It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Camilo Durán wants continental football; whether Real Santander can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Juan Pablo Habib 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 Aug 2028
Kevin Villada 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.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Brian Hernandez commits to Real Santander for another 4 years.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Dilan Tapia's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Camilo Durán 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Iván Medina has, at Real Santander, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan Pablo Habib and Real Santander agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Habib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 20, and nobody at Real Santander signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Camilo Durán 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib 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 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 easiest signature of my career.” Raimundo Álvarez and Real Santander agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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 Santander, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 5 on 32 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Santiago Rey reports back to Real Santander with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Torres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Santander the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Real Santander asked and Atletico Nacional said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Juan Pablo Habib and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Kevin Villada falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Rey trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Santander have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Real Santander have gone to Tigres 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. Cortulua have kept their man, and Real Santander go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Junior García and Real Santander agree another 4 years.
José Torres 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Villada 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 dugout24 Jul 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Dilan Tapia's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Jaguares waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Santander is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
America de Cali have accepted the money. What Real Santander do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Santiago Jiménez 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.
America de Cali have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib 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
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Edimer Zea
Add another name to the list: Jaguares have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Santiago Rey. The answer from Real Santander has not changed — yet.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Real Santander have done the hard part with La Equidad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Camilo Durán 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 Kevin Villada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to Deportivo Cali: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Real Santander have made the call to Fortaleza CEIF. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Santander 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan David Lázaro and Real Santander agree another 5 years.
$21.0K 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fortaleza CEIF have kept their man, and Real Santander go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Santander people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Position 5 on 32 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Santander 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 Real Santander is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
$21.0K on the table at Tigres. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Juan David Lázaro had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Everything agreed with America de Cali, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Real Santander can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Camilo Durán 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.
$57.0K was the most the club would pay and Deportes Quindio 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Fortaleza CEIF will make the call about Santiago Rey this week. Real Santander have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Real Santander asked and Once Caldas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Real Santander and Bogota have settled on $71.0K. 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
$57.0K on the table at Deportes Quindio. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Santander can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Independiente Medellin 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.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Gustavo Mosquera in the middle of it, and Valledupar unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Santander is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Real Santander 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 Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Real Santander will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jorge Pérez commits to Real Santander for another 4 years.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Francisco Ramirez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Villada 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.
0‑3 against Alianza Petrolera, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Camilo Durán 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 easiest signature of my career.” Julian Sinisterra and Real Santander agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout22 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Francisco Ramirez to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Villada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan David Lázaro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
Santiago Ahumada 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib 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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Gustavo Mosquera’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Real Santander needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.98 on the card, and the Real Santander support went home talking about one name.
Squad8 May 2028
Kevin Villada 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.
Squad8 May 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Dilan Tapia
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Dilan Tapia has come out of that comparison in the side, and Real Santander have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Francisco Ramirez on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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 Santander can pretend not to have heard.
7.75, 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Moreno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Santander the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Santiago Jiménez 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.
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 7.62 for the rest of it.
“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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Real Santander told Harlem Salas something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib 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.
Barranquilla next, and one man in the Real Santander dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alejandro Chalarca trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
Position 3, 22 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.
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 7.74 for the rest of it.
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.
Juan Pablo Habib and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Kevin Villada 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
6 new faces, and Real Santander 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.
“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.
Position 3, 21 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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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 1‑2 Francisco Ramirez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Kevin Villada falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Jiménez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
7.99, 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Moreno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Santander the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
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. Real Santander will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Juan Diego Mendoza has come out of that comparison in the side, and Real Santander have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Francisco Ramirez on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Santiago Ahumada 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 Brandon Moreno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brandon Moreno trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Real Santander the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
BoardroomThe Real Santander production line keeps running
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Junior García
Position 3, 18 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.
Camilo Durán 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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 7.56 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Real Santander had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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.” Francisco Ramirez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Santander will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7.80, 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.
