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Quique Fornos has his answer from Huesca; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Ro Abajas 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 warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jon Martín 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salva Ruiz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
1‑5 to Málaga, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Julio Alonso 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.
6 goals in one match, Efe Aghama on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Huesca and Málaga.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moi Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Enrique González after 1‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 4 saves does not settle it either way.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moi Gómez 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Huesca can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huesca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Day 42 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Sergi Enrich for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Huesca will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Moi Gómez, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salva Ruiz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Mario Díaz chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Quique Fornos
0‑3 to Leganés, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
At 21 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.
Efe Aghama 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 Apr 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moi Gómez 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
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 0‑3 Mario Díaz left the room before anybody could ask which.
Yeray 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Moi Gómez 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.
Leganés next, and one man in the Huesca dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Huesca. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huesca know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Salva Ruiz falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mario Díaz after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
14 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.
The approach has gone in and the answer belongs to FC Bacău. Business like this is done quietly and reported loudly, and rarely in that order.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moi Gómez 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.
400 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.
Gabriel Costa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Huesca told Yeray something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“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; Mario Díaz recited it perfectly.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moi Gómez 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 bill for the sacking has arrived. the manager leaves with $60.4K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Huesca told Moi Gómez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutA fresh start for Moi Gómez under the new man
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Dani Jiménez
It had gone 21 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A brace, and Efe Aghama takes the afternoon — 8.91
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Efe Aghama provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Jon Martín, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.37
A mark of 8.37 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Huesca, and it is not being withdrawn.
Julio Alonso and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Huesca and Real Sociedad B, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Jon Martín 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.
21 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Huesca can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moi Gómez 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Huesca know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The dugoutthe manager: “We have to be better”
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Dylan Encina's mistake
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huesca will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ignacio Laquintana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Moi Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bournemouth have kept their man, and Huesca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
0‑1 to Eibar, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by the manager to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutDani Jiménez dropped after a run of poor form
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. the manager has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huesca will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Huesca had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Barcelona, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huesca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Murcia have kept their man, and Huesca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salva Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huesca will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Huesca can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Yeray 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 Moi Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Huesca asked and New England Revolution said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ro Abajas 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 11 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Huesca asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salva Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
14 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huesca can pretend not to have heard.
Huesca asked and Sport Recife said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yann Kembo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
13 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The deal with Osasuna 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.
Jesús Álvarez 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.
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. 9 actions, 6.68, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Huesca dressing room in a hurry
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Sergi Enrich 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 Jesús Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The goal that put Gijón ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Huesca equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Jesús Álvarez 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
the manager: “No excuses”
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huesca, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huesca will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑3 against Las Palmas, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
the manager answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huesca have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Álvarez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
the manager answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Ro Abajas
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 21 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Jesús Álvarez 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
the manager answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutSergi Enrich asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Yann Kembo 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by the manager to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Huesca told Liberto something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huesca will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Oakley Cannonier has, at Huesca, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Álvarez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Huesca will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Efe Aghama’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Huesca needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Huesca have gone and got theirs early.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Huesca. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huesca, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huesca will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Leganés go through and Huesca go home, 2‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Sergi Enrich 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.
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Álvarez 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. Leganés had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” the manager chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huesca will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by the manager to a room that had heard them before.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutDani Jiménez asks for a word with the manager
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huesca will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Álvarez 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Huesca 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 Dani Jiménez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
the manager: “We have to be better”
“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.
Deportivo La Coruña top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Quique Fornos
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Real Sociedad B will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Huesca were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Dani Ojeda takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dani Ojeda provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Huesca are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huesca know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑4 to Valladolid, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Huesca can tell you which week it ends in.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jesús Álvarez 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 Huesca will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
10 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 the manager left the room before anybody could ask which.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Huesca asked and Belgrano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salva Ruiz, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 the manager left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huesca will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal that would have taken Jesús Álvarez to Alcorcón has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Huesca with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Huesca asked and Deportivo La Coruña said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Álvarez 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: the manager on the draw
“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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 134 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Huesca people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Huesca until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. New England Revolution have kept their man, and Huesca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Huesca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Álvarez 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Guillem Molina is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huesca will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Huesca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
100 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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
the manager answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Quique Fornos
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.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Huesca will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huesca will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Mérida for Ro Abajas 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Real Madrid is saying, and nobody at Huesca is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
the manager faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” the manager after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huesca will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rayo Vallecano have kept their man, and Huesca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$1.9M on the table at Athletic Bilbao. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.0M — a club that wants Selton enough to be asked twice.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympiacos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
$78.0K was the most the club would pay and Zaragoza were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Huesca are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Almería next, and one man in the Huesca dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The deal with Olympiacos 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.
The phone has started ringing about Jordi Martín again, and this time the name on the line is Barakaldo. Huesca are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nil Fuentes has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luken Suárez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Enzo Rojas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Huesca have no good answer.
In brief
The dugoutDiego Aznar knocks on the manager’s door
Sergi Enrich 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.
Huesca asked and Cultural Leonesa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.