Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barcelona have kept their man, and Real Sociedad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Real Sociedad have gone to Girona 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.
Position 3, 92 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.
Tomás Araújo 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Real Murcia will make the call about Sergio Arribas this week. Real Sociedad have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jon Pacheco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Real Sociedad offered $14.1M; Huesca 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.
263 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Carlos Soler 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 never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Sociedad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Real Sociedad have gone to Huesca 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.
Real Sociedad asked and Tenerife said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $15.0M — a club that wants Rubén Vargas enough to be asked twice.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jon Aramburu signs something — a contract at Real Sociedad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Real Sociedad. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Joan García
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Justin Bijlow had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Sociedad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Rayo Vallecano for Beñat Turrientes was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Orri Óskarsson was one of the reasons people came, and $57.1M does not replace that by itself.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marc Roca has, at Real Sociedad, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Real Sociedad and Mérida have settled on $9.3M. 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 Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
$1.7M was the most the club would pay and Atlético Madrid were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The name of Aihen Muñoz has come up in conversations Real Sociedad were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Real Sociedad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A month of football, a final, and a flight back with 70 caps and a medal he will never take out of a drawer. He is due at training in a fortnight and nobody at Real Sociedad will mention it, which is its own kind of mentioning it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ponferradina waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Red Bull Salzburg for Justin Bijlow was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
$2.0M was the most the club would pay and Málaga 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Real Sociedad hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dani Pérez is living that version at Real Sociedad, and it tends to show in the first month.
Carlos Soler and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Real Sociedad asked and Racing Santander 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 Sociedad asked and Málaga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Elche paid $24.7M and Real Sociedad took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Real Sociedad offered $18.0M; Barcelona 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Sociedad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Izan González has, at Real Sociedad, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $20.0M — a club that wants Yassine Kechta enough to be asked twice.
The chase for David Larrubia ended with $28.1M changing hands and Málaga out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“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 Sociedad, and it is not being withdrawn.
$18.0M on the table at Barcelona. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Sociedad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Real Sociedad asked and Valladolid 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 Sociedad have gone to Málaga 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. David Larrubia has just signed for Real Sociedad, and for once the answer mattered.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.2M — a club that wants Antonio Rüdiger enough to be asked twice.
$28.1M on the table at Málaga. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Racing Ferrol waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Real Sociedad offered $21.3M; Málaga said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Aihen Muñoz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Real Sociedad asked and Valencia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces19 Jun 2028
Supporters turn on the $107.7M sale of Takefusa Kubo
He is going to Real Madrid, the club has $107.7M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The fee is $82.8M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Barcelona drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Sociedad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee is $53.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Barcelona drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Barcelona have accepted the money. What Real Sociedad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Real Sociedad offered $13.5M; Espanyol 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Joan García is living that version at Real Sociedad, and it tends to show in the first month.
Real Sociedad have gone to Sevilla 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.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Supporters turn on the $42.4M sale of Sergio Gómez
He is going to Barcelona, the club has $42.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Real Sociedad and Barcelona have settled on $53.5M. 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.
$82.8M on the table at Barcelona. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Real Murcia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Real Sociedad asked and Zaragoza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Sociedad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Real Sociedad hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The phone has started ringing about Jon Gorrotxategi again, and this time the name on the line is Tenerife. Real Sociedad are listening politely and promising nothing.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Real Madrid go through and Real Sociedad go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Marked 7.00 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
38 appearances and 5 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Enzo Pérez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Real Sociedad will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Sociedad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Orri Óskarsson provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Jon Aramburu 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 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match13 May 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Real Sociedad. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Barcelona next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Aitor Fraga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Real Sociedad told Luka Sučić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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 Sociedad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Sociedad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Takefusa Kubo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Beñat Turrientes scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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 Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout1 May 2028
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.” Enzo Pérez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid Real Sociedad $150.0K. Gorka Carrera left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Real Sociedad did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
A brace, and Luka Sučić takes the afternoon — 8.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luka Sučić provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Jon Aramburu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Marked 8.30 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsAnder Barrenetxea was on a different afternoon to everybody else
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Sevilla will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Real Sociedad were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Orri Óskarsson 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 8.53 — 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Sociedad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luka Sučić. 1‑0 against Villarreal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Nobody at Real Sociedad will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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.” Enzo Pérez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Real Sociedad pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“I watch every Real Sociedad game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cartagena runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout3 Apr 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.” Enzo Pérez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Position 3, 70 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.
