Di Carlo: "This losing streak was unacceptable" and says River's transfer window is now closed

Twelve players sidelined, three transfer windows' worth of business done in one, and a losing streak nobody at River is willing to play down anymore. With that picture on the table, Stefano Di Carlo came out to speak. And he held nothing back.

The club president described what the team is going through as an "unacceptable losing streak" and explained why the board decided to move so aggressively in the transfer market after the team lost the final. "After reaching the final we had two paths: to fly over the situation and take it calmly, or step in forcefully in the transfer market, which is what we did," he said. According to his account, it wasn't just about bringing in big names: the idea was to rebuild a squad that would represent the club, even if that meant, in his words, "we did three transfer windows in one because of the critical moment we were living through."

Di Carlo was clear on one point: River's transfer business is now closed. "The window for River is over," he stated, acknowledging that fan anxiety clashes with the real timeline of a project. "The problem we have is urgency, and we can't roll out the project we built for the next three years as fast as we'd like," he admitted, almost asking himself the same question fans in the stands are asking: how, with so many reinforcements, the bad run continues.

The sidelined players affair

One of the most controversial chapters of recent weeks was the decision to separate a group of players from the squad, who ended up training at a different facility from their teammates. Di Carlo didn't shy away from self-criticism: "The players shouldn't have been separated so quickly, but we stand by the underlying decision." He added that of the twelve players originally sidelined, four remain today, and the club is still negotiating their departure.

The way it was handled was a mistake we as board members own, we later tried to correct it, but they preferred to leave everything as it was.Stefano Di Carlo

On Eduardo "Chacho" Coudet, who did not rule out leaving the job if results don't improve, the president was firm in his support. "I see him doing well, with strength, with a lot of conviction," he said, drawing a comparison that resonates with any River fan: he likened the coach's wear and tear to what Marcelo Gallardo went through in his final stretch at the club. "If that happened to Gallardo, imagine the starting point for Coudet," he said, making clear the coach's continuity isn't in question as long as he feels he has the strength to keep going.

Officiating, Longoria and Juanfer's exit

The president also took aim at the officiating in recent matches. "River has been hurt over the last five games, we all saw it, it's an obvious situation," he said, also pointing to captain Nicolas Otamendi's comments about it being "us against everyone."

On Pablo Fernandez Longoria, the sporting director singled out by a large part of the fan base, he asked for patience before drawing conclusions: "A person can't be evaluated after 50 or 60 days on the job." And on the departure of Juan Fernando Quintero, who will continue his career at Deportivo Independiente Medellin, he described it as a mutually agreed termination with "a hero of Madrid" who wanted to leave.