Speaker 1: Welcome in. It's time for another edition of the Morning
Speaker 1: Espresso here on the SDH Network, brought to you by
Speaker 1: Oglethorpe University, Atlanta's premier undergraduate learning experience and soccer powerhouse.
Speaker 1: A little bit of a later edition of the Espresso
Speaker 1: after a midweek night at Mercedes Benz Stadium. Atlanta United
Speaker 1: a dominant performance last night in a four to one
Speaker 1: win over Atlas in the League's Cup. I talked about
Speaker 1: it on the broadcast. I felt like one of the
Speaker 1: big differences here was Atlanta consistently looked dangerous when they
Speaker 1: got into the attacking third. They didn't have as much
Speaker 1: of the possession as you would like. Gonzalopaneda's Atlas controlled
Speaker 1: the possession, but they didn't control the danger of the match.
Speaker 1: They weren't dangerous. They settled for longer range shots for
Speaker 1: the most part. Jaden Hibbert made a number of saves,
Speaker 1: but not all of them were all that difficult, and
Speaker 1: a couple of the more difficult ones he made a
Speaker 1: mistake in possession and almost got caught, but he fixed it.
Speaker 1: The counter pressure was really good from Atlanta United as
Speaker 1: well to win the ball back in the attacking half
Speaker 1: when they did lose it. Scoring started after Stean Gregorson
Speaker 1: earned a penalty a mistake from a defender. Gregorson stopped
Speaker 1: drew the contact. Jamal Tira stepped up and converted. Alexi
Speaker 1: Moranschuk with a sublime chip off of a pass from
Speaker 1: Luke Brennan and I stutter a little bit on pass.
Speaker 1: Maybe Brennan was trying to turn and take it himself,
Speaker 1: but Moranchuk came flying through it stayed on side by
Speaker 1: about a step and then what a finish from Alexi
Speaker 1: who has continued his fine form, and another player who
Speaker 1: continued fine form, Sabolo Janeize with a free kick goal
Speaker 1: Losso to end the scoring in the first half. Second half,
Speaker 1: you started to see a lot of changes and it
Speaker 1: was really cool for those of US Atlanta United too
Speaker 1: sickos to see Nick Sassek pick out Cayman toga sheet
Speaker 1: with a great cross. Cayman converted with a high quality
Speaker 1: header that made it for Atlas scored one I think
Speaker 1: off of a slight deflection off of a free kick
Speaker 1: from out wide and Atlanta lost a clean sheet. That
Speaker 1: one's a little frustrating. A goal like that, you kind
Speaker 1: of just tip your cap and you move on the
Speaker 1: Atlanta United two portion of it. You know, I talked
Speaker 1: about it on the broadcast. A lot of people complain
Speaker 1: a lot online in the fan base, and I understand it.
Speaker 1: But some of the complaints about it Lanta United two
Speaker 1: are I'm sorry, just completely unfounded because results don't necessarily
Speaker 1: matter there. Let me be clear, whistle blows, you want
Speaker 1: to win the game season in that bubble of Atlanta
Speaker 1: United too. You want to make the playoffs, you want
Speaker 1: to win the league championship. You want to do all
Speaker 1: those things game to game. Those are goals that you have.
Speaker 1: These are things you want to do. You know, you
Speaker 1: want players to learn how to win games and get
Speaker 1: over the hump. Of course you do. Don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: but your second team is not judged by having second
Speaker 1: team championships. If they are, you're missing the point because
Speaker 1: what you're probably doing is going out and signing players
Speaker 1: that are not going to help your first team. Your
Speaker 1: second team is judged in the real world by players
Speaker 1: being able to come up to the first team and contribute.
Speaker 1: Now that's not always coming up to the first team
Speaker 1: and becoming first choice starters, no question, it is contributing
Speaker 1: throughout the season. And yes, this game ultimately did not
Speaker 1: matter at Lanta United does not advance in the league's up.
Speaker 1: It mattered for individuals and to see somebody like came
Speaker 1: in Togashi, who hasn't had a lot of chances with
Speaker 1: the first team and has now He had a goal
Speaker 1: and an assist with the first team this season in
Speaker 1: very limited minutes. He has three goals and four assists
Speaker 1: with the second team in seven games. He's delivering and
Speaker 1: the second team is helping him be in a position
Speaker 1: to deliver if needed with the first team. Nix Essex
Speaker 1: signed a MLS deal based off his performances with the
Speaker 1: second team. Those are guys on a different edge of
Speaker 1: the spectrum in terms of the second team helping them.
