This was a week when San Lorenzo said goodbye to its greatest ever goalscorer while simultaneously laying the groundwork for a new era. Two stories, separated by generations, that capture exactly where this club stands: honouring a past it desperately wants to live up to again.
The Nene leaves a legacy the current squad cannot match
José "Nene" Sanfilippo died this week at 91, and the tributes poured in from every corner of Argentine football (1). He remains the maximum goalscorer in the club's history, a striker whose name became shorthand for a certain kind of San Lorenzo centre-forward: ruthless, charismatic, impossible to ignore. The club released a video tribute that resonated deeply with supporters, one fan calling it a fitting homage to a legend (Reddit 2). Another simply wrote: "QEPD" (Reddit 1).
The timing is cruel in its symmetry. Sanfilippo's death arrives in the same week the club confirmed Walter Perazzo as its new Sporting Director, a former player returning to reshape the football operation (2). Perazzo did not waste time addressing what everyone wants to know: the future of manager Álvarez. He spoke about it openly, though without finality, and that alone tells you the new regime is evaluating everything (2). The fans are doing the same. One supporter on Reddit posed the question bluntly: "With the first half of the year finished, what's your assessment of Álvarez?" (Reddit 5).
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A directorship that must act, not just speak
Perazzo's arrival is the first concrete step in president Marcelo Culotta's promised rebuild. Two former players in key football roles. The structure is taking shape. But structure without decisiveness means nothing, and the fanbase has already run out of patience after a first half of the season that followed an all-too-familiar script: flashes of early promise dissolving into mid-table mediocrity. San Lorenzo sit seventh, level on goal difference, 16 matches played (22 points). Not a crisis position. But not forward motion either.
The Copa Sudamericana elimination to Recoleta still stings. Auzmendi called it a "black night." That was the moment passive football stopped being a stylistic choice and became an indictment.
Spain comes calling
Now a Spanish club has placed one of San Lorenzo's regular starters on their radar (3). No name confirmed yet, but the report frames it as serious interest, not idle speculation. For a club that has spent recent months navigating a disputed debt with a Swiss fund and flirting with financial calamity, a concrete offer from Europe forces uncomfortable questions. Can they afford to sell? Can they afford not to?
What comes next
Perazzo's first decisions will define the Culotta era before it truly begins. The Álvarez question cannot linger indefinitely. Neither can the squad's attacking anemia. Watch for movement on the bench and in the transfer market this week. The past was honoured beautifully. Now the future needs to start winning.
