The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
8 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.
Sebas Moyano 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ilias Akhomach has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergio Escudero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pape Guèye 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.” Ismael Cano after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
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 Jordi Mboula is on it.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zaragoza lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zaragoza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Zaragoza can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pape Guèye 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zaragoza has been clear about where Tachi stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Ángel Fortuño knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Zaragoza can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zaragoza 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.
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 Tachi is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tachi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Rafael Nel arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
“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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zaragoza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zaragoza has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Pape Guèye 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Favio Cabral 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Pape Guèye 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Cartagena scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 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 Zaragoza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 7.87. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Adrián Liso has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zaragoza.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Escudero 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 dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ángel Fortuño'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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zaragoza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zaragoza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zaragoza heard it as anything else.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Tenerife; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Sebas Moyano 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Rafael Nel 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Pape Guèye 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.
Zaragoza asked and Andorra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Zaragoza are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zaragoza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Zaragoza, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Víctor Meseguer, marked 7.90, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zaragoza have done the hard part with Sporting CP, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Pape Guèye 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.
Zaragoza asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zaragoza can pretend not to have heard.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Zaragoza asked and Newell's Old Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ilias Akhomach 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dani Gómez. 2‑0 against Elche, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ricardo Prieto is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zaragoza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Zaragoza can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Everything agreed with Celta, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pape Guèye 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.
Zaragoza asked and Eldense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Zaragoza have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ángel Fortuño trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Zaragoza can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zaragoza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pape Guèye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Espanyol have kept their man, and Zaragoza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
12 new faces, and Zaragoza 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.
Tomás Bressi 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.
In brief
The dugoutÁngel Fortuño asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zaragoza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hatayspor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zaragoza is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zaragoza can pretend not to have heard.
Zaragoza asked and Espanyol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Sebastián Kóša again, and this time the name on the line is Polonia Warszawa. Zaragoza are listening politely and promising nothing.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Toni Moya is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zaragoza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zaragoza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pape Guèye 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levante have kept their man, and Zaragoza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Zaragoza will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zaragoza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pape Guèye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zaragoza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Keciorengucu for Sinan Bakış 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 are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zaragoza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Zaragoza asked and Platense 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zaragoza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 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 Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Celta for Sebas Moyano 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 Pape Guèye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 appearances and 1 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Zaragoza asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zaragoza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Zaragoza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Favio Cabral is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
The deal with Sevilla 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Newell's Old Boys keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Pape Guèye 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.
Zaragoza asked and Valencia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Zaragoza and Mitre have settled on $4.0M. 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Arenteiro had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The fee is $3.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Espanyol drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zaragoza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Zaragoza asked and Cerro Porteno 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 deal with Espanyol 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.
The offer from Marbella for Diego González 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zaragoza can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksandar Radovanović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zaragoza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Sebas Moyano 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 Jun 2027
Pape Guèye 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.
Zaragoza asked and Estoril Praia 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 enquiry everybody at Zaragoza was hoping would not arrive has arrived. He has never pretended he did not want to go back, and now there is somewhere to go back to.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 46 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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 Zaragoza, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zaragoza heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pape Guèye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tobías Oscari has, at Zaragoza, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Aleksandar Radovanović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ismael Cano after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Víctor Meseguer signs something — a contract at Zaragoza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zaragoza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pape Guèye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed Dani Gómez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Eibar, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ismael Cano was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Zaragoza dressing room was either.
Nobody at Zaragoza 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.
Nobody at Zaragoza 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.
Valladolid next, and one man in the Zaragoza dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Zaragoza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zaragoza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pape Guèye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Cultural Leonesa held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Zaragoza answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout17 May 2027
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.” Ismael Cano chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
In brief
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Yussif Saidu
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 7.84 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Copete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ismael Cano could afford to be generous.
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.
0‑3 to Almería, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pape Guèye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Cádiz were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rubén Díez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zaragoza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Pape Guèye 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ilias Akhomach 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Pape Guèye was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Ilias Akhomach was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zaragoza can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zaragoza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Apr 2027
José Copete 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ismael Cano after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ilias Akhomach wants continental football; whether Zaragoza can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pape Guèye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
7.91, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Pape Guèye 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.