Speaker 1: Luke Brennan has benefited from the second team. Cooper Sanchez
Speaker 1: has accelerated his homegrown contract. He's now a first team
Speaker 1: player based off what he's done with the second team.
Speaker 1: And yes, the second team was a big factor in
Speaker 1: Atlanta United getting hopefully up to eight hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in allocation money in a trade for f Ryan Morales,
Speaker 1: maybe one down the line for Noah Cobb. Those are
Speaker 1: two the second team absolutely helped progress Jay fortune. What
Speaker 1: he's contributed to the first team over the years. That
Speaker 1: comes from the games and mistakes and successes that he
Speaker 1: had with Atlanta United too. So put some respect on
Speaker 1: the Atlanta United two name, put some respect on all
Speaker 1: the coaches who have been there and suffered in the
Speaker 1: day to day of being a soccer coach and struggling
Speaker 1: to get wins because you're not always able to field
Speaker 1: the best team that you would like to field, because
Speaker 1: the second team is there to support the first team.
Speaker 1: And you saw why last night and hopefully you will
Speaker 1: see why even more as the year goes on. Luke
Speaker 1: Brennan has been excellent with the first team as of late.
Speaker 1: His confidence has gone up because of high quality performances
Speaker 1: in a good number of games with Atlanta United two.
Speaker 1: It's critical to a club's success, so respect it. Some
Speaker 1: of the complaints about not winning games with the twos
Speaker 1: is ridiculous. And also the other thing I want to
Speaker 1: throw out there in terms of the Atlanta United two conversation,
Speaker 1: you can't just throw out a team of eighteen year
Speaker 1: olds and expect them to play well and learn, because
Speaker 1: you do have to learn. You do have to have
Speaker 1: some guys who understand their spot and are going to
Speaker 1: try to turn into a nexcess and earn that first
Speaker 1: team deal against the odds. You are gonna need guys
Speaker 1: like that. You're gonna need guys like Javier Armis to
Speaker 1: help bring Cooper Sanchez along and make him a better player.
Speaker 1: Cooper's development is jumped this year playing next to Javier.
Speaker 1: You need some established quality pros around these young players
Speaker 1: to give them a foundation for success, to give them stability,
Speaker 1: and to give the young guys opportunities. And also these
Speaker 1: other players get to be in this club, get to
Speaker 1: be in this environment and see if they can break
Speaker 1: through themselves. It's a complicated thing Atlanta United too, and
Speaker 1: a second team in this environment, but it is a
Speaker 1: very very important thing, as we saw last night and
Speaker 1: hopefully we'll continue to see the rest of the season.
Speaker 1: Let's get into some news around MLS Atlanta United. We'll
Speaker 1: go back into MLS play on Saturday. They'll go to Montreal.
Speaker 1: We'll have a training ground dispatch tomorrow to get you
Speaker 1: ready for that one. Son Hung menh He is now
Speaker 1: the most expensive signing in MLS history, signed with LAFC
Speaker 1: from Tottenham Hotspur for a transfer fee of around twenty
Speaker 1: six million dollars. He credited John Thorrington for selling him
Speaker 1: on Los Angeles. He said that wasn't his first choice,
Speaker 1: but Son said he changed my heart, he changed my brain.
Speaker 1: He showed me the destination where I should be. Thirty
Speaker 1: three years old, seven goals last year in the Premier League.
Speaker 1: He had scored ten or more in eight straight seasons.
Speaker 1: He said, good physicality, good legs, good quality. I think
Speaker 1: we can say I'm old, but I still have a
Speaker 1: good physicality, good legs and still have a good quality.
Speaker 1: I would say Thomas Mueller. I think we could say
Speaker 1: that he's old too. He turns thirty six on September thirteenth.
Speaker 1: He has signed his deal with the Vancouver White Gaps.
Speaker 1: Was the Silver Ball award winner in the twenty fourteen
Speaker 1: World Cup win for Germany, silver Boot in that one
Speaker 1: as well, Golden Boot at the twenty ten World Cup.
