The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Racing Santander people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Santander can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Racing Santander close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gaspar Padilla has just signed for Racing Santander, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Martín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Yassir Zabiri takes the afternoon — 9.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yassir Zabiri provided it, and the 9.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Racing Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Racing Santander will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.59, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gimnasia La Plata have kept their man, and Racing Santander go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Iván Martín 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeanuël Belocian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Veracruz for Simon Eriksson 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 first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Eibar; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Martín 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.
Íñigo Vicente and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Racing Santander asked and Venezia 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fernando Rojas 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Racing Santander had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Yassir Zabiri, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Güemes have kept their man, and Racing Santander go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Cultural Leonesa scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Andrés Martín falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Andrés Martín is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
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.
Burgos made Racing Santander work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Andrés Martín 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.
8.29. 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Íñigo Vicente was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yassir Zabiri did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.57 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Racing Santander know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.17 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Martín 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 finished 2‑0, and it was Sergio Canales’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Racing Santander.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
André Almeida 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.
Position 2, 38 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7.70, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Martín 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sergio Canales. 3‑1 against Almería, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Andrés Martín 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Racing Santander who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mario García and Racing Santander agree another 4 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sergio Delgado was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Racing Santander dressing room was either.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Racing Santander know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Cádiz? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Córdoba will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Racing Santander were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yassir Zabiri did not need any: 9.35, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Martín is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
A season average of 7.50 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Racing Santander know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Iván Martín 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Sergio Delgado chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
7‑1, and Yassir Zabiri took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Racing Santander tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Yassir Zabiri, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 10.00
A mark of 10.00 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.09 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Iván Martín 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Racing Santander and Albacete in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yassir Zabiri did not need any: 8.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Iván Martín delivers — 7.85
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Iván Martín scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Martín is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Yassir Zabiri 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing Santander have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Martín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pablo García and Racing Santander agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Racing Santander who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Yassir Zabiri, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.00
A mark of 9.00 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.10 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.35, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Iván Martín and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Carlos Arana. 3‑1 against Las Palmas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeanuël Belocian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 7.69 for the rest of it.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Málaga; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Iván Martín 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.
Íñigo Vicente 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 easiest signature of my career.” Nicolás Camerlinckx and Racing Santander agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yassir Zabiri did not need any: 10.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.36 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 Racing Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Simon Eriksson is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Matteo Prati 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Yassir Zabiri will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Racing Santander escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Yassir Zabiri takes the afternoon — 9.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yassir Zabiri provided it, and the 9.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeanuël Belocian 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Yassir Zabiri is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Racing Santander will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Iván Martín 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.
Íñigo Vicente 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.
22 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Sergio Delgado after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juan Carlos Arana provided it, and the 9.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yassir Zabiri did not need any: 9.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.93, 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.
Iván Martín was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonathan De Irastorza 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yassir Zabiri did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maguette Guèye and Racing Santander agree another 5 years.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yassir Zabiri. 3‑2 against Deportivo La Coruña, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. José 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.
Marked 8.56 — 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 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 ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juan Carlos Arana provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Racing Santander asked and Málaga 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 chase for Jonathan De Irastorza ended with $3.8M changing hands and Independiente out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Racing Santander offered $440.0K; Elche 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Iván Martín 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.
Level with 85 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Racing Santander had all but put away. Granada will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Racing Santander will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Yassir Zabiri takes the afternoon — 9.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yassir Zabiri provided it, and the 9.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer went to Celta 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.
7.66, 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.
$440.0K was the most the club would pay and Albacete 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 offer went to Independiente 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.
Racing Santander offered $3.1M; Cádiz 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rayo Vallecano have kept their man, and Racing Santander go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Iván Martín 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 Álvaro Mantilla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Racing Santander asked and Albacete said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeanuël Belocian 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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Valladolid in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A side in position 13 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Matteo Prati’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
In brief
SquadMatteo Prati is training like a man with a point to make
$1.3M was the most the club would pay and Ceuta 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.
Racing Santander had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Juventus, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Iván Martín and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrés Martín and Racing Santander agree another 4 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valladolid have kept their man, and Racing Santander go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ismael León 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luken Carrasco 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. Martí Nieto 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mateo Ramos 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.
In brief
SquadPablo Ramón falls out with a teammate over standards
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sergio Canales and Racing Santander agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Racing Santander asked and Gimnasia La Plata 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 name of Simon Eriksson has come up in conversations Racing Santander were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Racing Santander, another week without a signature from Sergio Canales.