The words a physio says slowly. 87 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sabadell people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 The request is on a desk at Sabadell, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andrés Ayala wants continental football; whether Sabadell can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Arthur Bonaldo has left for Castellón in a $1.3M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sabadell will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Agustín Coscia had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Sabadell have gone to Córdoba 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.
Sabadell had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Huesca, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sabadell lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Racing Santander for Diego Fuoli 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.
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and Córdoba 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Deportivo La Coruña for Javi López-Pinto 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 offer went to Córdoba 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.
César Álvarez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Osasuna have kept their man, and Sabadell go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Barakaldo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about José Ortega. The answer from Sabadell has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Javi López-Pinto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ponferradina have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Hércules for Agustín Coscia 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sabadell can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Javi López-Pinto again, and this time the name on the line is Deportivo La Coruña. Sabadell are listening politely and promising nothing.
Alberto Marí 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Sabadell asked and Hércules said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Alberto Marí was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Theo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Hernán Gautier'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.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Javi López-Pinto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3 on 66 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Position 3, 66 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.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Joel Priego was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about César Álvarez
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sabadell lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Theo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Sabadell pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutQuadri Liameed is still being punished for one mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 73 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Sabadell can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Alberto Marí was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ibai Montes after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sabadell lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
César Álvarez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
7 matches without defeat, and then Betis Deportivo. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kadir Barría. 2‑1 against Real Murcia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Kadir Barría has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The words a physio says slowly. 93 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
6 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Miguel Román at his very best
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sabadell lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Sabadell. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Alberto Marí 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.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sabadell are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
SquadWords at Sabadell training over how hard people work
The dugoutNo place for Emanuel Díaz on the big day
The words a physio says slowly. 107 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sabadell have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alberto Marí 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.
6 goals in one match, Alberto Marí on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Sabadell and Alcorcón.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 114 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
8 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Urri has written the date down.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sabadell have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Sabadell can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
César Álvarez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sabadell 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 Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Theo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ibai Montes on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sabadell have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Emanuel Díaz will call it something else in private.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andrés Ayala wants continental football; whether Sabadell can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
César Álvarez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sabadell, another week without a signature from Martín Aguirregabiria.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
SquadKadir Barría falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutHernán Gautier is still being punished for one mistake
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Theo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Morufdeen Moshood 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 8.44 — 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.
7 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Eneko Aguilar
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Theo provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sabadell can pretend not to have heard.
Alberto Marí was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Sabadell game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Tarazona runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Sabadell will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ibai Montes on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Eneko Aguilar
1 for Miguel Román, marked 7.60, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Marked 8.29 — 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 Sabadell, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Martín Aguirregabiria 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Add another name to the list: Moreirense have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Agustín Coscia. The answer from Sabadell has not changed — yet.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sabadell are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 Sabadell know 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 Sabadell can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
César Álvarez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
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.
Sabadell asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Sanluqueño made Sabadell work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Theo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Alberto Marí
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sabadell have done the hard part with Botafogo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inter have kept their man, and Sabadell go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Two goals and a mark of 7.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Atlético Madrileño were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Theo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andrés Ayala wants continental football; whether Sabadell can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 Sabadell have had the benefit of it.
Sabadell asked and Hércules said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
200 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Sabadell know which stage they are at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
SquadWords at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Looking aheadSabadell take on the side everybody is chasing
Duván Riascos 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.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“I watch every Sabadell game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Tarazona runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Agustín Coscia, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Quadri Liameed'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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout14 Dec 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 Ibai Montes left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Sergi Segura has written the date down.
Chances created: 4. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
César Álvarez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Villarreal B 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Carlos Alemán and Sabadell agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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.” Ibai Montes, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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 Sabadell know it.
César Álvarez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Quadri Liameed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sabadell, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Sabadell, and 4 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ibai Montes was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Sabadell dressing room was either.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Sabadell have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Nobody at Sabadell is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sabadell will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Abdullah Al-Muaiouf was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Quadri Liameed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sabadell, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sabadell will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Quadri Liameed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Hernán Gautier'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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sabadell, another week without a signature from Martín Aguirregabiria.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sabadell will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over Algeciras, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Hernán Gautier 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sabadell will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Abdullah Al-Muaiouf was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alberto Marí. 1‑0 against Ibiza, 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 1‑0, Ibai Montes could afford to be generous.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Quadri Liameed is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Algeciras next, and one man in the Sabadell dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ibiza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sabadell would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
In brief
The dugoutNil Ruiz asks for a word with the manager
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdullah Al-Muaiouf and Sabadell agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
8 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ibai Montes after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and CE Europa spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and César Álvarez delivers — 7.89
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. César Álvarez scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Alberto Marí was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alberto Marí. 3‑2 against CE Europa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Ibai Montes could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Hernán Gautier
SquadWords at Sabadell training over how hard people work
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sabadell will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Alberto Marí and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ibai Montes after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sanluqueño defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sabadell will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Sabadell asked and Betis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sabadell, another week without a signature from Martín Aguirregabiria.
A mark of 7.19, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Quadri Liameed is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ibai Montes chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Sabadell close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Martín Aguirregabiria 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sabadell will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Duván Riascos 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Athletic Bilbao keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Duván Riascos 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 name of Javi López-Pinto has come up in conversations Sabadell were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Eneko Aguilar are not good
Alberto Marí and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Sabadell spend $2.2M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.2M for César Álvarez, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Betis have kept their man, and Sabadell go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Quadri Liameed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Sabadell will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Alberto Marí 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Ibai Morales 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pol Santiago is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Izei Campos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Sabadell know which stage they are at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sabadell this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Sabadell know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sabadell are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.