Speaker 1: Played for Germany in twenty eighteen and twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: as well. Retired from national team play last year. With
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty one goals and forty or one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty one goals and forty five assists. So
Speaker 1: Mueller to Vancouver, Son to LAFC. I know people have
Speaker 1: already fired off the retirement league stuff. Again, I think
Speaker 1: these are two of the right kinds of older signings.
Speaker 1: You don't just sign older players period, if they are
Speaker 1: the right players. And Son, for example, going into a
Speaker 1: city that is the world's largest Korean community outside of Korea,
Speaker 1: He's going to make a big impact on the field
Speaker 1: and also off the field. Tommy Samili, you're talking about
Speaker 1: one of the great pros in the history of the game.
Speaker 1: You get a chance to bring him into your club
Speaker 1: and hopefully make people around him better. It's critical. It's
Speaker 1: critical you sign the right older players. You don't just
Speaker 1: sign older players to sign them. Nigerian striker Victor Olatunji
Speaker 1: twenty five years old. He was signed as a tam
Speaker 1: player for Raal Salt Lake. He is a permanent transfer
Speaker 1: from Sparta Prague Marco farfand he is leaving FC Dallas
Speaker 1: going to League MX and Tigrace. Transfer fee reported to
Speaker 1: be around three million dollars for Farfund San Diego. They
Speaker 1: acquired Corey Baird in a trade with FC Cincinnati on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Up to one hundred thousand dollars in general allocation money
Speaker 1: as Baird gets to go closer to home. Orlando City.
Speaker 1: This morning, they have acquired defender Adriana Maren from Sporting
Speaker 1: Club in Portugal. He joins the team via transfer for
Speaker 1: the rest of this season and twenty twenty six club
Speaker 1: option for twenty twenty seven. Fluminence they have agreed to
Speaker 1: a deal to sign former MLSMVP Luciano Acosta from FC Dallas,
Speaker 1: according to give me Sport and others, four million dollars
Speaker 1: plus add ons. According to sources, Fluminense have verbally agreed
Speaker 1: to personal terms with Acosta. Now they're all waiting the
Speaker 1: final documents to get done. Acosta would be a big
Speaker 1: replacement for Fluminense for John Audias, who had a great
Speaker 1: club World Cup. He's joined Wolves now. San Jose were
Speaker 1: interested in Acosta. They were interested even before he left
Speaker 1: FC Cincinnati. They didn't have a designated player slot at
Speaker 1: that time, but they could not get the deal done.
Speaker 1: This time, Fluminense jumped them. Dallas signed Acosta in the offseason.
Speaker 1: I thought it would work out better than it has,
Speaker 1: but it just has not. Acosta's form has dipped, the
Speaker 1: team has struggled. He's got five goals and one assist
Speaker 1: in twenty one games this season. Portland thereforeward Santiago Moreno.
Speaker 1: He was a no show last night for their League's
Speaker 1: Cup game against Club America in Austin. Club told ESPN
Speaker 1: in a State that the absence was unexcused. Now Portland
Speaker 1: Timbers are consulting with MLS on next steps, which likely
Speaker 1: include disciplinary action. Moreno has been the subject of a
Speaker 1: transfer bid, also from Flumenense, but the Timbers feel the
Speaker 1: offer isn't high enough yet. If an improved offer for
Speaker 1: Morenos made, the club would reconsider. Sounds like Moreno is
Speaker 1: trying to force a deal to get done. Will get
Speaker 1: interesting here. And I'm also curious if Fluminense is going
Speaker 1: to go for Moreno and a Costa, because I don't
Speaker 1: know if both of them are going to see a
Speaker 1: ton of playing time. If they both go, We'll see,
Speaker 1: We'll see, we'll see how that one ends up going
Speaker 1: different kinds of players. But yeah, I'm I'm a little
Speaker 1: intrigued by this one all the way around. Columbus, they
Speaker 1: rejected middles bris bid for around three million dollars for
Speaker 1: US men's national team full backslash wing back Max Arfston.