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 Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Moreno 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Santander is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Juan Pablo Habib 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 dugout6 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Francisco Ramirez to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Real Santander told Gustavo Mosquera something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Santander will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
1 for Dilan Tapia, marked 7.60, 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1 for Santiago Jiménez, marked 7.51, 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.
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 Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Real Santander did not have in the autumn.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib 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 ratings21 Feb 2028
Freddy Espinal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 7.64 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Moreno is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Santander will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Santander is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
7.95, 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Juan David Ararat 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Real Santander has been clear about where Juan David Ararat stands, which is more than many ever get.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Santander will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Camilo Durán and Real Santander agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Camilo Durán 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
He is 20, and nobody at Real Santander signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Nahuel Silveira is 19, and Real Santander have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Francisco Ramirez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Real Santander dressing room was either.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Santander will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Santander have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Kevin Villada is a Real Santander player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Jhon Villamizar is a Real Santander player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Camilo Durán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Freddy Espinal. 3‑1 against Deportes Quindio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Carlos Muriel 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel 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.
In brief
Player ratingsFreddy Espinal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib 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.
Julian Sinisterra is 18, and Real Santander have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Camilo Durán trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A new face in his position, and Jheison Solarte suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Real Santander have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Real Santander will try again when the window opens; Leones may not be selling by then.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Habib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Camilo Durán trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Real Santander are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Francisco Ramirez has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Leones have accepted the money. What Real Santander do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Real Santander have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Real Santander will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Real Santander will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Santiago Noreña was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Jiménez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Santiago Rey is still in the building
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bogota keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The deal with Envigado 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.
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 Santander 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 Juan Pablo Habib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alianza Petrolera have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Tigres; Real Santander go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Real Santander had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Camilo Durán 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 Santiago Tamayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brandon Moreno trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Questions about Luyz Caicedo on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Santa Fe arrived with $2.0M 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.
Julian Angulo has gone, the accounts have $2.0M 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.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Deportivo Pasto, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Camilo Durán 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 Santiago Tamayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Real Santander have made the call to Tigres. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Real Santander are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Real Santander can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Camilo Durán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Angulo 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.
Real Santander 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.
Real Santander have made the call to Once Caldas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The terracesThe stands have heard the Julian Angulo talk too
70Edition
The Real Santander Post
29 Nov 2027
From our football correspondentCrisis
Squad29 Nov 2027
Julian Angulo 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.
Luis Rangel 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 medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Jheison Solarte, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Tamayo 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 Camilo Durán trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Harlem Salas has written the date down.
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 Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Angulo 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Real Santander can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Angulo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Santiago Tamayo is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“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 Santander, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander 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 Santiago Tamayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Santiago Tamayo was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Real Santander than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Camilo Durán 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 Julian Angulo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Camilo Durán and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Julian Angulo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Santander, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Tamayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juan Pablo Habib 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.
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.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Real Santander lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Francisco Ramirez has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Angulo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Luis Rangel 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Santander, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Jhan Rengifo loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Jhan Rengifo's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Angulo 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 Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luyz Caicedo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Freddy Espinal’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Camilo Durán 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Tamayo 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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Angulo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brandon Moreno trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Francisco Ramirez has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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 Santander 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 Julian Angulo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Real Santander were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Santiago Tamayo was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
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.
Camilo Durán 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 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Real Santander. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Angulo 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.
Julian Angulo 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.
Deportivo Pereira will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Juan Miguel Betancourth has pre-agreed a move to Real Santander, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Luis Rangel 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 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 Real Santander will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
29 points in position 7: too many to go down, too few to go anywhere. The honest description of a season like this is a shrug, and the supporters have already given it.
Santiago Tamayo 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.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
He is 20, and nobody at Real Santander signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“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 Santander, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Camilo Durán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Julian Angulo 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Camilo Durán 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 Julian Angulo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Real Santander will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Breinner Román trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Álex Segura’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Santa Fe 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 Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$100.0K was the most the club would pay and Deportes Quindio 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Angulo 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 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Millonarios keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Real Santander offered $320.0K; Deportivo Pereira 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.
