From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
Zaragoza spend $10.0M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $10.0M has been paid because Cristian Rivero is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ceuta have kept their man, and Zaragoza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Besiktas, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
No thanks: Ivan Caicedo rejects the move
Zaragoza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at La Equidad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Sebas Moyano in a row with a teammate
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Zaragoza paid $10.0M
Cristian Rivero was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $10.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Zaragoza
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Mallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Zaragoza have gone to Valencia 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with La Equidad 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Zaragoza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Club America, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Zaragoza
Sebas Moyano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Dani Gómez
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Hugo Mallo 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pedro Hernández commits to Zaragoza for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for Andriy Lunin at that price
Zaragoza offered $16.0M; Real Madrid said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market17 Aug 2026
Gijón come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zaragoza did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Zaragoza
Hugo Mallo 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Zaragoza asked and Venezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Zaragoza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Javi Manquillo 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Rodri signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rodri commits to Zaragoza for another 1 years.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Zaragoza have made the call to Club America. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to La Equidad: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market17 Aug 2026
“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
-
Boardroom
Zaragoza say no to the training-ground money
-
Squad
The formation has left Joel Roca behind
-
Looking ahead
A reunion for Pablo Insua
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$12.4M was the most the club would pay and Rayo Vallecano 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Zaragoza say no — this time
The offer from Racing Santander 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Manchester City is saying, and nobody at Zaragoza is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dani Gómez and Zaragoza agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Pablo Insua in a row with a teammate
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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Zaragoza
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Mallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Álvaro Gallardo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriel Giménez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
$8.0M on the table at Rayo Vallecano. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Door shut on Kirian
Zaragoza asked and Las Palmas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sergio Escudero and Zaragoza agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Zaragoza
Paul Akouokou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Toni Moya 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Sebas Moyano
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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Zaragoza have made the call to Manchester City. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Joel Roca is in the works
Zaragoza have made the call to Olympiacos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.