Speaker 1: The crew are being clear about this. They don't want
Speaker 1: to sell the summer. Maybe in the off season, but
Speaker 1: not this summer. Let's go to League's Cup. Seattle Sounders,
Speaker 1: only team with a perfect record enter Miami, even without
Speaker 1: the injured Lionel Messi. They became the first MLS teams
Speaker 1: to clinch berths in the quarterfinals, securing the top two
Speaker 1: MLS seats. Seattle with a two to one win over Tijuana,
Speaker 1: Miami with a three to one win over Pumas. They
Speaker 1: both had to come back to win these games. Orlando
Speaker 1: City crushed Nikoxa five to one. They ran up their
Speaker 1: goal difference and they have all but clinched a spot
Speaker 1: in the quarterfinals. Messi was missing due to a minor
Speaker 1: muscle problem for Miami, but Luis Suarez scored on a
Speaker 1: penanka from the penalty spot that was a big part
Speaker 1: of Miami's three to one win. Rodrigo de Paul also
Speaker 1: scored his first goal for Miami today. O Ashinde completed
Speaker 1: the scoring for the Herons in the Seattle win. Brian
Speaker 1: Schmetzer said after the game that Albert Rusnak and Ryan
Speaker 1: Kent both suffered hamstring injuries they're gonna get MRIs will
Speaker 1: know more on Friday after training. Also obed Vargas threw
Speaker 1: up after the first ten minute. He was hitting the
Speaker 1: stomach with a ball, threw up, but he's okay. That's
Speaker 1: not one you see every day. In all, five MLS
Speaker 1: and LEGA and X teams have clinched quarterfinal berths. Six
Speaker 1: other teams remain alive for the three remaining quarter final births.
Speaker 1: Final games of the preliminary stage tonight, LA Galaxy will
Speaker 1: advance with a win by two or more goals over
Speaker 1: Santos Laguna. Cincinnati plays Chievas. Cincinnati needs at least a
Speaker 1: four goal win to have any chance of jumping Orlando.
Speaker 1: After losing to Miami and being eliminated from the league's
Speaker 1: Cup Ephray Juarez, he interrupted his press conference to talk
Speaker 1: about one of his players receiving death threats yesterday morning.
Speaker 1: Warez talked about Colombia Alvaro Angulo being the affected player
Speaker 1: and said that the Pumas board is already taking action
Speaker 1: on the matter, opening an investigation file. Translated, he said,
Speaker 1: I want to say this publicly because it's not normal.
Speaker 1: He received death threats this morning to his email and phone.
Speaker 1: We have to be vigilant. I don't know where they're from,
Speaker 1: but everything seems to indicate they're coming from Argentina. We're
Speaker 1: conducting an internal investigation at the club today. The kids
Speaker 1: putting in the effort he deserves, but those things need
Speaker 1: to be said. It's not easy to manage. Imagine waking
Speaker 1: up to death threats on your phone on game day.
Speaker 1: Zero tolerance for those circumstances. We're conducting an investigation, so
Speaker 1: this likely comes from Angulo did an interview with ESPN
Speaker 1: Colombia earlier this week and he talked about why he
Speaker 1: left Independente in Argentina. Now again, this is translated from
Speaker 1: Angulo's interview. He said, when I joined Independente, I was
Speaker 1: a free agent from Atletico Nacional and Independente had to
Speaker 1: pay me a bonus when I signed because he's because
Speaker 1: Angulo himself sold eighty five percent of his transfer. He
Speaker 1: I think he either bought his pass or he was
Speaker 1: completely a free agent when he left Atltico Nacional contract
Speaker 1: had ran out. I'm not sure which one, but he
Speaker 1: said when when he started the discussion with Independente, he
Speaker 1: told them to get in touch with him because he
Speaker 1: saw they were buying players. Independente had not paid Angulo
Speaker 1: his March and June installments of that bonus that was
Speaker 1: agreed to, and Gulo clarified that he had never asked
Speaker 1: for a raise, He only asked for the club to
Speaker 1: catch up on the bonuses that they had agreed to.
Speaker 1: And Gulo said that the club told him there wasn't
Speaker 1: any money they were paying out claims they had. Now,
Speaker 1: if you remember, Independente has had financial issues. Independente has
Speaker 1: had transfer bands as well over the last five six years.
Speaker 1: They're not a club with a lot of money, and
Speaker 1: they often get behind on payments for either transfers or
Speaker 1: for salaries or for bonuses. So and Gulo said, I
Speaker 1: saw they were going around in circles about the situation.