“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 dugout5 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Ismael Cano to a room that had heard them before.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jaouad El Yamiq 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.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Zaragoza deserved better, and so did he.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zaragoza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Copete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Maximiliano Silvera and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zaragoza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zaragoza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Racing Santander in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Aleksandar Radovanović has written the date down.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Adrián Liso’s exile
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Gijón kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Zaragoza will be asked about the last half hour all week.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zaragoza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pape Guèye 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zaragoza may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Pape Guèye 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.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Zaragoza are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
5 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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Víctor Meseguer and Zaragoza agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Copete 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zaragoza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Zaragoza now know that too.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rubén Díez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zaragoza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Zaragoza are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Pape Guèye 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zaragoza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksandar Radovanović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zaragoza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pape Guèye 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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Mirandés defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Pape Guèye
29Edition
The Zaragoza Chronicle
15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondentCrisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Copete 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.
Zaragoza asked and Elche said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Zaragoza 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zaragoza have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zaragoza heard it as anything else.
Zaragoza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Osasuna, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pape Guèye 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: 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ilias Akhomach has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zaragoza have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Zaragoza close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Zaragoza hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The offer went to Osasuna 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Zaragoza have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pape Guèye 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.
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Zaragoza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Gimnasia La Plata, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Zaragoza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad25 Jan 2027
José Copete 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 fee is $19.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Villarreal drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zaragoza have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The chase for Ilias Akhomach ended with $10.3M changing hands and Villarreal out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zaragoza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match16 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Zaragoza. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Insua was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have shaken hands with Villarreal; 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 Zaragoza 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.” Zaragoza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Paulino De la Fuente has agreed terms with Valencia for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zaragoza have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Escudero 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.
Paul Akouokou 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 from Mérida for Paulino De la Fuente 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 7.77 for the rest of it.
A 2‑0 win over Cultural Leonesa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zaragoza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Sergio Escudero is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
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 finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ismael Cano chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It is 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaouad El Yamiq was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ismael Cano on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pablo Insua trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 118th minute. Osasuna will replay every second of the added time for a week.
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout14 Dec 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 Ismael Cano to a room that had heard them before.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zaragoza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Sebas Moyano 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Córdoba had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“Nobody 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ismael Cano was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Zaragoza dressing room was either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Dani Gómez scored in the 88th minute, Andorra had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Zaragoza took the lot.
Paul Akouokou 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ismael Cano kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Córdoba in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zaragoza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Something was said to Rubén Díez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Sinan Bakış’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zaragoza needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Sinan Bakış trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑4 to Racing Santander, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaouad El Yamiq 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.” Ismael Cano after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Beaten 4 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zaragoza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zaragoza, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zaragoza and Las Palmas in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Las Palmas left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaouad El Yamiq 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.” 2‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Beaten 4 times, 1 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Albacete in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑3 to Málaga, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zaragoza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Sem Westerveld knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ismael Cano after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Everybody at Zaragoza saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Zaragoza will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Zaragoza man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Dani Gómez was the best thing in any of them.
Málaga next, and one man in the Zaragoza dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Aleksandar Radovanović has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zaragoza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zaragoza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Dani Gómez takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dani Gómez provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zaragoza, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaouad El Yamiq 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.
11 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ismael Cano on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Carlos Pomares
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Víctor Meseguer scored, was marked 7.78, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ceuta scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zaragoza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bragantino have kept their man, and Zaragoza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Rubén Díez’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zaragoza needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zaragoza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zaragoza can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Levante moved on, Paulino De la Fuente reports back to Zaragoza, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yussif Saidu commits to Zaragoza for another 5 years.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Escudero 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.
Zaragoza asked and Santos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zaragoza can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Zaragoza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cortulua, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Zaragoza asked and Argentinos Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Pontevedra have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jokin Gabilondo. The answer from Zaragoza has not changed — yet.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Levante will make the call about Paulino De la Fuente this week. Zaragoza have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zaragoza can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Deportivo La Coruña for Paulino De la Fuente 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: Barcelona keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Seydouba Cissé was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $6.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Zaragoza asked and Estudiantes 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 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.
11 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 offer from Cartagena for Tachi 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 Barcelona, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Zaragoza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Real Sociedad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Akouokou 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gimnasia La Plata have kept their man, and Zaragoza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The clubs have shaken hands with Samsunspor; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Zaragoza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Real Sociedad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zaragoza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Tachi again, and this time the name on the line is Cartagena. Zaragoza are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergio Escudero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zaragoza asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zaragoza, another week without a signature from Víctor Meseguer.
A loan enquiry to Gimnasia La Plata: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zaragoza has been clear about where Paulino De la Fuente stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
BoardroomZaragoza say no to the training-ground money
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jordi Mboula has just signed for Zaragoza, and for once the answer mattered.
Zaragoza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at River Plate, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Paul Akouokou 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. Oihan Hernández 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. Antonio Martínez 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. Víctor Vidal 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. Juan Castro 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Zaragoza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Pablo Insua 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Paul Akouokou 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Sebas Moyano’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
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.