“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valladolid have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Alaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Add another name to the list: Wellington Phoenix have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Federico Montiel. The answer from Valladolid has not changed — yet.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The ground is getting bigger
The plans are signed off at a capacity of 28432. Decisions like this are judged twenty years later, by people who were not in the room when they were taken.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Valladolid has been clear about where Mathis Lachuer stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of David Torres
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valladolid can pretend not to have heard.
The shirt still fits. Yago Cantero is back at Valladolid, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Yago Cantero has, at Valladolid, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
David Alaba 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 22 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.
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.
“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 Valladolid, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marcos André wants continental football; whether Valladolid can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
David Alaba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Cristian Gallardo is 15, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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 Valladolid, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee is $2.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Castellón drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Álvaro Aceves will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Valladolid the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Wellington Phoenix for Federico Montiel 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bernardo Valim is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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 Valladolid, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Castellón 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stanko Jurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The offer from Cracovia for Álvaro Aceves 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.
David Alaba 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Stanko Jurić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Valladolid are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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.
The fee is $2.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Castellón drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The offer from Córdoba for Mathis Lachuer 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 Castellón, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Miguel Rubio 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.
Valladolid asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The 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 Valladolid can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valladolid have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Valladolid hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The name of Mathis Lachuer has come up in conversations Valladolid were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Stanko Jurić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Valladolid people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valladolid 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 Valladolid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jules Ouaknine is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julien Ponceau, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanko Jurić 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Valladolid. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ramón wants continental football; whether Valladolid can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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 Valladolid, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Alaba 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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanko Jurić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Amath N'Diaye wants continental football; whether Valladolid can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valladolid, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Guille Bueno is still being punished for one mistake
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valladolid have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 59 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valladolid can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Valladolid heard it as anything else.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Ramón 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.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valladolid lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Tai Abed decided nobody was going anywhere. Zaragoza had no time left to answer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valladolid can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Alaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 May 2027
7 new faces, and Valladolid 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.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Valladolid lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Valladolid will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
David Alaba 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Martín Vargas was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Valladolid dressing room was either.
Nobody at Valladolid is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Valladolid lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Valladolid will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
David Alaba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jules Ouaknine is living that version at Valladolid, and it tends to show in the first month.
He is 22 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.
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Valladolid will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Valladolid may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Alaba 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.
Stanko Jurić 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. Marc Sosa is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mario Cruz has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Yeray Cabanzón was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Julien Ponceau
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valladolid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juanmi Latasa. 1‑0 against Ceuta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yeray Cabanzón 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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Juanmi Latasa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout3 May 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.” Martín Vargas, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Valladolid will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Leganés spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
David Alaba 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.
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ramón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Alaba 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Guilherme Moura has, at Valladolid, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Alaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Valladolid can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juanmi Latasa signs something — a contract at Valladolid or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Valladolid will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Apr 2027
Marcos André wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Marcos André found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Granada went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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: Marcos André. 2‑1 against Granada, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathis Lachuer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Valladolid will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
3‑0, and Sergi Canós took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Valladolid tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
A brace, and Sergi Canós takes the afternoon — 9.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sergi Canós provided it, and the 9.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
David Alaba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Pablo Tomeo 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.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Julien Ponceau was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 7.78 for the rest of it.
David Alaba 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 name of Lucas Lavagnino has come up in conversations Valladolid were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Valladolid will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Valladolid will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valladolid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Eibar scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Martín Vargas after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutCarlos Clerc dropped after a run of poor form
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Valladolid will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Federico Montiel has, at Valladolid, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad8 Mar 2027
David Alaba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Stanko Jurić 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Raúl Bravo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luis Ruiz has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Carlos Clerc
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valladolid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, Marcos André on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Valladolid and Burgos.
Squad1 Mar 2027
David Alaba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 dugout1 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 Martín Vargas left the room before anybody could ask which.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Huesca spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Tai Abed 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanko Jurić 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 Valladolid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Valladolid asked and Birmingham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Torres 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juanmi Latasa signs something — a contract at Valladolid or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Lucas Lavagnino had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valladolid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Lorenzo have kept their man, and Valladolid go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 22 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. Jan Santana 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. Carlos Martín has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
A 1‑0 win over Cádiz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanko Jurić 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Jozhua Vertrouwd at his very best
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Valladolid heard it as anything else.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
David Alaba 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Valladolid go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Julien Ponceau has his answer from Valladolid; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The phone has started ringing about Lucas Lavagnino again, and this time the name on the line is Hull City. Valladolid are listening politely and promising nothing.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
“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 Valladolid, and it is not being withdrawn.
