The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Up for the corner, and Nahuel Arias delivers — 7.76
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nahuel Arias scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Gastón Hernández 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 Matías Reali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 7.24, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at San Lorenzo, another week without a signature from Nahuel Arias.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. San Lorenzo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gastón Hernández 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Reali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Matías Reali has his answer from San Lorenzo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
He is 22 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Matías Hernández had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Gastón Hernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías de Ritis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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 Gustavo Del Prete is on it.
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 San Lorenzo that is a harder question to answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Reali 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.
Nobody at San Lorenzo 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 San Lorenzo will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at San Lorenzo, 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 San Lorenzo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Beitar Jerusalem for Matías Hernández 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.
Gastón Hernández 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Reali 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Axel Araujo commits to San Lorenzo for another 4 years.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting José Devecchi'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.
24 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.
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 Nahuel Arias is on it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ponte Preta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gastón Hernández 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ezequiel Herrera and San Lorenzo agree another 4 years.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every 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 Matías Reali is on it.
San Lorenzo ran out of time with Sportivo Italiano. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. San Lorenzo had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The offer from Danubio for Branco Salinardi 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.
Gastón Hernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Tripichio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
29 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at San Lorenzo now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mauricio Cardillo has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Nobody at San Lorenzo 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Vasco da Gama 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arsenal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The fee is $4.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dock Sud drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Felipe Cairus is living that version at San Lorenzo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Gastón Hernández 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
SquadWords at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Defensores Unidos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
José Devecchi 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.
San Lorenzo asked and Gimnasia La Plata said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting José Devecchi's mistake
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Racing waiting with a shirt. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Coquimbo Unido for Agustín Ladstatter 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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Adam Bareiro is a San Lorenzo player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $646.2K — a club that wants Dylan Aguilar enough to be asked twice.
In brief
Transfer targetsAn offer of $280.0K for Thiago Ponce
“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.
San Lorenzo have gone to Boca Juniors 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 offer went to Ferrocarril Midland 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.
$290.0K on the table at Rosario Central. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Gastón Hernández 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.
San Lorenzo offered $300.0K; Sportivo Italiano 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Matías Reali falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Gastón Hernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Nahuel Barrios 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 San Lorenzo will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Matías Reali falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrigo Muniz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at San Lorenzo 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.
20 appearances at Ferrocarril Midland and the goals have stopped going in. San Lorenzo lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. San Lorenzo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Rodrigo Auzmendi has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nahuel Romero has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Reali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Matías Reali is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and José Devecchi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Gastón Hernández 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at San Lorenzo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Salcedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ekenäs IF 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrigo Auzmendi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Hernán Castillo after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Gastón Hernández 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Reali 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: Gustavo Del Prete. 2‑1 against Gimnasia y Esgrima, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Matías Reali was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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.
Something was said to Nicolás Tripichio and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Emiliano Amor
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” San Lorenzo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Reali 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. San Lorenzo told Matías Reali something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Brandon Verón is somebody else's player now, and $4.0K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
Position 13 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at San Lorenzo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeremías Kruger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Juan Salcedo
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.
Gastón Hernández 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Matías Reali falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 2 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at San Lorenzo 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.
Gastón Hernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Clubs 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.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shakhter runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Hernán Castillo to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ignacio Perruzzi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo 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.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Volta Redonda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeremías Kruger 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 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. San Lorenzo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Unión de Santa Fe will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. San Lorenzo were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Reali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
3 goals inside twenty minutes with Matías Reali in the middle of it, and Unión de Santa Fe unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Talavera runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Matías Reali falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 22 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.
“I did not go to Los Angeles Football Club to sit and watch. I want to come back to San Lorenzo and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 23 matches say the rest.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutMatías Reali dropped after a run of poor form
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at San Lorenzo heard it as anything else.
“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 San Lorenzo know it.
