From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Kevin Castaño: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” River Plate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer from Almagro for Elián Giménez 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joaquín Freitas and River Plate agree another 5 years.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maximiliano Salas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Jan 2027
River Plate have let the market know Elián Giménez can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at River Plate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer from Gimnasia y Tiro for Jonathan Spiff 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Joaquín Freitas again, and this time the name on the line is Zulia. River Plate are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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 River Plate have had the benefit of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Dec 2026
The paperwork is done: Luka Jović joins from AEK in a deal worth $6.1M. Now comes the harder part.
Market28 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market28 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at River Plate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Carlos Portillo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
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.
Market21 Dec 2026
The chase for Stanislav Agkatsev ended with $7.4M changing hands and Krasnodar out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market21 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad21 Dec 2026
54 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mauro Arambarri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Santiago Lencina and River Plate agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Dec 2026
The fee is $3.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lanús drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Market14 Dec 2026
The chase for Jaminton Campaz ended with $2.0M changing hands and Rosario Central out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market14 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market14 Dec 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lucas Martínez Quarta has his answer from River Plate; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market7 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
He is 21, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 110 days on the sidelines for Sebastián Driussi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market7 Dec 2026
Add another name to the list: Huracán have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Santiago Lencina. The answer from River Plate has not changed — yet.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maximiliano Meza and River Plate agree another 3 years.
Market7 Dec 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Maximiliano Meza has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at River Plate.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
The goals keep arriving from Lautaro Rivero’s exile
7 goals in 13 games at Baniyas — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at River Plate updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what River Plate can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
The goals keep arriving from Lautaro Rivero’s exile
5 goals in 12 games at Baniyas — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at River Plate updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at River Plate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
13 starts and a season average of 6.39. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Rafael Santos Borré’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 36 days on the sidelines for Nicolás Otamendi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maximiliano Salas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
40 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Carlos Portillo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Germán Pezzella, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at River Plate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at River Plate, another week without a signature from Ezequiel Centurión.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
9 appearances at Platense and the goals keep coming. River Plate are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Mauro Arambarri has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The sale went through, the money came with it, and everything anybody had planned for next season is now provisional. New owners always arrive promising patience.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“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 River Plate, and 5 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Fernando Quintero, and the manager let it.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
9 starts and an average of 6.45. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 70 days on the sidelines for Nicolás Otamendi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Tigre left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonzalo Montiel, and the manager let it.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Beltrán, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
The one thing Juan Villordo could not do
Shots: 5, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
5.64 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the River Plate squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Fernando Quintero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at River Plate that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
“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 River Plate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lucas Beltrán. 2‑1 against Belgrano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 100% of everything River Plate earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad5 Oct 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Franco Armani knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Lucas Beltrán is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.23 with 5 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what River Plate can pretend not to have heard.
Match28 Sep 2026
14 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match26 Sep 2026
It needed Agustín Ruberto to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Huracán, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at River Plate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
Argentinos Juniors left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the River Plate 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Villordo, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 31 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. River Plate have a decision that made itself.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
The goals keep arriving from Tomás Nasif’s exile
2 goals in 6 games at Platense — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at River Plate updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, River Plate do not lose
9 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 26, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Atlético Tucumán, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maximiliano Salas, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Agustín Ruberto has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for River Plate
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around River Plate are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, River Plate do not lose
8 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Franco Armani
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 136% of everything River Plate earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. River Plate have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 49. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 39 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Franco Armani decides it from twelve yards
2 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.
Match26 Aug 2026
0‑0 against Almirante Brown, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 31 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what River Plate can pretend not to have heard.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for River Plate
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around River Plate are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Still nobody has beaten River Plate
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Aug 2026
A 0‑0 win over Gimnasia y Esgrima, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad24 Aug 2026
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Fausto Vera
Defensive actions: 28. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and River Plate did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Mauro Arambarri
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 9.15 — 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.98, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 38. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market17 Aug 2026
Bukhara come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and River Plate did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Aníbal Moreno
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. River Plate have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 9.27 — 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 9.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Banfield, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Tobol for Santiago Beltrán 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mauro Arambarri and River Plate agree another 5 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Lautaro Rivero again, and this time the name on the line is Baniyas. River Plate are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match8 Aug 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nothing has been signed and nothing has been denied. Supporters who have lived through one of these before know the quiet part lasts months and the loud part lasts a week.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolás Otamendi and River Plate agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Mauro Arambarri’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to River Plate.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.79 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.67 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.