Aitor Fraga 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 never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Sociedad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Real Sociedad. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
9‑0 against Suduva, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
Tomás Araújo 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.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Real Sociedad and Suduva in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 7 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Atlético Madrid will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Horaţiu Moldovan has pre-agreed a move to Real Sociedad, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“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 Sociedad, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Real Sociedad heard it as anything else.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Deportivo La Coruña spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Getafe will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Real Sociedad were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
1 for Jon Pacheco, marked 7.69, 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Real Sociedad heard it as anything 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 Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
10‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
A brace, and Takefusa Kubo takes the afternoon — 8.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Takefusa Kubo provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 63 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Real Sociedad and Suduva, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Orri Óskarsson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.64. 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Eneko Astigarraga has agreed terms with Alavés for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.98, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Real Sociedad, and it is not being withdrawn.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Real Sociedad will try again when the window opens; Barcelona may not be selling by then.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Real Sociedad scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The deal that would have taken Sergio Gómez to Cartagena has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Real Sociedad with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Real Sociedad asked and Valencia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergio Arribas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Sociedad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Real Sociedad supporters have already started telling it.
$51.7M settles it between the clubs for Joan García
Barcelona have accepted the money. What Real Sociedad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Real Sociedad have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Real Sociedad will try again when the window opens; Villarreal may not be selling by then.
The offer from Barcelona for Ander Barrenetxea was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Yangel Herrera reports back to Real Sociedad with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Real Sociedad until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Real Sociedad have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer went to Villarreal this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Real Sociedad asked and Deportivo La Coruña said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Real Sociedad have gone to Barcelona 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. Real Madrid have kept their man, and Real Sociedad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The fee is $44.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lazio drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Real Sociedad offered $50.2M; Villarreal 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Borja Iglesias provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tomás Araújo is living that version at Real Sociedad, and it tends to show in the first month.
In brief
Player ratingsNo sign of nerves from Héctor Fort at 21 — 8.17
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Real Sociedad offered $8.2M; Almería 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.
$5.4M on the table at Barcelona. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Real Sociedad asked and Valencia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer from Ponferradina for Héctor Fort was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The phone has started ringing about Yangel Herrera again, and this time the name on the line is Alavés. Real Sociedad are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer went to Lazio this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have shaken hands with Celta; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Marked 7.14 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Position 3, 44 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.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Real Sociedad have gone to Celta 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.
Add another name to the list: Lugo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gorka Carrera. The answer from Real Sociedad has not changed — yet.
Real Sociedad asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.39 — 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.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Orri Óskarsson 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 2‑0 win over Racing Santander, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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 Sociedad, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Real Sociedad scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Jon Pacheco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. George Ilenikhena 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.
Jon Aramburu 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Real Sociedad had all but put away. Torpedo Kutaisi will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Position 3, 29 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
1‑0 against Hartberg, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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 7.83 for the rest of it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yangel Herrera scored, was marked 7.73, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told George Ilenikhena.
“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 Sociedad, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Marked 8.48 — 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.
Justin Bijlow was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Real Sociedad has been clear about where Luka Sučić stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Justin Bijlow is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Real Sociedad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Sociedad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Real Sociedad would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Real Sociedad. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Real Sociedad have no good answer.
4‑0 against AIK, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yangel Herrera scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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 Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Real Sociedad.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Carlos Soler was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Orri Óskarsson 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Nobody at Real Sociedad will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The 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.
The dugout1 Nov 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.” Enzo Pérez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutJon Pacheco knocks on the manager’s door
3‑1 against AIK, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Takefusa Kubo was at the centre of the description.
“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 Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
Jon Aramburu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.37, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
Jon Pacheco 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 Sociedad will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Real Sociedad, and 4 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Something was said to Carlos Soler and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ander Barrenetxea is on it.
“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 Sociedad will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Real Sociedad has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Isaak Davies a promise
3‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Carlos Soler was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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.
Derby days make names, and Ander Barrenetxea made his against Athletic Bilbao. 1‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
“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 Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Real Sociedad support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Justin Bijlow 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.
