“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Manu Rodríguez, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 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.
Rubén Yáñez 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.
At 21 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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Juan Otero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A brace, and Alejo Sarco takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejo Sarco provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7.74, 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.
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.
At 21 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 the quietest kind of dressing-room problem and the one that lasts longest, because nobody has done anything anyone can be disciplined for. 3 players sit outside all 4 groups entirely, which is the detail that tends to matter.
“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 Gijón know it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gijón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Conrado Martínez is living that version at Gijón, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Mamadou Loum was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A 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, 7.00, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
200 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.
The dugout18 Oct 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 0‑1 Marcos Álvarez left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gijón can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaspar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Gijón are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Málaga.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Gijón who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
9 combined actions and 6.71. 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.
Something was said to Alejo Sarco and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Àlex Corredera is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at Gijón 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 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Marcos Álvarez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Alejo Sarco, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaspar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 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.
Markus Schubert 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Marcos Álvarez could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Gijón 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alejo Sarco did not need any: 8.05, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pablo García will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gijón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gijón can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gijón and Tenerife in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaspar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juan Rocca 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 21 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Gijón are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
Squad7 new faces, and Gijón are still learning each other
Two goals and a mark of 8.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deal that would have taken Markus Schubert to Cádiz has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Gijón with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lautaro Rivas is living that version at Gijón, and it tends to show in the first month.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Àlex Corredera. 2‑0 against Lugo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 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 Gijón can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Diego Sánchez reports back to Gijón with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Juan Rocca has just signed for Gijón, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Gijón 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.
Hugo Guillamón 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. Gaspar 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Gijón are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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 offer from Villarreal for Hugo Guillamón 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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 7.89 for the rest 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 Gijón 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.
Gijón asked and Tarazona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gijón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lucas 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ignacio Bravo 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 was a commitment, there was a date, and the date went past. Trust at a football club takes years to build and one afternoon to spend.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Marcos Álvarez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gijón dressing room was either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gijón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaspar 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.
Gijón asked and Spezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Manu Rodríguez is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gijón. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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.
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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaspar 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 Gijón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gijón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cremonese is saying, and nobody at Gijón is enjoying the guessing.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Eric Curbelo 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gijón has been clear about where Pablo Vázquez stands, which is more than many ever get.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gijón have done the hard part with Cremonese, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gijón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaspar 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 Kevin Vázquez is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gijón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The offer from Cacereño for Nacho Martín 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gijón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gijón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gijón can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaspar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gijón asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
AS Saint-Etienne have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 Manu Rodríguez is on 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.
“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.
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.
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.
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 Rubén Yáñez is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAlejo Sarco knocks on the manager's door
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.
$390.0K was the most the club would pay and Alcorcón 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gaspar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gijón asked and Elche said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
36 games, 5 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Gijón now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gijón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Gijón have gone to Alcorcón 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.
Gijón offered $27.0K; Elche 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gijón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gijón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and Mallorca 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Juventud Torremolinos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gijón is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Gijón have gone to Mallorca 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.
“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.
The offer went to Almería 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sevilla have kept their man, and Gijón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Kevin Vázquez 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 offer from Sevilla for Gaspar 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Gijón can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The deal with Real Sociedad 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juventud Torremolinos have kept their man, and Gijón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Gijón know it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Gijón will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Antonio Casas has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gijón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
16 goals in 32 games at Dijon — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Gijón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Marked 9.53 — 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.
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.
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.
“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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Burgos were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Manu Rodríguez did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Gijón pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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 Rubén Yáñez is on it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
7.59, 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gijón told Gaspar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Markus Schubert 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gijón has been clear about where Kevin Vázquez stands, which is more than many ever get.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gijón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
16 goals in 31 games at Dijon — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Gijón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Kevin Vázquez 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 dugout26 Apr 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 Marcos Álvarez to a room that had heard them before.
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.
In brief
The dugoutManu Rodríguez has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Emanuel Gularte's mistake
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Kevin Vázquez 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Racing Santander the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Gijón will enjoy reviewing.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Manu Rodríguez did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Antonio Casas will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Gijón escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
A brace, and Antonio Casas takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Antonio Casas provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
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.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
40 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gijón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
“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 Gijón know it.
