Other bits:
- Kante leaving Chelsea for Saudi Arabia
- Gundogan allegedly leaving City for Barcelona? (How are they making any of this work financially?)
- Chelsea's Kovacic to Manchester City
- Chelsea want £70m from United for Mason Mount
Meanwhile, in the MLS....
UK friends, does this qualify as a "thunderbastard"?
I think that meets the dictionary definition although I will say the keeper should have had that 
Bruno Fernandes played more than 70 games, more than 6000 minutes, this season.
This can't be good for someone's health...
My personal classification for Thunder Bastard is that the shot has to come from outside the box and still be rising when it goes in, so I think that passes, juuuust, because the backspin is lifting the ball a little.
Good hit either way though.
Man City might come in to steal Rice from Arsenal.
Not sure if that bothers me all that much. I'm sure he would be a good fit but the price has turned into what you can get 2-3 great players/prospects for at this point.
Also at that price the player needs to be world class and I'd probably rate Rice as a Jack Grealish type transfer. Sure he's good but you're paying up 20-30% because he's English.
Maybe they just go back for Moisés Caicedo instead but supposedly he's close to off to Chelsea.
Bruno Fernandes played more than 70 games, more than 6000 minutes, this season.
This can't be good for someone's health...
I can't remember if I posted it here already, cuz' I can't find it anymore, but the minutes we're putting on young players like Bellingham is insane. Like, there's reason to believe we'd best enjoy him now, because we're not going to get to see him playing as much in his prime as we'd like.
The sheer number of games, plus travel, is just not sustainable.
Chelsea launch multi-club project by buying majority stake in Strasbourg
Chelsea have kickstarted their multi-club project by buying a majority stake in Strasbourg. The deal is a major boost for the Premier League club’s owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, who have been looking for suitable clubs to purchase since last summer.
The initial expectation had been that Chelsea would be forced to settle for a minority stake in Strasbourg, leaving them unable to exert full control over the French club. Sources questioned whether there would be any benefits to such a deal for Chelsea and further talks were held.
The size of the stake is unknown but it is understood Chelsea will have close to a 100% ownership. Reports in France have claimed Chelsea are paying €75m (£65m) for their share.
“It is an honour for us to be part of this historic club,” said BlueCo, the consortium which purchased Chelsea. It said it was “committed to preserving the heritage” of Strasbourg and that the deal was designed to “further our presence in European football” and would “create huge opportunities to share knowledge and expertise”.
Uh-huh. I'm sure the next paragraph won't reveal that they're just going to turn them into a glorified B-team...
Boehly has spoken about a multi-club model being a method of making sure “we can show pathways for our young superstars to get on to the Chelsea pitch while getting them real game time”. Gaining influence at Strasbourg will give Chelsea a footing in a country that produces some of the best players in the world.
slazev wrote:Bruno Fernandes played more than 70 games, more than 6000 minutes, this season.
This can't be good for someone's health...I can't remember if I posted it here already, cuz' I can't find it anymore, but the minutes we're putting on young players like Bellingham is insane. Like, there's reason to believe we'd best enjoy him now, because we're not going to get to see him playing as much in his prime as we'd like.
The sheer number of games, plus travel, is just not sustainable.
Pretty sure you did.
If I recollect it crushed the amount of minutes someone like Beckham played in comparison.
Aston Villa fans group attacks ‘cynical’ shirt sponsorship deal with betting firm
Aston Villa’s new shirt sponsorship deal with a controversial online betting firm has attracted fierce criticism from the club’s own supporters’ trust.
The Premier League club have agreed to a partnership with the Asia-based online betting firm BK8 until the end of the 2025-26 campaign, when English top-flight clubs will withdraw gambling sponsorships from the front of their match-day shirts.
Norwich agreed a sponsorship deal with BK8 in 2021 but cancelled it after just three days, following complaints from supporters over its sexualised online marketing material involving young women.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Aston Villa Supporters’ Trust (AVST) labelled the sponsorship deal a “cynical attempt” at financial gain and accused the club of ignoring fans’ concerns about gambling sponsorship.
“Though we acknowledge the commercial reality, we sadly feel the club has failed to listen to the legitimate concerns of fans about the role of gambling sponsorship in sport,” AVST said in a statement. “The BK8 agreement is a cynical last-minute attempt to scoop the financial gains ahead of the voluntary ban on front-of-shirt gambling sponsors.
“While we understand fans, players and club staff alike want Villa to be as successful as possible, that should not come at the expense of exposing fans to the exploitative practices of gambling operators, especially during a cost-of-living crisis.”
USA to host 32-team FIFA Club World Cup in 2025
How will it work?
