Pumas UNAM had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Penarol, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Keylor Navas 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.
Pumas UNAM asked and Puebla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Toluca runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Leon; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Pumas UNAM will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Rubén Duarte 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 Jan 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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. Guadalajara have kept their man, and Pumas UNAM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pumas UNAM, and 8 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
Add another name to the list: Cruz Azul have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about José Juan Macías. The answer from Pumas UNAM has not changed — yet.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pumas UNAM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Keylor Navas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Álvaro Angulo wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Franco Romero 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.
10 goals in 28 games at Ponte Preta — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Pumas UNAM updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Erick Aguirre
Position 2, 42 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Pumas UNAM can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Uriel Antuna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bruno Amione wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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 watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Toluca runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robert Morales provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Pumas UNAM hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Rubén Duarte 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.
Position 2, 36 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Calderón 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Juan Macías will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pumas UNAM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Keylor Navas 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Tijuana scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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 César Huerta is on it.
Position 3, 32 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.
Keylor Navas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Nathan Silva 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: César Huerta. 2‑0 against Cruz Azul, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 Rubén Duarte is on it.
Nathan Silva was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pumas UNAM, and 3 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Calderón 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 Pumas UNAM 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Uriel Antuna’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pumas UNAM needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pumas UNAM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pumas UNAM, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Keylor Navas 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 Nathan Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pumas UNAM told Salvador Reyes something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. César Huerta is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
8 goals in 25 games at Ponte Preta — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Pumas UNAM updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Pachuca go through and Pumas UNAM go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Luis Manuel García: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Juan Macías will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pumas UNAM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
Keylor Navas 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Pumas UNAM. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
7.91, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Club America on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Calderón 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 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.
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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Pumas UNAM. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Three points for Pumas UNAM, 1‑0 the final word against Atlas in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
César Huerta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Pumas UNAM can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Keylor Navas 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 Nathan Silva 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 Pumas UNAM has been clear about where Cristian Calderón stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Nathan Silva is on it.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Robert Morales has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pumas UNAM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pumas UNAM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Keylor Navas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Robert Morales was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.72. 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 ratingsNinety minutes of Pedro Vite at his very best
61Edition
The Pumas UNAM Courier
27 Sep 2027
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Up for the corner, and Nathan Silva delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nathan Silva scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.82, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Silva 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: Sebastián Córdova. 2‑0 against Veracruz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM 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 Nathan Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Uriel Antuna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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.
9 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Miguel Arteaga on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Keylor Navas 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Dorados spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The offer from Guadalajara for Cristian Calderón 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Pumas UNAM close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 19 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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 Pumas UNAM hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pumas UNAM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Puebla moved on, Miguel Paul reports back to Pumas UNAM, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Keylor Navas 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 Nathan Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monterrey have kept their man, and Pumas UNAM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Leon runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
TSG Hoffenheim arrived with $27.2M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Roberto Alvarado has gone, the accounts have $27.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pachuca have kept their man, and Pumas UNAM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pumas UNAM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Leon for Roberto Alvarado 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Pumas UNAM can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Erick Aguirre 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Puebla waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Adalberto Carrasquilla, marked 7.98, 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.
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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Keylor Navas 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 Aug 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Toluca have kept their man, and Pumas UNAM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robert Morales provided it, and the 9.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $5.6M has been paid because Salvador Reyes is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM 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 Pumas UNAM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Rodrigo López reports back to Pumas UNAM with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Rubén Duarte 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.
Leon have accepted the money. What Pumas UNAM do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $4.6M has been paid because Franco Romero is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Miguel Paul will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pumas UNAM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pumas UNAM people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Pumas UNAM have paid $5.6M for Bruno Amione, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The offer went to Toluca 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.
Pumas UNAM moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Miguel Arteaga, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Puebla waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$5.6M on the table at Santos Laguna. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Monterrey did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $1.7M for Erick Aguirre, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Keylor Navas 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 Jul 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Mozo 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 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 Rubén Duarte is on it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Keylor Navas 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nathan Silva trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Calderón 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 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 Guillermo Martínez is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nathan Silva signs something — a contract at Pumas UNAM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
67 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pumas UNAM has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Club America for Juan Dinenno 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pumas UNAM people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing 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 Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Nathan Silva 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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Dinenno wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gerardo Serralde is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Add another name to the list: Morelia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about José Juan Macías. The answer from Pumas UNAM has not changed — yet.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Pedro Vite falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruz Azul have kept their man, and Pumas UNAM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM 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 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roberto Alvarado signs something — a contract at Pumas UNAM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Cruz Azul for Alan Medina was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
Juan Dinenno was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Pumas UNAM can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Vite 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 Guillermo Martínez is on it.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Pumas UNAM
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pumas UNAM have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Pumas UNAM asked and Tigres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pumas UNAM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
$340.0K was the most the club would pay and Tigres were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Pumas UNAM have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Vite 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.
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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Pumas UNAM had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Juan Dinenno and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
22 clean sheets and the golden glove for Keylor Navas
The one award on the pitch nobody else can win. 22 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
Something was said to Rubén Duarte and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Calderón 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 Pumas UNAM 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.
Keylor Navas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Vite 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 Pumas UNAM 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roberto Alvarado signs something — a contract at Pumas UNAM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rubén Duarte was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Vite 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 Robert Morales trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pumas UNAM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
67 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Nathan Silva is on it.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Calderón 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 Robert Morales trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pedro Vite commits to Pumas UNAM for another 4 years.
