A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huracán will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Leonardo Gil 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Felipe Ortiz to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 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 Huracán is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Gonzalo Marinelli has agreed terms with Godoy Cruz for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Juan Bisanz 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 transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Diego Mercado is a Huracán player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Huracán had all but put away. Rosario Central will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Huracán will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Marcelo Pérez decided nobody was going anywhere. Godoy Cruz had no time left to answer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huracán have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Marcelo Pérez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Huracán and Barracas Central in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Leonardo Gil 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.
In brief
Player ratingsJuan Bisanz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Huracán will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Leonardo Gil 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Santiago Moya is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leonardo Sequeira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guillermo Enrique signs something — a contract at Huracán or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aaron Silva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Huracán the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Juan Bisanz 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 Nehuén Paz 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 Huracán are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcelo Pérez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Huracán lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabio Pereyra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Huracán. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Huracán that is a harder question to answer.
The deal that would have taken Gonzalo Marinelli to Sarmiento has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Huracán with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Santiago Moya commits to Huracán for another 3 years.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maipú have kept their man, and Huracán go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabio Pereyra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Huracán have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gonzalo Paz has just signed for Huracán, and for once the answer mattered.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Nehuén Paz 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Nehuén Paz is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracán can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huracán have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Atlético Tucumán 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aaron Silva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Huracán the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The fee is $360.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Atlanta drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Junior have kept their man, and Huracán go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Banfield have kept their man, and Huracán go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Belgrano paid $280.0K and Huracán took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Óscar Cortés is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracán know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Independiente waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Huracán is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Juan Bisanz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Facundo Waller trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huracán have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gabriel Díaz is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of 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 Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ignacio Pussetto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Santiago Moya is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sebastián Meza signs something — a contract at Huracán or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Juan Bisanz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Nervo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracán know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Waller signs something — a contract at Huracán or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Lautaro Belleggia has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Huracán. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
1‑2, and San Lorenzo go on. Nine months of work settled by a couple of evenings, which is what a playoff is and what nobody designing one thinks about.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Facundo Waller and Huracán agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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 8.00 — 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 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.
River Plate go through and Huracán go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Enrique 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Natanael Samaniego and Huracán agree another 4 years.
The dugout1 Nov 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 0‑2 Felipe Ortiz left the room before anybody could ask which.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Leandro Garate is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leonardo Gil trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Juan Bisanz 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. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Huracán had all but put away. Independiente Rivadavia will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huracán have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ignacio Kalinger has agreed terms with Aldosivi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Leonardo Gil 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 fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tecla 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. Juan Martín Cabrera is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eduardo Figueroa has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Joaquín Molina is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guillermo Enrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Iarley Alayo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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.
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Huracán will try not to make too much of it.
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 dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Bisanz's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Juan Bisanz 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 Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Huracán has been clear about where Leandro Garate stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
Juan Bisanz 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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Enrique 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sebastián Meza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match8 Sep 2027
Lucas Ortíz wins it after the whistle should have gone
117 minutes played. Lucas Ortíz found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Vélez went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Position 3, 15 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.
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 offer from Derby County for Aaron 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.
Successful dribbles: 41. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tahiel Peralta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Huracán people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Three points for Huracán, 1‑0 the final word against Sarmiento in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Enrique is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Juan Bisanz 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.
100 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Felipe Ortiz, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Huracán lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Huracán scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Juan Bisanz 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 Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Morelia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aaron Silva. The answer from Huracán has not changed — yet.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Huracán lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Santiago Medina 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Aaron Silva has come up in conversations Huracán were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guillermo Enrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Something was said to Guillermo Enrique and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Luciano Ango has agreed terms with Platense for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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 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, 7.06, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A 2‑1 win over Gimnasia La Plata, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Huracán scored in the 111th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bautista Carboni did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer from Sivasspor for Aaron 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.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ignacio Pussetto provided it, and the 9.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 name of Aaron Silva has come up in conversations Huracán were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guillermo Enrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Huracán lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huracán have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Thiago Omar Pérez has agreed terms with Tigre for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Huracán had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Junior, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Leonardo Gil 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 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.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Huracán, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Belgrano for Tahiel Peralta 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sebastián Marfort has, at Huracán, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Leonardo Gil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Huracán, and it is not being withdrawn.
Talleres paid $380.0K and Huracán took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Santino Piccinetti has left for Vélez in a $340.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Corinthians have kept their man, and Huracán go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hernán Galíndez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A 3‑1 win over Central Córdoba SdE, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Lucas Ortíz, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Huracán have done the hard part with Platense, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Huracán can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bautista Carboni has, at Huracán, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$73.0K on the table at Atlanta. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Central Córdoba SdE. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
In brief
SquadLeonardo Gil falls out with a teammate over standards
115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Huracán 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 Huracán, and it is not being withdrawn.
Leonardo Gil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Enrique 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 Rodrigo Fernández trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Martín Nervo damages knee ligaments — 124 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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.
2‑3, and Independiente go on. Nine months of work settled by a couple of evenings, which is what a playoff is and what nobody designing one thinks about.
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.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Leonardo Gil 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 goal that put Independiente ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Huracán equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“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 dugout31 May 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 2‑3 Felipe Ortiz left the room before anybody could ask which.
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Juan Bisanz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Leonardo Gil 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcelo Pérez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until César Ibáñez signs something — a contract at Huracán or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Huracán. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Martín Nervo damages knee ligaments — 142 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 142 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán 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 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.
Martín Nervo damages knee ligaments — 149 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 149 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.
