Youssouf Fofana 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solly March 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 Youssouf Fofana is on it.
Sevilla asked and Valencia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$14.8M was the most the club would pay and Villarreal were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Rubén Vargas 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.
17 goals in 20 games at Aris Thessaloniki — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sevilla updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Three points for Sevilla, 1‑0 the final word against Oviedo in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Solly March was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Betis on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Endrick provided it, and the 9.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Cultural Leonesa paid $3.7M and Sevilla took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
19 appearances at Aris Thessaloniki and the goals keep coming. Sevilla are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Solly March 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.
Sevilla offered $37.8M; River Plate 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.
Sevilla have gone to Villarreal 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.
Sevilla asked and Granada said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Sevilla have gone to Lecce 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sevilla have lost him in all but the paperwork.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Youssouf Fofana and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solly March 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 chase for Enric Franquesa ended with $7.3M changing hands and Leganés out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leganés have kept their man, and Sevilla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Enric Franquesa has, at Sevilla, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Pablo García is 20, and Sevilla have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eduardo Ruiz has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Víctor Soto has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. Osasuna had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
$33.3M on the table at River Plate. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Real Madrid 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.
The offer went to Leganés 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.
The offer went to Getafe this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sevilla, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rubén Vargas 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Solly March 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.06, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Youssouf Fofana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solly March 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.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Youssouf Fofana 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.
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.
Nobody at Sevilla 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.
Youssouf Fofana was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sevilla hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Solly March was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pedro Santos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Enrique Rojas 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.
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 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sevilla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rubén Vargas. 2‑1 against Rayo Vallecano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 first defeat in 15 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Real Madrid; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sevilla and Real Madrid, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sevilla told Solly March something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Youssouf Fofana 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Solly March 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Nobody at Sevilla 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Marc González after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sevilla 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 Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
5 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
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.
Position 2, 30 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Endrick did not need any: 8.36, 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 Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Álvaro Moreno 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Chidera Ejuke was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsSolly March was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sevilla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Chidera Ejuke 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Solly March 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.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Neal Maupay 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 Sevilla 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Endrick is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
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.
Youssouf Fofana 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 Solly March 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Sevilla. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Solly March is on it.
Youssouf Fofana 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: Isaac Romero. 3‑1 against Getafe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Sevilla will not try tonight.
Nobody at Sevilla 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solly March 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gabriel Gallardo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Félix Correia was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solly March is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Sevilla prefer.
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.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Sevilla and a story that will outlast his contract.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Peque trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Youssouf Fofana 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 Solly March was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Chidera Ejuke was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Betis next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Chidera Ejuke was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sevilla hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Sevilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solly March 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Carlos Cruz has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alejandro Castro 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.
A 1‑0 win over Athletic Bilbao, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Sevilla will try again when the window opens; Valencia may not be selling by then.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Sevilla until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sevilla hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Endrick has just signed for Sevilla, and for once the answer mattered.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Villarreal had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
12 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sevilla have done the hard part with Valencia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Athletic Bilbao have kept their man, and Sevilla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$7.3M was the most the club would pay and Las Palmas 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Aitor Fernández is living that version at Sevilla, and it tends to show in the first month.
Youssouf Fofana 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Chidera Ejuke. 2‑0 against Osasuna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Solly March 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Isaac Romero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.56. 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and Sevilla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Alavés spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
$7.3M on the table at Las Palmas. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Youssouf Fofana 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Solly March 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rubén Vargas. 1‑0 against Alavés, 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, Marc González could afford to be generous.
Sevilla asked and Manchester City 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 chase for Dani Vivian ended with $34.6M changing hands and Athletic Bilbao 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. Dani Vivian is living that version at Sevilla, and it tends to show in the first 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 Sevilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The ground is getting bigger
The plans are signed off at a capacity of 49378. Decisions like this are judged twenty years later, by people who were not in the room when they were taken.
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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The deal with Athletic Bilbao is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The offer went to Barcelona this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Solly March has, at Sevilla, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Youssouf Fofana 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.
There is a particular relief in a club addressing the thing its own crowd has been shouting about. Ignacio Chicco arrives for exactly that job, and now he has to do it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Villarreal have kept their man, and Sevilla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Solly March was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Izei Sánchez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Sevilla have gone to Aldosivi 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.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.