Speaker 1: I sat down with the president. I told him, I
Speaker 1: think they're not gonna I think you're not gonna pay
Speaker 1: me what you owe me. Let's sit down and listen
Speaker 1: to the offers coming from outside. He said the best
Speaker 1: thing that he could do for himself, for his family,
Speaker 1: for his peace of mind was to leave Independente. And
Speaker 1: now yesterday morning, death threats end up in his email
Speaker 1: and on his phone directly to him. Insane and how
Speaker 1: people would have his number that aren't associated with INDEPENDENTE
Speaker 1: is pretty crazy, So investigation on going from Pumas. Hopefully
Speaker 1: they get to the bottom of this and this is
Speaker 1: a ridiculously scary situation. Hopefully alvar Angulo will not have
Speaker 1: to deal with this further and hopefully Pumas can protect
Speaker 1: their player. Let's go to the NWSL North Carolina Courage.
Speaker 1: They have fired head coach Sean Nahas. The Courage didn't
Speaker 1: say why, other than in a statement they remained quote
Speaker 1: focused on the continued development of the team and maintaining
Speaker 1: a professional, competitive environment for player, staff and supporters. Sure
Speaker 1: there will be more about North Carolina Courage firing Seawn Najas.
Speaker 1: Will keep you posted. Denver Summit the expansion team for
Speaker 1: next year. They have named forty year old Englishman Nick
Speaker 1: Cushing as their first head coach. You'll remember Nick Cushing
Speaker 1: from his time with nyc FC on the men's side
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four. He also
Speaker 1: just finished the most recent Manchester City women's season in
Speaker 1: the Women's Super League. He will be in charge of
Speaker 1: the Denver Summit. Let's go to Silly season because it's
Speaker 1: getting full on silly. Al Helal. They have now reached
Speaker 1: a full agreement with Liverpool to sign Darwin Nunez for
Speaker 1: fifty three million euro plus add ons. This morning, Benjamin
Speaker 1: Chesko is headed to Manchester United. According to Fabrizio Romano,
Speaker 1: agreement club to club is reached, with Leipzig getting what
Speaker 1: looks like it will be eighty one point five million
Speaker 1: dollars or million euro guaranteed, with more potentially in add ons.
Speaker 1: But they're expecting the first five million euro of the
Speaker 1: add ons to happen, so that would take it to
Speaker 1: eighty one point five, so another three point five or
Speaker 1: so that would be beyond that. Esco has agreed to
Speaker 1: terms until twenty thirty. He made it clear on Tuesday
Speaker 1: to Leipzig and to everybody that he wanted Manchester United.
Speaker 1: That's where he wanted to go. Now it's done. According
Speaker 1: to Fabrizio Romano, Newcastle had earmarked Eshkoh as a potential
Speaker 1: replacement for Alexander Esoch. Reportedly they offered more guaranteed money
Speaker 1: to RB Leipzig, but Eshko wanted to go to Manchester United.
Speaker 1: So with this happening, what is Newcastle going to do now?
Speaker 1: There's reports that they're considering a sixty million pound move
Speaker 1: for Nicholas Jackson of Chelsea and that feels like a
Speaker 1: massive step down from what they've been trying to get.
Speaker 1: They can't get these targets in the door and they're
Speaker 1: offering the money and players are wanting to go elsewhere.
Speaker 1: So now for Newcastle you're really in a tight spot
Speaker 1: with Alexander Essock. The new Yez deal doesn't make Esock
Speaker 1: now available to Liverpool. They'd already made an offer, a
Speaker 1: giant one. It gives them a little more money to
Speaker 1: work with, don't get me wrong, But now Liverpool opening
Speaker 1: up a spot makes it look like they're going to
Speaker 1: come back to Newcastle with a bigger bid. Can Newcastle
Speaker 1: afford to say no and keep a player who doesn't
Speaker 1: want to be there? But can they afford to say
Speaker 1: yes when they don't have a replacement lined up and
Speaker 1: they've had no luck in getting one really tight spot
Speaker 1: for Newcastle United? Right now? We will see what ends
Speaker 1: up happening with the Magpies. Jack Grealish, he looks increasingly
Speaker 1: likely to be moving on. Everton have opened up discussions
Speaker 1: with City over a season long loan. David Ornstein of
Speaker 1: the Athletic says it's going to be a complicated deal
Speaker 1: to complete though so nothing's guaranteed as of yet. Tim
Speaker 1: waya of the US men's national team, he has completed
Speaker 1: his move to Marseille finally after two years at Juventus.
