Football clubs speak often about continuity. About structures, roles, and the quiet rhythm that holds a team together across seasons. But the truth is that sometimes continuity is not found in keeping everything the same. Sometimes it is found in understanding when a chapter must close, and how the next one begins.

This week we say goodbye to a man who has been central to our story.

When Brian Farinas arrived in Chur six years ago, we were a club searching for direction. We were in the second tier and trying to build something that felt stable, durable, and honest in the way it played. I remember clearly the conversations that brought him here from Yverdon-Sport FC. Even then he had the calm presence of someone who understood the rhythm of a match. He was not loud. He did not need to be. The best organisers rarely are. Across 217 matches for FC Chur he became something more than a midfielder. He became a point of reference. When the game accelerated, Brian slowed it. When moments became chaotic, Brian restored order. Sixty-five goals and assists across six seasons tell part of the story, but numbers rarely capture the deeper work of a player in his role. The quiet tackles, the positioning before danger appears, the voice that steadies younger teammates – these things build teams over time.

He helped us win promotion. He stood in the middle of the pitch as this club reached Europe for the first time. He carried the responsibility of the number five shirt with dignity and intelligence. But football is played by people before it is played by professionals. Brian’s decision to return to Spain and join SD Huesca comes from family circumstances that require his presence closer to home. These are private matters, but they are serious ones, and they deserve respect above everything else.

In football we sometimes pretend the game must always come first. I know from my own life that this is not true.

When Brian spoke to the club about his situation, the decision became a shared one very quickly. He leaves with our gratitude, our affection, and the understanding that the door here will always remain open to him.

An era closes with him, quietly and respectfully.

But the structure of a team must continue, and in this sense our next step is clear.

This week we welcome Andrés Salazar to Chur. At €500k, he – for the third time this summer- breaks the club’s transfer record.

Andrés arrives from ES Troyes AC after an extensive period of scouting and analysis from our recruitment team. The process began with data – as many of our searches do – but it continued through countless hours of match analysis and observation. At twenty-two years old he is a very different player in experience, but not in character. He was raised in the academy of Levante UD, and those foundations are visible in the way he approaches the game. He is physically imposing at 6’4″, aggressive in his movement, fast across the ground, and – most importantly for the role he will occupy – mentally strong.

Our staff believe deeply in his mentality.

There are areas of his game that must grow. Consistency across long stretches of matches will be a challenge for him. Some technical elements, particularly tackling timing, will continue to develop. But these are the challenges that ambitious young players must embrace, and they are challenges we welcome as coaches. He loves responsibility. He embraces big matches. He organises the space around him instinctively. In our structure, he will take the same position Brian held for so many years — the deepest midfielder, the organiser of our defensive balance, the player who protects the rhythm of the team. In this sense the transition is, tactically at least, very simple.

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We thank Brian Farinas for everything he has given to this club and this city and we welcome Andrés Salazar to the next chapter of our journey together.