Morante de la Puebla’s summer comeback (see ‘Santander, July 23: A heart-warming evening’) was unfortunately short-lived, lasting just over a month. By the first week in September, his absence from bullrings on medical grounds was a feature once again, and now it has been announced that he will not appear in his sole remaining corrida this temporada during Sevilla’s Feria de San Miguel. There remains a slim chance he may take part in a festival homenaje for Curro Romero, to be held in the Maestranza on October 12.

In these circumstances, it is not far-fetched to question whether that festival may be the last time we see Morante perform in a plaza de toros, or whether, indeed, that moment has already passed (his most recent corrida was at Palencia on August 31).

The clearest information on the problems besetting Morante was carried in an article in The Times published in August and based on an interview with the matador during Azpeitia’s feria at the start of that month. This revealed that the matador had mental health problems consisting of a dissociative depersonalisation disorder and agoraphobia, which cause myalgia, headaches and bouts of uncontrollable crying. Of particular concern was Morante’s claim that this longstanding illness was worsening, rather than getting better. Indeed, his motivation for the interview was to spread knowledge of his condition more widely in the hope that someone somewhere would come forward with a solution. His doctors had encouraged him to return to bullfighting in public, but he was finding this harder and harder to do.

From the viewpoint of empresarios, relying on Morante in recent years has been beset with problems - from his magnificent tally of 100 European corridas in 2022, his health issues meant that Morante could only manage 38 events in 2023 (the year of his historic tail award in Sevilla) and 35 this season. Some major ferias, Bilbao and Albacete amongst them, decided against including the matador in their carteles this year rather than risk disappointment.

The fact that Morante cannot manage a return to his beloved Maestranza this month is particularly telling. If the maestro does not become well enough over the winter to agree a programme of corridas for 2025, he will, given recent history, find it difficult to obtain contracts midway through what would be his 28th year as a matador de toros. He has had a long and meritorious career; Morante has a family and a ganadería to occupy his time; and a debilitating mental health condition to deal with. Expecting him to continue to torear in public beyond this season may no longer be realistic.