Squad3 May 2027
Pedro Vite 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutPedro Vite has become a man the manager trusts
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Juan Dinenno 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Vite 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 Rubén Duarte is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roberto Alvarado signs something — a contract at Pumas UNAM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juninho 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 Pumas UNAM. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateo Casares will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pumas UNAM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Keylor Navas 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 Apr 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Calderón 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 Pumas UNAM 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.
Position 4 on 67 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
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 Robert Morales has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutHéctor Ramírez asks for a word with the manager
SquadJuan Dinenno is the talk of the training ground
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pumas UNAM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Pedro Vite falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Alan Medina was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Vite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Álvaro Angulo will call it something else in private.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Rubén Duarte 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pumas UNAM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rodrigo Parra has his answer from Pumas UNAM; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pumas UNAM, and both men came out saying it was fine.
65 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Keylor Navas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Vite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Juan Macías will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pumas UNAM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Vite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Pumas UNAM pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM 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 Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Keylor Navas is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Calderón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Mar 2027
Rodrigo Parra returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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 Pedro Vite is on it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
Keylor Navas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pumas UNAM can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A 1‑0 win over Tigres, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Pedro Vite 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.
Club America next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Miguel Arteaga kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
60 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Keylor Navas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Córdova 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 unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A brace, and Juan Dinenno takes the afternoon — 8.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juan Dinenno provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Marked 7.61 on 19 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pumas UNAM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Veracruz will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Pumas UNAM were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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 Pumas UNAM hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The deal that would have taken Víctor Arteaga to Club America has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Pumas UNAM with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Nathan Silva and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Álvaro Angulo wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pumas UNAM, and 0 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
SquadWords at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chiapas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Guadalajara pay $2.8M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Pumas UNAM 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.
Keylor Navas 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.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateo Casares will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pumas UNAM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Veracruz for Israel Luna was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Pumas UNAM asked and Monterrey said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dorados waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruz Azul have kept their man, and Pumas UNAM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Vite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dorados waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pumas UNAM is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Toluca have accepted the money. What Pumas UNAM do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Héctor Ramírez is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Pumas UNAM had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Juan Dinenno 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Manuel Sánchez is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Pumas UNAM asked and Guadalajara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Keylor Navas 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Yonathan Del Valle is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Three points for Pumas UNAM, 1‑0 the final word against Chiapas in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Vite 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Miguel Arteaga could afford to be generous.
42 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Nathan Silva was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The offer from Independiente Medellin for Guillermo Martínez 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chiapas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
Rubén Duarte 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 Pedro Vite 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. Sebastián Córdova is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Dec 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.” Miguel Arteaga, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Juan Dinenno and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Pumas UNAM can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Córdova 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 Keylor Navas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
The dugoutPedro Vite has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of George Corral
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 Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Roberto Alvarado and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pumas UNAM, and 0 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Miguel Arteaga left the room before anybody could ask which.
Keylor Navas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Córdova 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 watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chiapas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Uriel Antuna signs something — a contract at Pumas UNAM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Cruz Azul next, and one man in the Pumas UNAM dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Pumas UNAM will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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 Jesús Rivas has written the date down.
The first defeat in 13 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Monterrey; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Keylor Navas 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 15 combined actions and a mark of 7.29, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Miguel Arteaga left the room before anybody could ask 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 Nathan Silva is on it.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“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 Pumas UNAM hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Monterrey next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
33 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM 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 Sebastián Córdova was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.25 — 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 fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Pumas UNAM will be judged on one thing only.
In brief
Squad12 new faces, and Pumas UNAM are still learning each other
10 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Santiago López is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: César Huerta. 1‑0 against Atlas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastián Córdova was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerardo Gutierrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Cristian Calderón’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pumas UNAM needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Pumas UNAM will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Robert Morales has written the date down.
Keylor Navas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Miguel Arteaga could afford to be generous.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for César Huerta
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Manuel Sánchez is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Veracruz made Pumas UNAM work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Córdova 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.
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Robert Morales decided nobody was going anywhere. Queretaro had no time left to answer.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Robert Morales. 1‑0 against Queretaro, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pumas UNAM, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Miguel Arteaga could afford to be generous.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
The deal that would have taken José Juan Macías to Guadalajara has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Pumas UNAM with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Rubén Duarte 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.
$160.0K was the most the club would pay and Veracruz were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Córdova 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Uriel Antuna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
Player ratingsRoberto Alvarado was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. José Juan Macías had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Rubén Duarte 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.
Pumas UNAM asked and Dorados said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$160.0K was the most the club would pay and Dorados were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adalberto Carrasquilla and Pumas UNAM agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
Pumas UNAM asked and Chiapas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Pumas UNAM offered $190.0K; Leon 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The fee is $10.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Guadalajara drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guadalajara have kept their man, and Pumas UNAM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Dinenno wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $204.8K — a club that wants Ángel Estrada enough to be asked twice.
Pumas UNAM have gone to Leon 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.
Pumas UNAM and Guadalajara have settled on $10.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Keylor Navas 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.
$120.0K was the most the club would pay and Tigres were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
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 phone has started ringing about José Juan Macías again, and this time the name on the line is Chiapas. Pumas UNAM are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adalberto Carrasquilla provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Pumas UNAM asked and Tigres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $125.1K — a club that wants Rafael Guerrero enough to be asked twice.
Mallorca paid $1.4M and Pumas UNAM took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all 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 Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Víctor Arteaga provided it, and the 7.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Pumas UNAM hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Keylor Navas 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.92 beside his name.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Córdova 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.