Speaker 1: It is on loan with an obligation to buy, for
Speaker 1: a fee that could rise to twenty one million dollars,
Speaker 1: according to French media reports. Sunderland they have signed a
Speaker 1: nineteen year old striker Mark Guy on a season long
Speaker 1: loan from Chelsea ahead of the new Premier League campaign.
Speaker 1: Sixteen appearances for Inzo Moresco last year, six goals scored,
Speaker 1: all in the Conference League. Eintrack Frankfurt they have signed
Speaker 1: a Japanese winger Ritzo Down to strengthen a team that
Speaker 1: is trying to get back to where it was after
Speaker 1: a lot of sales. Hugo ATKTK is one of those sales.
Speaker 1: Dowan joins on a five year deal from Freiburg in
Speaker 1: the Bundesliga. Liverpool have sold homegrown midfielder Tyler Morton to
Speaker 1: Leon for a transfer fee of up to seventeen million
Speaker 1: dollars a five year deal. Leon confirmed they paid ten
Speaker 1: million euro upfront, with potential bonuses of five million more Milan.
Speaker 1: They have signed Switzerland midfielder artn Jeshari from Club Bruges
Speaker 1: on a contract through twenty thirty. No financial deals were
Speaker 1: disclosed officially, but Italian media reported that Milan paid almost
Speaker 1: forty million dollars for the twenty three year old, plus
Speaker 1: three million more in bonuses. Reports now in Italy have
Speaker 1: also said that Milan have sent delegates to England in
Speaker 1: Quarter in order to discuss a potential deal with Manchester
Speaker 1: United for Rosmus Hoyland, and now that Manchester United has
Speaker 1: reportedly gotten chesh go over the line, they would probably
Speaker 1: be very interested in selling Hoyland, who looks like he
Speaker 1: is going to go back to Saria. The former Atlanta
Speaker 1: forward could be headed to Milan. Reports in Italy also
Speaker 1: claim that Chess Fabragas and Como have turned down a
Speaker 1: forty million euro offer from Tottenham Hotspur for Nico Pas.
Speaker 1: He's still linked to Real Madrid. They have a fifty
Speaker 1: percent sell on clause and a series of bargain buyback options,
Speaker 1: so it's a It's one where Rid can jump anything
Speaker 1: that others offer and Como might end up getting a
Speaker 1: better deal and strengthening their relationship with Madrid if Poz
Speaker 1: goes back there, but Madrid's got to make a decision
Speaker 1: and if they want to do that. SARAH the Italian
Speaker 1: top flight. They had an announcement yesterday that teams that
Speaker 1: are relegated from the first Division to SARAH B the
Speaker 1: second division, their salaries of the players that are signed
Speaker 1: to contracts will be slashed by twenty five percent. So
Speaker 1: this is a basically like a relegation clause in the contract.
Speaker 1: It applies to all contracts signed after September second, which
Speaker 1: is the end of this current summer transfer window that's
Speaker 1: been open. This was a deal done between the Italian
Speaker 1: Footballers Association and SARAA. It's in place for five years.
Speaker 1: It aims to ease the financial strain on clubs that
Speaker 1: are relegated. The clubs have been pushing for contractual flexibility
Speaker 1: in the event of relegation for years and to avoid
Speaker 1: scenarios where they'd be forced to sell players or terminate
Speaker 1: contracts to cut costs when the revenues drop when they
Speaker 1: get relegated. This change provides an automatic mechanism for wage adjustment,
Speaker 1: while allowing exceptions if clubs and players negotiate alternative terms.