Juan Cruz Rattalino 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 watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shakhter runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
6 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rodrigo Muniz signs something — a contract at San Lorenzo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutJerónimo Russo has become a man the manager trusts
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Misael Vega has agreed terms with Argentino de Merlo for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Matías Reali falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Volta Redonda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
4 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Renato Ardissono has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Reali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Reali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Hernán Castillo after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Agustín Ladstatter provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Gastón Hernández 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.
Something was said to Gustavo Del Prete and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 0 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
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.
Gastón Hernández 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 Aug 2027
Matías Reali falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at San Lorenzo, another week without a signature from José Devecchi.
Something was said to José Devecchi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ignacio Perruzzi'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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Squad6 new faces, and San Lorenzo are still learning each other
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Brown de Adrogué runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bautista Hernández and San Lorenzo agree another 5 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Borges 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. San Lorenzo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 7.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Villa Dálmine moved on, Lucas Juárez reports back to San Lorenzo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The offer from Audax Italiano for Facundo Bruera 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.
San Lorenzo offered $2.5M; Boca Juniors 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.3M — a club that wants Ramiro Tulián enough to be asked twice.
Gastón Hernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I did not go to Los Angeles Football Club to sit and watch. I want to come back to San Lorenzo and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
$2.5M on the table at Boca Juniors. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
San Lorenzo have gone to Belgrano 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.0M — a club that wants Adam Bareiro enough to be asked twice.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Reali 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.
San Lorenzo asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at San Lorenzo has been clear about where Matías Reali stands, which is more than many ever get.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. San Lorenzo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. San Lorenzo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Reali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
San Lorenzo asked and Racing Club said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fulham did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $44.9M for Rodrigo Muniz, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. San Lorenzo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The chase for Santiago Borges ended with $2.0M changing hands and Acassuso out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bruno Gauna is living that version at San Lorenzo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Patricio Céspedes is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Rodrigo Muniz from Fulham for $44.9M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. San Lorenzo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Gastón Hernández 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
San Lorenzo asked and Newell's Old Boys 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 phone has started ringing about Alan Salas again, and this time the name on the line is San Martín de Burzaco. San Lorenzo are listening politely and promising nothing.
0‑1, and a season that ran to May has ended inside a fortnight. This is what a playoff is: nine months of work settled by a couple of evenings, and nobody who designed it was thinking about the losing dressing room.
San Lorenzo asked and Crystal Palace said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$39.4M on the table at Fulham. 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. San Lorenzo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Argentino de Quilmes had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The chase for Genaro Cepeda ended with $430.0K changing hands and Ferrocarril Midland out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
1‑0 settles it, and a club that spent a season earning the right to play these games has won one of them. Somebody else's season ended tonight, which is the part nobody mentions in the celebrations.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around San Lorenzo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Ferrocarril Midland; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
7.90, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Everything agreed with Ferrocarril Midland, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“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 San Lorenzo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $470.0K — a club that wants Jerónimo Russo enough to be asked twice.
$490.0K on the table at Instituto. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
José Devecchi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every 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 Mauricio Cardillo is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nahuel Arias trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 goals in 8 games at Santa Cruz — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at San Lorenzo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
4 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.
Gastón Hernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at San Lorenzo has been clear about where Nahuel Barrios 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 Nahuel Arias is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alan Velázquez and San Lorenzo agree another 4 years.
“I did not go to Santa Cruz to sit and watch. I want to come back to San Lorenzo and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
The dugout17 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Hernán Castillo to a room that had heard them before.
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.
José Devecchi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bautista Hernández and San Lorenzo agree another 4 years.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Los Angeles Football Club runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 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. San Lorenzo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Gastón Hernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías 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.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ferrocarril Midland runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 San Lorenzo know it.
A 3‑1 win over Almirante Brown, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Gastón Hernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 20 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan Cruz Avaca and San Lorenzo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alan Velázquez is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Gastón Hernández 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Manuel Insaurralde and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.94, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It needed Rodrigo Auzmendi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Unión de Santa Fe, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Nahuel Arias
Martín Río 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.
