Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Barakaldo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Avilés is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Real Avilés offered $1.9M; Gimnàstic 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Christian Rivera is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Álvaro Gete 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.
Real Avilés have gone to Gimnàstic 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Celta have kept their man, and Real Avilés go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Real Avilés have made the call to Ponferradina. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Barakaldo will make the call about Álvaro Gete this week. Real Avilés have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Rivera 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.
Berto Cayarga 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.
Real Avilés had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Celta, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Rivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Real Avilés asked and Barcelona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Berto Cayarga 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.
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 Javi Cueto is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Real Avilés will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Real Avilés have gone to Eibar 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.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Christian Rivera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Avilés 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 Real Avilés can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Gimnàstic this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Real Sociedad keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
5 new faces, and Real Avilés are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Real Avilés have done the hard part with Sabadell, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Javi Cueto 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Rivera 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. Vizela have kept their man, and Real Avilés go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Alavés keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Javi Cueto 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barcelona have kept their man, and Real Avilés go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Real Avilés have made the call to Vizela. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Real Avilés will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álvaro Gete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Real Avilés, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Real Avilés have done the hard part with Alavés, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Real Avilés will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Avilés have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ignacio Álvarez has, at Real Avilés, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Berto Cayarga 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
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Rivera 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.
Marbella will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Tahiru Awudu has pre-agreed a move to Real Avilés, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad31 May 2027
5 new faces, and Real Avilés are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Felipe Rodrigues may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Ignacio Álvarez arrives at Real Avilés with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Berto Cayarga 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Real Avilés, and 5 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
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.” Julio Rodríguez has his answer from Real Avilés; 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 Real Avilés, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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 Real Avilés will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Arenas Club kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Real Avilés will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Position 10 on 49 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Rivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Tao Paradowski 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Rivera is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 20 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Natanael Hernández and Real Avilés agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Real Avilés are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I watch every Real Avilés game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Algeciras runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.62 on the card, and the Real Avilés support went home talking about one name.
The dugout3 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Biel Lorenzo, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 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.
7.50, 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.
Javi Cueto 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Rivera 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 40 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“I watch every Real Avilés game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gil Vicente runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Javi Cueto 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 Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Rivera 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 Barakaldo 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 Javi Cueto is on it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Biel Lorenzo chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Guzmán
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Real Avilés can tell you which week it ends in.
“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 Real Avilés, and 4 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Biel Lorenzo to a room that had heard them before.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Real Avilés pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean-Sylvain Babin 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Avilés have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“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 Real Avilés, and 5 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Javi Cueto is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Lugo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Jean-Sylvain Babin has written the date down.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
7.58, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Real Avilés had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad22 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Real Avilés are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean-Sylvain Babin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Biel Lorenzo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Real Madrid Castilla will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Real Avilés were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A brace, and Javi Cueto takes the afternoon — 9.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Javi Cueto provided it, and the 9.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.94 — 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Rivera 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.
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.
The dugout15 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.” Biel Lorenzo kept it short after the 5‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Edu Campabadal and Real Avilés agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Rivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Javi Cueto 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 the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Avilés, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Javi Cueto 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.
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Real Avilés had all but put away. Zamora will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Real Avilés can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Biel Lorenzo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Real Avilés dressing room was either.
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 Javi Cueto is on it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Ourense CF defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Tao Paradowski 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 Christian Rivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Tao Paradowski 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.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Real Avilés know now that the thought has arrived.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Biel Lorenzo could afford to be generous.
Luis Alcalde had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Osasuna Promesas were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Real Avilés are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Real Avilés close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 5 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Rivera 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. Arenteiro have kept their man, and Real Avilés go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everything agreed with Athletic Bilbao, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Real Avilés had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Real Sociedad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Rivera 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. Alavés have kept their man, and Real Avilés go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Javi Cueto 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
SquadReal Avilés are still strangers to each other
BoardroomWages swallow 86% of the Real Avilés income
The dugoutJavi Cueto has become a man the manager trusts
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Álvaro Santamaría was one of the reasons people came, and $560.0K does not replace that by itself.
“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 Real Avilés, and it is not being withdrawn.
Half the programme played, position 10, 24 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The deal with Ibiza is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Leonardo Santos has just signed for Real Avilés, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Rivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Real Avilés can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Avilés can pretend not to have heard.
Berto Cayarga 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 name of Felipe Rodrigues has come up in conversations Real Avilés were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Real Avilés are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ponferradina will make the call about Pablo Álvarez this week. Real Avilés have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Real Avilés scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Berto Cayarga and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Gete is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Javi Cueto. 1‑0 against Tenerife, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Javi Cueto 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.
Viti 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
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.” Biel Lorenzo kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Barakaldo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugoutHugo Zarco wants a proper job in this side
19Edition
The Real Avilés Post
7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondentCrisis
Match5 Dec 2026
After 12 games, Real Avilés finally taste it again
The first defeat in 12 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Lugo; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Javi Cueto 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.92, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Furhgill Zeldenrust and Real Avilés agree another 1 years.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Carmona has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Gete 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.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Real Avilés
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.41 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A 2‑1 win over Celta Fortuna, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Celta Fortuna were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Javi Cueto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Some 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Level with 96 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Real Avilés had all but put away. Real Madrid Castilla will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Carmona 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Gete 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 words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Biel Lorenzo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Real Avilés dressing room was either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álvaro Gete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
7.61, 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.
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.
A goal on 87 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
7 new faces, and Real Avilés are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“It 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.
In brief
The dugoutGastón Silva dropped after a run of poor form
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Real Avilés lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Viti 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 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Álvaro Gete falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Javi Cueto has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Real Avilés lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Real Avilés scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Real Avilés is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Pablo Álvarez 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.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Real Avilés lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Edu Cortina’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Real Avilés needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ricardo Grigore trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Real Avilés has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The words a physio says slowly. 52 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 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.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Real Avilés lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Carmona 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 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Gete is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Real Avilés lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Victor: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 116. Zamora had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Álvaro Gete 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Racing Ferrol defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Nobody at Real Avilés is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Real Avilés lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
The deal with Cartagena is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Real Avilés had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Atlético Madrid, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Álvaro Santamaría reports back to Real Avilés with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levante have kept their man, and Real Avilés go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Real Avilés are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“It was not 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Avilés can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Atlético Madrid, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Pablo Álvarez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Real Avilés lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Real Avilés had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Levante, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Saint-Etienne have kept their man, and Real Avilés go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Pablo Álvarez 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.
Real Avilés have made the call to AS Saint-Etienne. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
SquadWords at Real Avilés training over how hard people work
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Real Avilés lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boca Juniors have kept their man, and Real Avilés go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Real Avilés have made the call to Levante. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álvaro Gete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Real Avilés has been clear about where Julio Rodríguez stands, which is more than many ever get.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Oviedo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Felipe Rodrigues is living that version at Real Avilés, and it tends to show in the first month.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rubén León is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Felipe Márquez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Víctor Blanco is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Felipe Romero 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.
Carmona was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Real Avilés are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christian Rivera and Real Avilés agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than 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 Real Avilés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Real Avilés, another week without a signature from Luis Alcalde.
A loan enquiry to Juventud Torremolinos: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.