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match25 Sep 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Real Sociedad. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Takefusa Kubo is on it.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
Justin Bijlow was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Orri Óskarsson 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 8.48 — 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.
“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 Sociedad, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Racing Ferrol moved on, Sergio Gómez reports back to Real Sociedad, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
$570.0K was the most the club would pay and Barcelona 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Isaak Davies has, at Real Sociedad, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool Montevideo have kept their man, and Real Sociedad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Carlos Soler. 2‑0 against Girona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $18.8M has been paid because George Ilenikhena is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
“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 Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. George Ilenikhena has just signed for Real Sociedad, and for once the answer mattered.
At 23 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Real Sociedad close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Real Sociedad hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The offer went to Barcelona this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“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 Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 6 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Enzo Pérez could afford to be generous.
“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 Sociedad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arkaitz Mariezkurrena is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Sociedad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He is going to RB Leipzig, the club has $101.9M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Real Sociedad had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Barcelona, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcos Méndez 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. Luken Peña 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 ratingsTakefusa Kubo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The phone has started ringing about Mikel Oyarzábal again, and this time the name on the line is RB Leipzig. Real Sociedad are listening politely and promising nothing.
Real Sociedad asked and Lazio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Soler trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Real Sociedad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The offer from Lugo for Sergio Gómez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barcelona have kept their man, and Real Sociedad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Sociedad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“I did not go to Juventud Torremolinos to sit and watch. I want to come back to Real Sociedad and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gonçalo Guedes is on 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 Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Real Sociedad will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The phone has started ringing about Sergio Gómez again, and this time the name on the line is Lugo. Real Sociedad are listening politely and promising nothing.
Aitor Fraga 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.
Nobody at Real Sociedad will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“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 Sociedad will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Barcelona had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Mikel Oyarzábal 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.
Nobody at Real Sociedad will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
78 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Real Sociedad that is a harder question to answer.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Ander Barrenetxea plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Real Sociedad offered $11.8M; Villarreal 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.
Real Sociedad asked and Barcelona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ander Barrenetxea and Real Sociedad agree another 5 years.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Real Sociedad, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
The offer went to Villarreal this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“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 Sociedad, and it is not being withdrawn.
31 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Real Sociedad now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Real Sociedad have gone to Barcelona 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.
“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 Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Sergio Gómez again, and this time the name on the line is Lugo. Real Sociedad are listening politely and promising nothing.
Real Sociedad asked and Barcelona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Real Sociedad have gone to Girona 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.
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 Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Real Sociedad will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Position 4, 78 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
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.
Real Sociedad offered $106.3M; Paris Saint-Germain said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The offer from Real Madrid for Takefusa Kubo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Córdoba had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Sociedad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Mikel Oyarzábal was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Real Sociedad heard it as anything else.
With 7 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The offer went to Paris Saint-Germain this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Sociedad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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 Sociedad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $115.2M — a club that wants Nuno Mendes enough to be asked twice.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
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 Sociedad have had the benefit of it.
Justin Bijlow 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.
20 appearances and 3 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Sociedad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Mikel Oyarzábal 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.
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Nobody at Real Sociedad will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Enzo Pérez could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutAihen Muñoz knocks on the manager’s door
Unai Marrero’s loan is measured in nothing happening
18 clean sheets from 37 appearances at Valladolid. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Real Sociedad can tell you which week it ends in.
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout17 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 0‑2 Enzo Pérez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Carlos Soler is on it.
0‑3 to Mallorca, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Sociedad 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 Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch10 May 2027
Unai Marrero’s loan is measured in nothing happening
17 clean sheets from 36 appearances at Valladolid. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Boardroom10 May 2027
Nobody left the Real Sociedad dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout10 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 0‑3 Enzo Pérez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mikel Oyarzábal is on it.
Justin Bijlow 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.
35 appearances at Valladolid and the goals have stopped going in. Real Sociedad lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Betis defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Mallorca next, and one man in the Real Sociedad dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
21 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Mikel Oyarzábal 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
Unai Marrero’s loan is measured in nothing happening
15 clean sheets from 33 appearances at Valladolid. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Justin Bijlow is still being punished for one mistake
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.
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.
Mamadou Sarr was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Álex Marchal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Sociedad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
31 appearances at Valladolid and the goals have stopped going in. Real Sociedad lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mikel Oyarzábal is on it.