Juan Bisanz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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. Huracán will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Something was said to Jordy Caicedo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Gonzalo Marinelli’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Huracán needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gonzalo Marinelli is on it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Juan Bisanz 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Leonardo Gil 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Rodrigo Cabral is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ignacio Pussetto has come out of that comparison in the side, and Huracán have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Gonzalo Marinelli: 4 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
A 0‑0 win over Gimnasia y Esgrima, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Argentinos Juniors had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until César Ibáñez signs something — a contract at Huracán or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ignacio Pussetto provided it, and the 9.37 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 Huracán, and it is not being withdrawn.
Juan Bisanz 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 Huracán and Colón, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ignacio Pussetto. 4‑2 against Colón, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.36 — 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Ignacio Pussetto will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Huracán escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ignacio Pussetto provided it, and the 9.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Leonardo Gil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Fabio Pereyra 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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Facundo Waller 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Martín Nervo has his answer from Huracán; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nahuel Maldonado and Huracán agree another 5 years.
The dugout29 Mar 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 0‑2 Felipe Ortiz left the room before anybody could ask which.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.88 — 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Huracán 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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Leonardo Gil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabio Pereyra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Juan Bisanz 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 point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Felipe Ortiz after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Josué Ayala
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luca Babino
Player ratingsJordy Caicedo beats them one at a time
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Huracán lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Leonardo Gil 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Óscar Cortés is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Guillermo Enrique’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Huracán needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Rosario Central made Huracán work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Pereyra is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Felipe Ortiz, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hernán Galíndez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Juan Bisanz 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 Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hernán Galíndez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
In brief
Looking aheadHuracán take on the side everybody is chasing
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Huracán lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1 for Rodrigo Fernández, marked 7.67, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“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 Huracán, and it is not being withdrawn.
Juan Bisanz 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Chaqueño has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán 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 Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Fabio Pereyra 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 Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracán know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Gonzalo Marinelli is 37, with 122 appearances behind him, and Huracán will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huracán have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Leonardo Gil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo 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.
The phone has started ringing about Nahuel Maldonado again, and this time the name on the line is Omiya Ardija. Huracán are listening politely and promising nothing.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Huracán lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Leonardo Gil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Pereyra 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.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Huracán have had the benefit of 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 Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
49 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.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Huracán lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Huracán have gone to Vélez 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vélez waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Huracán is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucas Picech is living that version at Huracán, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 fee is $110.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Colón drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Talleres have kept their man, and Huracán go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Jordy Caicedo
The words a physio says slowly. 118 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Huracán had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Leonardo Gil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Racing Club paid $600.0K and Huracán took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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 Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Huracán lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Juan Bisanz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Huracán will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrigo Fernández trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Óscar Cortés is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracán know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 135 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Cristian Núñez is on it.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
The words a physio says slowly. 142 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracán is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 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 Guillermo Enrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Rodrigo Fernández has written the date down.
Juan Bisanz 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 Nov 2026
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Martín Nervo for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Huracán will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Leonardo Gil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Huracán know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
4 goals in 8 games at Central Córdoba SdE — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Huracán updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Pereyra 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.
Something was said to Leonardo Gil and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Huracán will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Cristian Núñez is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Huracán, another week without a signature from Patricio Pizarro.
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 Josué Ayala has written the date down.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Huracán have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Huracán is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Juan Bisanz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Leonardo Gil 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.
Something was said to Bruno Barticciotto and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Óscar Romero 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
Leonardo Gil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Bruno Barticciotto in the middle of it, and Independiente Rivadavia unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Huracán told Fabio Pereyra something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Luján will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Huracán the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Leonardo Gil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Pereyra 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to César Ibáñez, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
15 new faces, and Huracán 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Huracán, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Huracán will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Independiente Rivadavia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Huracán. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Huracán will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
0‑1 to Belgrano, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Fabio Pereyra 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Felipe Ortiz to a room that had heard them before.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bruno Barticciotto provided it, and the 8.37 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 Huracán is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Huracán and Argentinos Juniors in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Leonardo Gil 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.
Position 3, 15 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.
1 for Rodrigo Fernández, marked 7.12, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracán they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Santiago Luján has agreed terms with Newell's Old Boys for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Leonardo Gil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Luján will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Huracán the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Leonardo Gil was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Fabio Pereyra 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.
Gimnasia La Plata go through and Huracán go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Felipe Ortiz could afford to be generous.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leonardo Gil trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
The offer from Spezia for César Ibáñez 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.
Leonardo Gil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo 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.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Estudiantes had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Barracas Central are out and Huracán go through, 4‑3 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match26 Aug 2026
Cristian Núñez wins it after the whistle should have gone
117 minutes played. Cristian Núñez found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Barracas Central went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cristian Núñez provided it, and the 9.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nahuel Maldonado did not need any: 8.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Huracán they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Spezia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about César Ibáñez. The answer from Huracán has not changed — yet.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Patricio Pizarro 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.
Leonardo Gil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Tahiel Peralta obliged against Almagro. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Huracán.
Match19 Aug 2026
Tahiel Peralta wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Tahiel Peralta found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Almagro went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Juan Bisanz 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 Leonardo Gil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 18 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Huracán this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo 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.
It needed Óscar Cortés to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Gimnasia La Plata, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Leonardo Gil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Gimnasia y Esgrima will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Esteban Fernández has pre-agreed a move to Huracán, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Racing Club left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabio Pereyra 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.
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“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 Huracán hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Huracán training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Gil 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.