At 21 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 15 combined actions and a mark of 6.94, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías 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 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. San Lorenzo will try not to make too much of it.
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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 0 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Something was said to Ignacio Perruzzi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Gastón Hernández 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías 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.
“I did not go to Santiago Wanderers to sit and watch. I want to come back to San Lorenzo and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
Nobody at San Lorenzo 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Agustín Alvez 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Madryn tried to reorganise, San Lorenzo did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Daniel Herrera
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías 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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 0 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ignacio Perruzzi has come out of that comparison in the side, and San Lorenzo have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Gastón Hernández 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 Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ferrocarril Midland runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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; San Lorenzo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Something was said to Gustavo Del Prete and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the San Lorenzo 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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 2 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
Martín Río 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías 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.
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.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Fénix runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Feb 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 Hernán Castillo left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and San Lorenzo are still learning each other
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ignacio Perruzzi did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ignacio Perruzzi 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bruno Romano 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. Alejandro Morales is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Gastón Hernández 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.
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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Agustín Ladstatter has moved up it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at San Lorenzo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Alexis Cuello was one of the reasons people came, and $16.3M does not replace that by itself.
Gastón Hernández 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías 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 San Lorenzo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The offer from Zaragoza for Alexis Cuello 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.
Gastón Hernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at San Lorenzo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías 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.
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.
Nobody at San Lorenzo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Manuel Insaurralde trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. San Lorenzo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
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 San Lorenzo have had the benefit of it.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; San Lorenzo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gastón Hernández 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alan Velázquez is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. San Lorenzo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around San Lorenzo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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 San Lorenzo have had the benefit of it.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Santiago Wanderers have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Guzmán Corujo. The answer from San Lorenzo has not changed — yet.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around San Lorenzo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabricio Díaz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Add another name to the list: Anápolis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bautista Hernández. The answer from San Lorenzo has not changed — yet.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Branco Salinardi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thiago Perugini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gastón Hernández 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 phone has started ringing about Manuel Insaurralde again, and this time the name on the line is Magallanes. San Lorenzo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías 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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 4 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gastón Hernández 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Farías is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Herrera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Alan Velázquez is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mauricio Cardillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nahuel Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Emiliano Amor is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Manuel Insaurralde will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at San Lorenzo 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. San Lorenzo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Nahuel Barrios’s negotiating for him
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nahuel Barrios will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. San Lorenzo will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Gastón Hernández 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 Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“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.
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 Nahuel Barrios is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Devecchi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. San Lorenzo told Gustavo Del Prete something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Branco Salinardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 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.
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 Emiliano Amor is on 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 Matías Reali has written the date down.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alan Velázquez is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo 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 Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hernán Castillo after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Thiago Perugini has agreed terms with Excursionistas for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gustavo Del Prete and San Lorenzo agree another 4 years.
Gastón Hernández 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.
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.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at San Lorenzo, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Devecchi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 7.73 for the rest of it.
Gastón Hernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Newell's Old Boys were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gonzalo Abrego. 1‑0 against Newell's Old Boys, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Facundo Altamirano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mauricio Cardillo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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.
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.
Marked 6.82 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
1 for Gonzalo Abrego, marked 7.66, 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Unión de Santa Fe had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Agustín Ladstatter did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Fabricio Díaz has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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.
11 combined actions and 6.88. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Guzmán Corujo 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 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Danilo Arboleda is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Valentín Escalante provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Nahuel Arias, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.91
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Facundo Altamirano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Manuel Insaurralde will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo 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 Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Nahuel Arias has come up in conversations San Lorenzo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nahuel Barrios will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nahuel Barrios has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Gastón Hernández 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout17 Aug 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.” Hernán Castillo chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. José Devecchi has agreed terms with Independiente for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolás Tripichio and San Lorenzo agree another 3 years.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Hernán Castillo to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Branco Salinardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gastón Hernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Farías was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
12 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.