The new tournament will take place once every four years instead of the current yearly format.
2025 will see the tournament played in this new 32-team format for the first time.
12 of the 32 teams will come from Europe, with the UEFA Champions League winners from 2021-24 all qualified for the tournament. That means Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City and the winner in 2024, plus eight other European teams based on club rankings, will be playing in the tournament in the USA.
Six teams will come from CONMEBOL (South America), with the Copa Libertadores winners from 2021-24 and two other teams based on club ranking over a four-year period.
Four clubs from CONCACAF as the winners of the 2021-24 CONCACAF (North and Central America) Champions League winners will qualify, while four teams will come from CAF (Africa) with the CAF Champions League winners from 2021-24 and four teams will come from AFC (Asia) as the AFC Champions League winners from 2021-24 will qualify.
One club from OFC (Oceania) will qualify and it will be the highest ranked team from the OFC Champions League winners from 2021-24. The final spot will be given to a team from the host country, the USA, and how that team is picked will be determined at a later stage according to FIFA.
I remember encountering this for the first time in FM 23, and my immediate reaction being "How the f*ck is this even supposed to work?!?!" RE: my squad and the summer break.
I was trying to figure out how I could literally just send my U-19s and give FIFA the finger.
@ahandleforian wrote:Gio Reyna is playing like a man that knows he has to impress a man that was blackmailed by his parents
This is fantastic. 
And what was the reason Georgia was refusing to come out and play Scotland?
Prederick wrote:@ahandleforian wrote:Gio Reyna is playing like a man that knows he has to impress a man that was blackmailed by his parents
This is fantastic.
And what was the reason Georgia was refusing to come out and play Scotland?
The waterlogged pitch was their official reason, but they had just gone 1-0 down when play was suspended, so really, they just wanted the match abandoned to reset the score to 0-0 and to play the following day.
Everybody saying Wagner heading to Moscow is unprecedented. But.
Standing f*ckin' ovation.
Well, Gundogan has gone to Barcelona on a free transfer, and
Koulibaly has become the latest player to join the Saudia Arabian League.
I have no idea what to make of the Saudi’s buying all these older but still serviceable players. Well actually that’s a lie - I know what I think is happening specifically for Chelsea, but I don’t think there’s a lot than can be done about it. But more generally? Whatever the long term strategy is here you’ve got to consider that the European power houses are probably OK with ownership of their prestige clubs, so long as they stay where they are as do all the premier players.
I know I jokingly talked about Real & Barca being ‘moved’, but I’m guessing this is more a play for some sort of ‘Super League’ competition being hosted there, possibly with their clubs being strong enough to compete in a sort of world club cup league. Presumably they’ll be wanting a World Cup there too after the relative ‘success’ of the Qatari World Cup.
Where the hell they are going to find time to play all these games though. It’s getting beyond a joke now.
I know I jokingly talked about Real & Barca being ‘moved’, but I’m guessing this is more a play for some sort of ‘Super League’ competition being hosted there, possibly with their clubs being strong enough to compete in a sort of world club cup league. Presumably they’ll be wanting a World Cup there too after the relative ‘success’ of the Qatari World Cup.
That's my guess. They know European football needs the money, and they can force the issue.
Although I see a lot of people online talking about this from a very blinkered, Western perspective. Like "Europeans will never care about this."
Yeah, if they can capture the Middle East/Africa/Asian market, they won't need to give half a sh*t whether or not Europeans pay attention.
So, quick USMNT note for my fellow Americans:
Clearly, this is a down-cycle for Mexico. I would argue this might be one of the worst Mexico sides since I started getting into football 20 years ago.
And in some ways, I think that Mexico's worst fears are starting to come true. The U.S. is consistently improving. Like, we're not capital-G Good internationally, but we're slowly improving in fits and starts and we're beginning to develop/export talent. But more importantly, we're raising our profile enough that a whole lot of kids who might've declared for Mexico before... are beginning to consider declaring for the US instead, and if the US starts getting THOSE kids? Hoooo-boy is El Tri in trouble.
All I know is that I remember when getting a point off Mexico was like "LOL U COULDN'T BEAT US."
Now? If we're playing them on U.S. soil, I expect to beat them.
Craig Brown ex Scotland manager has passed away. He took us to major tournaments reliably and always came across as a genuinely decent man. I probably feel more of a tie to him as Scotland manager for my teenage years so every game is seared in my memory. I think my high point will always be euro 96 and France 98 so thanks for the memories!
Kane has been more loyal to Tottenham than they really deserve.