19 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Beñat Turrientes scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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 Sociedad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Beñat Turrientes’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Real Sociedad.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Mikel Oyarzábal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. 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.
30 appearances at Valladolid and the goals have stopped going in. Real Sociedad lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
At 19 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Soler trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
62 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
After 25 games, Real Sociedad finally taste it again
The first defeat in 25 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Alavés; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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.
Mikel Oyarzábal 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.
7 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
12 shut-outs in 29 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Unai Marrero has been having a lot of them.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Álex Marchal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Sociedad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Justin Bijlow 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 run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mikel Oyarzábal is on it.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Álex Marchal did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
1 for Beñat Turrientes, marked 7.80, 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 Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 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.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Real Sociedad can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Mikel Oyarzábal was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Mikel Oyarzábal 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.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
10 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
Unai Marrero’s loan is measured in nothing happening
12 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Valladolid. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yangel Herrera is on it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Enzo Pérez on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutAihen Muñoz dropped after a run of poor form
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Álex Marchal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Sociedad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Real Sociedad supporters have already started telling it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sergio Gómez had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
385 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Real Sociedad will try again when the window opens; Villarreal may not be selling by then.
Justin Bijlow 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 ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The clubs have shaken hands with Villarreal; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
384 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Real Sociedad until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Real Sociedad hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Real Murcia pay $8.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Álex Marchal, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.10
A mark of 8.10 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 12 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Real Sociedad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sergio Arribas is living that version at Real Sociedad, and it tends to show in the first month.
10 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Real Sociedad and Almería have settled on $19.9M. 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cacereño waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Sociedad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Deportivo La Coruña wanted more than $9.8M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Arsen Zakharyan had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Sociedad can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Sergio Gómez has come up in conversations Real Sociedad were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $22.5M — a club that wants Sergio Arribas enough to be asked twice.
9 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Real Sociedad asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer went to Benfica this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$17.7M on the table at Almería. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Girona this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ander Barrenetxea provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Sociedad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Sociedad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Orri Óskarsson is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Mikel Oyarzábal and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jon Gorrotxategi and Real Sociedad agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Beñat Turrientes provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yangel Herrera scored, was marked 7.91, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Oviedo tried to reorganise, Real Sociedad did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Luka Sučić 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Enzo Pérez could afford to be generous.
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Iñaki Rupérez is somebody else's player now, and $140.0K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
In brief
The dugoutAihen Muñoz has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutCarlos Soler asks for a word with the manager
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Marked 8.23 — 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Orri Óskarsson has his answer from Real Sociedad; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Álex Marchal is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Mikel Oyarzábal 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ander Barrenetxea. 2‑1 against Osasuna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Enzo Pérez could afford to be generous.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“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 Sociedad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Álex Marchal, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
Marked 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Gonçalo Guedes has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mamadou Sarr trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
Unai Marrero’s loan is measured in nothing happening
4 clean sheets from 9 appearances at Valladolid. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Somebody from Real Madrid has seen every one of Takefusa Kubo’s last few games. Nobody travels that far that often out of curiosity, and everybody at Real Sociedad knows it.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Gorka Carrera obliged against Barakaldo. 5‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Real Sociedad.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.39, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Luka Sučić takes the afternoon — 8.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luka Sučić provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Mikel Oyarzábal 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 21 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Luka Sučić wants continental football; whether Real Sociedad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Sociedad 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 Sociedad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Real Sociedad heard it as anything else.
He is 19 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Levante were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Real Sociedad know it.
“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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mikel Oyarzábal signs something — a contract at Real Sociedad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
Justin Bijlow 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 needed Beñat Turrientes to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Rayo Vallecano, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Mikel Oyarzábal 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 has had enough of the noise. Whether Real Sociedad can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Real Sociedad has been clear about where Luka Sučić stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gonçalo Guedes signs something — a contract at Real Sociedad or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Sociedad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Mikel Oyarzábal plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
At 20 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.
7 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Mamadou Sarr 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Justin Bijlow'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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Enzo Pérez left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Yangel Herrera wants continental football; whether Real Sociedad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Enzo Pérez left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Pablo Marín
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mikel Oyarzábal signs something — a contract at Real Sociedad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Real Madrid next, and one man in the Real Sociedad dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Igor Zubeldia 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Takefusa Kubo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
Athletic Bilbao next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.