16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gijón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ángel Recio 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 not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutKevin Vázquez dropped after a run of poor form
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gijón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Gaspar 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 had been thinking. Hugo Guillamón 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Andorra had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Betis go through and Gijón go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
1 for Hugo Guillamón, marked 7.83, 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 Gijón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marc Suárez 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 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.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gijón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Gijón hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Hugo Guillamón 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.
Level with 95 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Gijón had all but put away. Albacete will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ángel Recio 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.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gijón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Guillamón 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.
Àlex Corredera and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gijón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gijón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alejo Sarco wants continental football; whether Gijón can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emanuel Gularte was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gijón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gijón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Carlos Sanz 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. Roberto Torres 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.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gijón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alejo Sarco did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Guillamón 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Mirandés had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
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.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gijón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alejo Sarco did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emanuel Gularte was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gijón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Jesús Bernal obliged against Cultural Leonesa. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Gijón.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Cultural Leonesa will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Gaspar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
7 goals in one match, Andrés Ferrari on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Gijón and Leganés.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Jesús Bernal 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 words a physio says slowly. 95 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Gijón heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Guillamón 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.
Manu Rodríguez 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.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gijón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Gijón ran out of time with Guadalajara. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Hugo Guillamón 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.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gijón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Guadalajara have accepted the money. What Gijón do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Union Berlin paid $18.1M and Gijón took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
César Gelabert has gone, the accounts have $18.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
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.
Eric Curbelo damages knee ligaments — 119 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Andrés Ferrari scored in the 86th minute, Real Sociedad B had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Gijón took the lot.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rayo Vallecano have kept their man, and Gijón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gijón can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gijón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Union Berlin will make the call about César Gelabert this week. Gijón have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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 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.
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gijón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Gijón asked and Burgos 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 name of César Gelabert has come up in conversations Gijón were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Gijón had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Club Brugge, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
César Gelabert 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 Emanuel Gularte was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Gijón will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Gijón heard it as anything else.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Venezia is saying, and nobody at Gijón is enjoying the guessing.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mario Montero 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mateo Martínez 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. Iván Guerrero 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.
“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.
César Gelabert 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 Hugo Guillamón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Still no offer on the table, and Hugo Guillamón’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.