Speaker 1: Saraha does have parachute payments. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people assume that parachute payments are part of any promotion
Speaker 1: relegation system. That's one hundred percent not true. Saraha does
Speaker 1: have it, but the comparison between it and the Premier League,
Speaker 1: which is where you typically hear about this, Saraha pays
Speaker 1: out about ten million euro for teams that has spent
Speaker 1: one season in the top flight. On the Premier League side,
Speaker 1: it's about one hundred million euro in parachute payments over
Speaker 1: several years. So yeah, it's not the same, and that's
Speaker 1: why you need things like this. This is going to
Speaker 1: be an increasing conversation in other countries as well. It's
Speaker 1: been talked about in England about what you do in
Speaker 1: terms of relegation to try to keep costs reasonable, and
Speaker 1: this is a good move I think for stability. Yeah,
Speaker 1: players are gonna have their salary cut, but they're gonna
Speaker 1: if they so choose, they're gonna know exactly what it
Speaker 1: would be cut to. They can go chase a better
Speaker 1: offer and try to find it, but clubs will have
Speaker 1: a more fixed way of understanding, Okay, my costs are
Speaker 1: gonna drop from here to here, because my revenues are
Speaker 1: absolutely gonna drop a lot going from first division to
Speaker 1: second division. Interesting situation. Will keep you posted on all
Speaker 1: of that, and we'll talk about all the premutations as
Speaker 1: other leagues try to figure these things out. It's time
Speaker 1: for Shenanigans. Let's go to Barcelona and who we got
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff to talk about with Barcelona. They
Speaker 1: have announced now that they have removed Marc Andre ter
Speaker 1: Stagan as captain and they have opened disciplinary proceedings against him.
Speaker 1: He's been to captain since Sergio Busquet's departed in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three. Ter Stagan and Barcelona are in an ongoing
Speaker 1: dispute because he will not sign off on sharing his
Speaker 1: medical records with La Barcelona's very upset about this. They
Speaker 1: were hoping, even though they said they didn't need to,
Speaker 1: they were hoping to be able to use the injury
Speaker 1: clauses in the salary cap rules in La Liga to
Speaker 1: register either one of their goalkeepers that they can't register
Speaker 1: right now, Joe and Garcia, who's come over from Espagnol,
Speaker 1: or Wojick Chesney, who signed a new contract with the
Speaker 1: team and has to be registered with the league. So
Speaker 1: the Spanish Players Union have offered support to the goalkeeper
Speaker 1: in this. They're saying that they're going to back him
Speaker 1: in all of this. He's completely cut off all contact
Speaker 1: with the club. According to reports, Barcelona management has said
Speaker 1: they won't send the report to the medical commission with
Speaker 1: LaLiga without the player's approval, even though they believe they
Speaker 1: have the legal grounds to do so. LaLiga are saying
Speaker 1: you can't send it without the players sign off, so don't.
Speaker 1: So now you're in a situation where you have multiple
Speaker 1: players Mark Rashford as part of the situation, the two goalkeepers,
Speaker 1: I believe two to three more players that Barcelona wants
Speaker 1: to get signed. They can't register players right now, so
Speaker 1: you're once again in August with doubts hanging over Barcelona's
Speaker 1: ability to register new signings. This is not new to
Speaker 1: happening again. One of the key transactions for Barcelona to
Speaker 1: be able to do this is their one hundred million
Speaker 1: euro lease of four hundred and seventy five VIP seats
Speaker 1: to forty advisors and New Era Visionary Group. That deal
Speaker 1: was reportedly done in December of twenty twenty four, but
Speaker 1: the seats were not active because it was for the
Speaker 1: new Camp New that is still under construction. We'll get
Speaker 1: to that in a minute. So it was added to
Speaker 1: the accounts. That's when Barcelona, even though they added it late,
Speaker 1: said they could register Donniolmo and Powell Victor in the
Speaker 1: December January timeframe, so they added this money which they
Speaker 1: shouldn't have. The auditors removed it in March. There was
Speaker 1: an auditor who worked for the club for four days
Speaker 1: and allowed it, I mean all of it total. Shenanigans
Speaker 1: La Liga in March did the same, so they took
Speaker 1: the one hundred million out of the salary limit. Barcelona
Speaker 1: had been trying to get back to the Camp New
Speaker 1: for the Joan Gamper Trophy preseason match that's going to
Speaker 1: be played this Sunday against Como, but construction still behind schedule.