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 Gijón 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 Matías Nouet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Buba Sangaré signs something — a contract at Gijón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Marcos Álvarez was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Gijón dressing room was either.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Emanuel Gularte'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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gaspar signs something — a contract at Gijón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Gijón 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.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Mamadou Loum’s exile
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrés Cuenca is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
He is 21 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.
Markus Schubert 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. 12 actions, 6.72, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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 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.
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.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Alejo Sarco’s exile
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gijón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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; Gijón are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Kevin Vázquez 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.
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Alejo Sarco’s exile
30Edition
The Gijón Herald
22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Up for the corner, and Nacho Martín delivers — 7.77
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nacho Martín scored, was marked 7.77, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ceuta scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Otero. 1‑0 against Leganés, 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, Marcos Álvarez could afford to be generous.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1 for Nacho Martín, marked 7.88, 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.
Gijón had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rodina, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gijón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
1 for Àlex Corredera, marked 7.61, 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Gijón close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Granada had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee is $1.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Huesca drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Marked 8.40 — 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.09, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gijón have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Gijón had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Panathinaikos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gijón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 9, 32 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Otero'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.
He is going to Sevilla, the club has $18.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Gijón asked and Athletic Bilbao 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 Pablo Vázquez again, and this time the name on the line is Cacereño. Gijón are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer from Celta for Gaspar 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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Gijón will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrés Cuenca is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Huesca made Gijón work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Gaspar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gijón will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrés Cuenca did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Àlex Corredera scored, was marked 7.83, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Marcos Álvarez after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gijón will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Marcos Álvarez left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gijón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Àlex Corredera provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Àlex Corredera. 3‑2 against Córdoba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Oscar Martinez is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Gijón will try very hard not to make too much 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 Gijón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Konrad De la Fuente is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marcos Álvarez on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutAndrés Ferrari asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Buba Sangaré
“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.
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.
Kevin Vázquez 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.
Something was said to Oscar Martinez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Marcos Álvarez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gijón dressing room was either.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Marcos Álvarez after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
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 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.
Something was said to Buba Sangaré 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.
Nobody at Gijón 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 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Manu Rodríguez did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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.
“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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
Something was said to Gaspar and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Àlex Corredera provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Àlex Corredera’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gijón.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Gijón are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Marcos Álvarez kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gijón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Nacho Martín delivers — 7.79
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nacho Martín scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Markus Schubert 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marcos Álvarez on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Kevin Vázquez 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 Gijón can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mirandés in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gijón. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Buba Sangaré signs something — a contract at Gijón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Gijón and Ceuta, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gijón can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Gijón is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.43, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Juan Otero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. 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.
Kevin Vázquez 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.
“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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
10 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 dugout28 Sep 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 Marcos Álvarez to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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.
At 19 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.
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Gijón.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Juan Otero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
Marked 7.58 on 9 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Marcos Álvarez could afford to be generous.
0‑3 against Deportivo La Coruña, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Marcos Álvarez after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
The offer went to Athletic Bilbao 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Gijón 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Viktoria Plzen keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Gijón asked and Atlas 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 did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Gijón will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Emanuel Gularte is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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.
Everything agreed with Viktoria Plzen, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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. 15 actions, 6.79, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
Real Sociedad B will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Gijón were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Polissia have kept their man, and Gijón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.9M — a club that wants Selton enough to be asked twice.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Oscar Martinez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
$1.8M on the table at Athletic Bilbao. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Club America is saying, and nobody at Gijón is enjoying the guessing.
Buba Sangaré is 19, and Gijón 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Gijón asked and Boca Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mateo Fuentes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Kevin Vázquez 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.
Gijón have gone to Elche 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.
“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.
Everything agreed with La Equidad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Antonio Rubio 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. Nicolás Blanco 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.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Mamadou Loum again, and this time the name on the line is Unionistas. Gijón are listening politely and promising nothing.
Club America have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.