2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Boca Juniors the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Talleres will enjoy reviewing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Talleres 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.
Valentín Dávila, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.74
A mark of 8.74 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
1 for Mateo Cáceres, marked 7.89, 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.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Talleres and Mitre in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Three points for Talleres, 4‑2 the final word against Mitre in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Talleres ran out of time with Tigre. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Catalán, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
7 new faces, and Talleres 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 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.
Rick had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Lanús were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Talleres and Tigre have settled on $1.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Talleres close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 7 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
16 goals in 26 games at Santa Fe — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Talleres updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentín Depietri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1 for Santiago Fernández, marked 7.70, 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.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Hapoel Acre for Emiliano Daghero 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Como keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Franco Cristaldo 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 Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Antalyaspor for Diego Barrera 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Bologna is saying, and nobody at Talleres is enjoying the guessing.
Franco Cristaldo 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 Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Talleres have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Tigre 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.
Defensa y Justicia wanted more than $620.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Quilmes 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Facundo Castet has just signed for Talleres, and for once the answer mattered.
The offer from Mirassol for Valentín Dávila 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Talleres offered $70.0K; Tristán Suárez 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Talleres training over how hard people work
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Valentín Dávila had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The chase for Álvaro Montero ended with $1.0M changing hands and Boca Juniors out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Benfica is saying, and nobody at Talleres is enjoying the guessing.
Franco Cristaldo 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 offer went to Tristán Suárez 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 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. Monza have kept their man, and Talleres go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Valentín Dávila did not need any: 8.49, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have shaken hands with Boca Juniors; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Boca Juniors paid $5.7M and Talleres took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Talleres had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bologna, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Talleres have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Talleres have done the hard part with Bologna, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres 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 Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matías Galarza is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rick trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Franco Cristaldo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Galarza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Matías Galarza and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Franco Cristaldo 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 Matías Galarza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Tomás Bruno left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bruno Barticciotto. 3‑1 against Instituto, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Agustín Álvarez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.43. 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valentín Fascendini and Talleres agree another 4 years.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Galarza is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 7.88. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Santino Barbi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Santino Barbi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Talleres have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout3 May 2027
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.” Tomás Bruno kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A 4‑0 win over Gimnasia y Tiro, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Matías Gómez did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 7.93 for the rest of it.
The offer from Colorado Rapids for Valentín Dávila 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.
Franco Cristaldo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Talleres and Gimnasia y Esgrima in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Franco Cristaldo 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 Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Talleres 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Talleres know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Gimnasia y Esgrima next, and one man in the Talleres dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Two goals and a mark of 9.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres 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.
8.38. 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.
Position 13 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Galarza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Tomás Bruno after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Talleres 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.
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.
Matías Galarza 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.98 beside his name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Talleres 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.
Franco Cristaldo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Galarza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tomás Bruno after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against San Lorenzo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Mar 2027
8 new faces, and Talleres 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tomás Bruno after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Colorado Rapids for Valentín Dávila 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Santino Barbi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Santino Barbi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Talleres have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutRick has become a man the manager trusts
Looking aheadTalleres take on the side everybody is chasing
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Matías Catalán is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Tomás Bruno, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutMatías Galarza has become a man the manager trusts
Franco Cristaldo 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.93, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Omiya Ardija had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Galarza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valentín Depietri, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
7 new faces, and Talleres 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Platense kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Talleres will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Vegalta Sendai for Valentín Dávila 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.
Bruno Barticciotto 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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.94, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Catalán 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriel Castillo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lucas Cabrera 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.
In brief
Player ratingsAgustín Álvarez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Franco Cristaldo 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 Matías Catalán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Valentín Dávila again, and this time the name on the line is Vegalta Sendai. Talleres are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 Talleres, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Galarza 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.
Add another name to the list: Al-Ahli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Emiliano Daghero. The answer from Talleres has not changed — yet.
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 Diego Valoyes is on it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Catalán 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 did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Valentín Depietri has his answer from Talleres; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Talleres 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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jeremías Florentín is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Catalán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Emiliano Chiavassa and Talleres agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Talleres, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Franco Cristaldo 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 Matías Galarza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Miguel Ángulo and Talleres agree another 3 years.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Talleres will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matías Galarza is on it.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Nahuel Bustos’s exile
The offer from Metropolitanos for Sebastián Corradi 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.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Catalán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Talleres will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Talleres know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
$10.1M on the table at Aris Thessaloniki. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Talleres go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Catalán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Talleres 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.
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.
1‑2 away to the standard of Colo-Colo. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
The offer from Alianza Lima for Matías Galarza 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Talleres pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Talleres have made the call to Estudiantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
Nobody at Talleres 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.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Gabriel Báez'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.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
In brief
The dugoutJuan Sforza knocks on the manager’s door
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑1 away to the standard of Flamengo. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Galarza is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Talleres will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mateo Cáceres has written the date down.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentín Depietri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Franco Cristaldo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Catalán 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 Franco Cristaldo is on it.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matías Galarza signs something — a contract at Talleres or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
2‑0 against Boston River, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 7.53 for the rest of it.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Catalán 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 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Position 13 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Franco Cristaldo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Galarza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Santino Barbi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Galarza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Agustín Álvarez had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Boston River were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Marked 9.78 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsDiego Valoyes beats them one at a time
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tomás Bruno after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Ludueña will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Defensa y Justicia had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
1‑1 against Colo-Colo, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Cristaldo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Galarza 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres 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.
15 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 manager has not finished forgetting Rick'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.
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
7 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentín Depietri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Galarza is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Federico Fattori 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Valentín Fascendini has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Hapoel Raanana have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Daniel Ribera. The answer from Talleres has not changed — yet.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Galarza 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 94. Unión de Santa Fe had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Successful dribbles: 42. 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.
Talleres go through and Talleres go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Valentín Depietri has agreed terms with Estudiantes for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cayetano Santarelli and Talleres agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
93 minutes played. Franco Cristaldo found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Deportivo Riestra went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
Three points for Talleres, 1‑0 the final word against Deportivo Riestra in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Catalán 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tomás Bruno on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Valentín Dávila did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Franco Cristaldo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Talleres and Central Córdoba SdE in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Franco Cristaldo 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.
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.
13 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.