I know he's their absolute linchpin and you're not going to find a replacement for him, but I'm also like "you guys are so desperately in need of money for transfers,w hy not cash in now and start building, your squad is Not Good Enough as it stands."
I feel really sorry for Kane - forced to spend his peak years at such a sh*t club, helmed by an utter wankstain as chairman.
And yes, I know he willingly signed a long-term contract four years ago. But at that time, Pochettino was still the manager, and Spurs had finished third, second and third in the league over the past three seasons. Furthermore, they were just months away from moving into their new stadium - a development that was meant to free up the financial reins and allow them to compete with the very best in Europe.
You can see how Kane must have allowed himself to be persuaded that huge success was just around the corner, with him as the spearhead and figurehead. Of course, it didn't work out that way, and I think his decency has really counted against him since then. A lesser man would have gone on strike and refused to play until he was sold. But Kane is too professional for that; he swallowed his disappointment and got on with it. Frankly, it feels to me as though Levy has taken advantage of him.
Jesus Christ, just let him leave and win something before it's too late.
If anyone gets a chance and it's available outside the UK, the Peter Crouch documentary on Amazon Prime is surprisingly good. There's a lot it doesn't cover, and it borderline excuses the fact that Crouch's Dad was probably abusing him in the name of becoming a Premier League footballer, but as an examination of how someone who doesn't fit the typical mould becomes someone as relatively successful as Crouch was, it's pretty good.
I feel really sorry for Kane - forced to spend his peak years at such a sh*t club, helmed by an utter wankstain as chairman.
And yes, I know he willingly signed a long-term contract four years ago. But at that time, Pochettino was still the manager, and Spurs had finished third, second and third in the league over the past three seasons. Furthermore, they were just months away from moving into their new stadium - a development that was meant to free up the financial reins and allow them to compete with the very best in Europe.
You can see how Kane must have allowed himself to be persuaded that huge success was just around the corner, with him as the spearhead and figurehead. Of course, it didn't work out that way, and I think his decency has really counted against him since then. A lesser man would have gone on strike and refused to play until he was sold. But Kane is too professional for that; he swallowed his disappointment and got on with it. Frankly, it feels to me as though Levy has taken advantage of him.
Jesus Christ, just let him leave and win something before it's too late.
Kane's biggest mistake was allowing his Brother to trap him in a 7 year contract that had no obvious escape clause in it.
There's a lot it doesn't cover, and it borderline excuses the fact that Crouch's Dad was probably abusing him in the name of becoming a Premier League footballer
I feel like I've seen several projects and articles in recent memory about parents doing this with pro athletes recently.
Kane has been more loyal to Tottenham than they really deserve.
I know he's their absolute linchpin and you're not going to find a replacement for him, but I'm also like "you guys are so desperately in need of money for transfers,w hy not cash in now and start building, your squad is Not Good Enough as it stands."
Tricky situation.
Sell now, get a good amount of money but lose a key player and the team performs poorly this upcoming season (well, worse than expected, I guess).
Push this problem to next year, don't get the money but at least there's a whole year to choose the replacement (it's a fair point to say that they had this current year to do just that).
I don't see Spurs in the top 4 mix next year unless something really wonky happens and or they have a break out season like Arsenal just had.
I don't think they have been building a young team ready to break out though. Correct me if I'm wrong though as I'm not that dialed into their squad 25 players deep.
Kane is 29 if you can still cash in now you do. The rub though is it's always somewhat dependent on the clubs track record to turn around and re-invest that into the next player(s).
I have a hard time figuring out if current Spurs leadership is good at the transfer market. They have been peak sellers and have definitely snatched up great players and flipped them well. But then there's some real head scratchers that seem to undo that work.
Kai Havertz official.
Declan Rice bid supposedly accepted.
That's a big chunk of £££. I think the main thing I like about this is both players are 24. So it they do pan out the timelines are amazing. If they don't.... then yikes as I don't know how much money is left.
I'm sure players will be moving on to help off set the cost especially wage but with the CL next year the squad needs to get deeper fast.
Inter Miami hire Tata Martino.
Man, I would be STRESSED if I was a rotation player there right now, cuz they are cleaning house for Messi (as they probably should)
Firmino off to the Saudi League also.
Can't say that I care about any of the players who have gone yet besides actually Neves as he's entering his peak.
1 year ago he was being linked with Arsenal. Thought he was would be a good fit.
Not sure what the actual goal is here. Just sports washing or an actual plan to build up viewership + a TV deal. Maybe lure youth prospects and or nationalize players? Whatever it is the ROI is going to be terrible.
Well, in FM 23, Szoboszlai is a cracking signing, so here's hoping for Liverpool.
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