Valladolid had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Grêmio, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gerónimo Patritti has, at Valladolid, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valladolid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Valladolid asked and Zaragoza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yeray Cabanzón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yeray Cabanzón 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.
Valladolid asked and Aldosivi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanko Jurić 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.
David Alaba is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
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 1‑2 Martín Vargas left the room before anybody could ask which.
Everything agreed with Real Madrid, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ramón 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.
Add another name to the list: Cracovia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Álvaro Aceves. The answer from Valladolid has not changed — yet.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanko Jurić 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.
Minute 96, against Gijón, 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.
Miguel Rubio 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bari have kept their man, and Valladolid go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
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 8.09 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Miguel Rubio 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 Stanko Jurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 86 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Martín Vargas after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Markel Marín, 15 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Málaga left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Stanko Jurić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Martín Vargas after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Valladolid, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Valladolid is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Stanko Jurić 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.
0‑1 to Mirandés, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yeray Cabanzón 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Martín Vargas left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stipe Biuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valladolid lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juanmi Latasa. 2‑0 against Ceuta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Stanko Jurić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Valladolid can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
“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 dugout7 Dec 2026
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.” Martín Vargas, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Luis Chacón 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.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Miguel Rubio
SquadOne of our own is behind an import at Valladolid
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Juanmi Latasa takes the afternoon — 9.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juanmi Latasa provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valladolid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Luis Chacón falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A point taken on 96 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.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valladolid lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Stanko Jurić 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yeray Cabanzón 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. 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Martín Vargas to a room that had heard them before.
4 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Stanko Jurić
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valladolid lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Marcos André’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Valladolid.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanko Jurić 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. 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
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.” Martín Vargas, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutPablo Tomeo asks for a word with the manager
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Valladolid lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Miguel Rubio 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
Luis Chacón falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Valladolid had all but put away. Granada will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Valladolid lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Valladolid heard it as anything else.
Miguel Rubio 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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Valladolid had all but put away. Real Sociedad B will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Valladolid deserved better, and so did he.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Valladolid lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valladolid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanko Jurić 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.
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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Dani Martín
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valladolid, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanko Jurić 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luis Chacón, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Valladolid dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Martín Vargas left the room before anybody could ask which.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The words a physio says slowly. 97 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Juanmi Latasa takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juanmi Latasa provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Diego Castillo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cristian Gallardo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
SquadYeray Cabanzón falls out with a teammate over standards
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Sergi Canós at his very best
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valladolid lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ramón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Stanko Jurić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergi Canós, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Miguel Rubio is still being punished for one mistake
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Martín Vargas after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Valladolid can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valladolid 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 Luis Chacón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 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
Somebody else is better right now than Dani Martín
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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout28 Sep 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.” Martín Vargas chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other 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 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.
Huesca next, and one man in the Valladolid dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
At 31 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Valladolid have a decision that made itself.
Marcos André wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Marcos André found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Cádiz went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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.
Valladolid ran out of time with Racing Club. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vicente Ferrer 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stanko Jurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The deal with Racing Club 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 22 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Valladolid until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The offer from Cracovia for Álvaro Aceves 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 Valladolid 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 Luis Chacón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sergi Canós 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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Valladolid lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
$3.3M on the table at Racing Club. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Valladolid asked and Pachuca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yeray Cabanzón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 words a physio says slowly. 23 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Guille Bueno had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Osasuna for Stipe Biuk 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.
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 7.76 for the rest of it.
The deal with Rayo Vallecano 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.
Ramón 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
$4.7M was the most the club would pay and Carabobo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Venezia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Stanko Jurić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Luis Chacón falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Boca Juniors is saying, and nobody at Valladolid is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valladolid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Stipe Biuk again, and this time the name on the line is Osasuna. Valladolid are listening politely and promising nothing.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luka Romero 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Izei Montero 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. Julen Pérez 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
SquadWords at Valladolid training over how hard people work
Transfer targetsA loan move for Andrea Adorante is in the works
Valladolid have gone to Carabobo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Valladolid hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Miguel Rubio 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 Stanko Jurić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Still no offer on the table, and Iván Alejo’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.