“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 The request is on a desk at Las Palmas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Crvena Zvezda for Kirian was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Iker Bravo did not need any: 8.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Las Palmas had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Sergio Barcia 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Enrique Clemente was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Kirian’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Las Palmas.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Sergio Barcia 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Mateo Ortiz could afford to be generous.
A season average of 7.19 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Las Palmas know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Jaime was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Las Palmas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Levante runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Leo Ortega is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Las Palmas can pretend not to have heard.
Enrique Clemente 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 Sergio Barcia 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. Nicholas Opoku is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Las Palmas than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
In brief
The dugoutManu Fuster asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutAle García has become a man the manager trusts
Iker Bravo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Enrique Clemente 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. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Las Palmas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raúl Asencio is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iker Bravo. 3‑2 against Huesca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Iker Bravo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
In brief
Player ratingsKirian was on a different afternoon to everybody else
0‑3 to Almería, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Las Palmas 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 Raúl Asencio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Iván Jaime 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.
“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 Las Palmas, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Iker Bravo did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Las Palmas 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 Raúl Asencio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Àlex Soto 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. Tomás Navarro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Raúl Asencio 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.
Sergio Barcia 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.
Andorra made Las Palmas work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Kirian was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marvin Park 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
7 new faces, and Las Palmas 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. José Antonio Caro has come out of that comparison in the side, and Las Palmas have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Iker Bravo did not need any: 8.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.18 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Las Palmas know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Racing Santander; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ignazio Falconetti has, at Las Palmas, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
At 21 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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raúl Asencio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iván Jaime. 2‑0 against Gijón, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Something was said to Raúl Asencio and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Enrique Clemente 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 Raúl Asencio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Las Palmas. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jon Ramírez 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. Luken Diez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Enrique Clemente 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iván Jaime. 2‑0 against Albacete, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Jaime was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ale García is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Manu Fuster. 3‑2 against Málaga, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jefté Betancor, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Iván Jaime 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
11 new faces, and Las Palmas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Iker Bravo did not need any: 8.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Sergio Ruiz 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 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
At 21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Sergio Barcia 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 crueller way to lose a football match. Las Palmas scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iván Jaime. 3‑2 against Ceuta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 23 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Àlex Domínguez 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rubén Alonso 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josen Escobar wants continental football; whether Las Palmas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Jaime was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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.” Mateo Ortiz, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Las Palmas until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Iván Jaime scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Leganés, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Las Palmas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Jaime 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.
Leganés held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Las Palmas answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mateo Ortiz after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Las Palmas offered $1.4M; Málaga said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Mateo Ortiz could afford to be generous.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Las Palmas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The offer went to Málaga this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iker Bravo. 3‑1 against Deportivo La Coruña, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Las Palmas asked and Spezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Iker Bravo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Iván Jaime falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The offer from Cádiz for Kirian 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.
Enrique Clemente and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Enrique Clemente, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Iván Jaime falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Las Palmas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Las Palmas will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Las Palmas asked and Castellón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everything agreed with Real Madrid, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Las Palmas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alberto Vázquez 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. Ignacio Lozano 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. Carlos Moreno 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Las Palmas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Jaime was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Still no offer on the table, and Jefté Betancor’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Las Palmas 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.