99 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Gaspar will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Gijón escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
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.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Roberto Medina is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oihan Romero is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
106 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gijón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Charlie Patiño scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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. Almería had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
115 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Cádiz the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Gijón will enjoy reviewing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gijón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrés Ferrari provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Kevin Vázquez
124 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Àlex Corredera.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Enzo Ibrahim Rivière has just signed for Gijón, and for once the answer mattered.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Gaspar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jan Domínguez after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
The dugout5 Apr 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 2‑3 Jan Domínguez left the room before anybody could ask which.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Yoel is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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: Antonio Casas. 2‑1 against Zaragoza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sebastián Silguero has his answer from Gijón; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
1 for Charlie Patiño, marked 7.90, 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Gijón and Las Palmas, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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 ratings15 Mar 2027
Andrés Ferrari was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout15 Mar 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 3‑4 Jan Domínguez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jesús Santana is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Yoel
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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
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.
Minute 96, against Mirandés, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Rafita 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.
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.
“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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Castellón kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Gijón will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Eric Curbelo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“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 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.
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Gijón close the window on a squad of their own making
3 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.
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.
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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grasshopper have kept their man, and Gijón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emir Faccioli, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 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 0‑2 Jan Domínguez left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 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.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
8 goals in one match, Gaspar on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Gijón and Cultural Leonesa.
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.
“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 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.
Eric Curbelo 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.
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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yoel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Néstor Albiach 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.
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 dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jan Domínguez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
8.04. 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 point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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.
Andrés Ferrari had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Córdoba were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrés Ferrari provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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 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 7.94 for the rest of it.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Emilio Troncoso has, at Gijón, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
“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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.76, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Gaspar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Gaspar scored in the 88th minute, Zaragoza had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Gijón took the lot.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Manuel Monzeglio has just signed for Gijón, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gaspar. 1‑0 against Zaragoza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
18 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.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Alejo Sarco, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.00
A mark of 8.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hugo Suárez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alejo Sarco did not need any: 8.28, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.91, 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gaspar. 3‑2 against Mirandés, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Alejo Sarco has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The 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.
17 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 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 2‑1 win over Cultural Leonesa, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
0‑3 to Leganés, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Alejo Sarco, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Cultural Leonesa tried to reorganise, Gijón did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emanuel Gularte, and the manager let it.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Gijón dressing room in a hurry
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Yoel
7Edition
The Gijón Herald
14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Kevin Vázquez delivers — 7.28
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kevin Vázquez scored, was marked 7.28, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“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.
Emir Faccioli 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 spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriel Vargas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Castellón have kept their man, and Gijón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 24 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.
Gijón had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Club America, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Gijón asked and Vancouver Whitecaps said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Antonio Casas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.53. 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 accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. César Gelabert was one of the reasons people came, and $27.9M does not replace that by itself.
FC Nordsjaelland paid $5.0M 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.
Gijón offered $3.3M; Albacete 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.
“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 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.
The offer from Andorra for Mamadou Loum 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.
Everything agreed with Deportivo La Coruña, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
In brief
MatchAlejo Sarco among the goals in a wild afternoon
Gijón offered $5.8M; Instituto 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.
$3.3M on the table at Albacete. 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 name of César Gelabert has come up in conversations Gijón were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 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.
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.
The offer went to Instituto 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.
“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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Andrés Gallardo 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.
Gijón have gone to Rosario Central 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 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.