Camilo Durán 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. DeAndre Morris has, at Real Santander, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Angulo 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.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Independiente Medellin is saying, and nobody at Real Santander is enjoying the guessing.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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 Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Faiber Mendoza was one of the reasons people came, and $1.5M does not replace that by itself.
Real Santander and Deportes Quindio have settled on $110.0K. 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.
“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 Santander can pretend not to have heard.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Angulo 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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Deportivo Cali, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander 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 Julian Angulo 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Everything agreed with Real Cartagena, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Envigado is saying, and nobody at Real Santander is enjoying the guessing.
Camilo Durán 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Freddy Espinal had Real Santander level again within 1 minutes, and Fortaleza CEIF never got to play with a lead at all.
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 May 2027
Julian Angulo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Francisco Ramirez could afford to be generous.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 7.31 for the rest of it.
Álex Segura 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 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.
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. 10 actions, 7.39, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Francisco Ramirez left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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 ratings17 May 2027
A brace, and Julian Angulo takes the afternoon — 8.55
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Julian Angulo provided it, and the 8.55 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Santiago Rey 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.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Luis Rangel 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 club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Francisco Ramirez on a 4‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
“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 dugout10 May 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.” Francisco Ramirez chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
“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 Santander, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Faiber Mendoza has come out of that comparison in the side, and Real Santander have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout3 May 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.” Francisco Ramirez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Envigado in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
Álex Segura was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Julian Angulo. 2‑0 against Leones, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.45 — 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Apr 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.” Francisco Ramirez kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Santander 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 Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Three points for Real Santander, 2‑0 the final word against Depor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Faiber Mendoza 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Dilan Tapia was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.
Half the programme played, position 8, 15 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 dugout12 Apr 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.” Francisco Ramirez, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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 Santander can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Faiber Mendoza provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
6 goals in one match, Faiber Mendoza on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Real Santander and Tigres.
Álex Segura and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Julian Angulo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Dilan Tapia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Habib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luis Rangel 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Jiménez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Juan Pablo Habib 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Valledupar had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
“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.
“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 Santander, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
Player ratingsOff the bench and decisive: Michell Díaz
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Francisco Ramirez after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Real Santander lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Yojhan Neira has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Real Santander.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Real Santander man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Freddy Espinal was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Jorge Carrasco's mistake
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Real Santander lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
7.97, 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.
Camilo Durán 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Habib was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Camilo Durán
0‑3 to Bogota, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Álex Segura 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Álex Segura was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 22 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Santiago Rey. 1‑0 against Universitario Popayan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Francisco Ramirez on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Juan David Lázaro is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Breinner Román trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Francisco Ramirez could afford to be generous.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib 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 Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Juan Pablo Habib 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 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luis Rangel has his answer from Real Santander; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Camilo Durán has moved up it.
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Álex Segura 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Carlos Barrios is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oscar Valencia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andres Muriel 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. Wilmar Santos 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.
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib 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 Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
The deal that would have taken Juan David Guillén to Patriotas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Real Santander with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Breinner Román trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Freddy Espinal arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Álex Segura
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
Real Santander had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Envigado, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Álex Segura 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
Álex Segura 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 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Fortaleza CEIF is saying, and nobody at Real Santander is enjoying the guessing.
Real Santander asked and Millonarios said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Real Santander have done the hard part with Independiente Medellin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Union Magdalena paid $74.0K and Real Santander took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Real Santander training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Habib 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 Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fortaleza CEIF have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“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 Santander can pretend not to have heard.
Álex Segura 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.
Independiente Medellin have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Real Santander lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Santander can pretend not to have heard.
Juan Pablo Habib 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.
In brief
Boardroom160% of the income goes out in wages at Real Santander
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Real Santander lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Santander is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Real Santander training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
“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 Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
Álex Segura 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 Real Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried 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.
Luis Rangel 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 Real Santander, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Santander is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Johao Camacho 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Juan David Ararat 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 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Santander can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Álex Segura 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.
In brief
Boardroom215% of the income goes out in wages at Real Santander
“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 Santander can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Santander 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 Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Real Santander are still learning each other