Speaker 1: They've been forced to move that game to the six
Speaker 1: thousand seat Estadi Johann Krouf at the training ground, so
Speaker 1: instead of they were hoping to have sixty thousand people
Speaker 1: in the building at the Camp New originally. Then they
Speaker 1: said well we will have twenty five or thirty. City
Speaker 1: council was like, no, you don't even have your permits yet,
Speaker 1: so now what According to Mundo Deportivo, what Barcelona's trying
Speaker 1: to do is they're trying to say that we're playing
Speaker 1: this game on August tenth, the four hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: five seats that have been sold to forty advisors a
Speaker 1: new Era visionary group. No, they're going to get those
Speaker 1: seats for this game. No, no, no, they're going to get
Speaker 1: their VIP seats for this game. So now the deal
Speaker 1: is active, so let us have our hundred million on
Speaker 1: the salary limit. It feels like a big stretch, doesn't it,
Speaker 1: because I don't think there's there going to be anything
Speaker 1: resembling the VIP seats that the camp now will have.
Speaker 1: So will crow the auditors, Will they accept this? Will
Speaker 1: La Liga accept this? I'm going to guess probably not.
Speaker 1: But this is where Barcelona is like trying to justify this.
Speaker 1: So if they get this done then then be able
Speaker 1: to register these players. I can't imagine they're all that
Speaker 1: confident in this happening if they're going to war with
Speaker 1: Marc Andre Terstegen over the injury clause in the salary
Speaker 1: limit rules to try to get this done. This feels
Speaker 1: like a giant stretch because it is let's go back
Speaker 1: to the camp New. Barcelona is still hoping, hoping, not guaranteed,
Speaker 1: hoping that they will be able to play their first
Speaker 1: La Liga home match on September thirteenth or fourteenth at
Speaker 1: the Camp New. Hoping to do that, they have received
Speaker 1: some good news. The city council has approved a modified license,
Speaker 1: so it means that the stadium can be opened in zones.
Speaker 1: They don't have to have the entire first tier and
Speaker 1: second tier done before opening the stadium, so this allows
Speaker 1: them to get it open earlier, potentially potentially always with Barcela.
Speaker 1: The point is now that Barcelona is trying to get
Speaker 1: this construction completed, they can do it in zones. They're
Speaker 1: waiting for everything to be signed, and it's not just
Speaker 1: the club that signs off on this, because I don't
Speaker 1: know if you should trust that. The entire team involved
Speaker 1: in the stadium's construction. So the engineering company, the architecture,
Speaker 1: the company managing the project all have to sign off
Speaker 1: on this to then get it approved to open certain zones.
Speaker 1: The stadium's initial opening is planned for around twenty seven
Speaker 1: thousand people. That'd be the grand stand and the north
Speaker 1: goal initially occupied. Then open the lateral stand and the
Speaker 1: south goal later. However, Barcelona must have the work completed
Speaker 1: in about two weeks or less from now to submit
Speaker 1: the certificate of completion of works. Then they informed the
Speaker 1: city Council, La Liga and UEFA that they intend to
Speaker 1: play there from the start of the season, because if
Speaker 1: you start your UEFA competition somewhere else, you have to
Speaker 1: finish them somewhere else. That's even more complicated. You have
Speaker 1: to finish the group stage somewhere else, and may be clear,
Speaker 1: the expectation is that the authorities will be informed of
Speaker 1: the final location of their first game on the week
Speaker 1: of August eighteenth to twenty fourth. Yeah. After that, there
Speaker 1: are approximately two or three weeks for the authorities to
Speaker 1: validate that the game can actually be played there, with
Speaker 1: you know, making sure that things aren't going to fall
Speaker 1: on people when they're in the stadium. The newspaper AR
Speaker 1: reported that according to BSM, the company that manages Barcelona's
Speaker 1: municipal facilities for the city, the club is no longer
Speaker 1: going to return to the Olympic Stadium, that's where they've
Speaker 1: played the last couple of seasons. Now, the club doesn't
Speaker 1: want to confirm this yet because there's a very good
Speaker 1: chance that they don't get it done to play at
Speaker 1: the Camp New There's no absolute certainty that they'll be
Speaker 1: able to do this, so they don't want to rule
Speaker 1: out Plan B if going back to the Olympic Stadium.
Speaker 1: Yet officially also it doesn't even they're not even sure
Speaker 1: if it makes sense to play at Camp New with
Speaker 1: twenty seven thousand people versus playing at the Olympic Stadium,
Speaker 1: which could hold a whole lot more. I don't even
Speaker 1: know if that makes any sense. Does it get you
Speaker 1: your Are the VIAP seats going to be part of
Speaker 1: that twenty seven thousand? I don't know. Maybe they're going
Speaker 1: to find a way to do that. Maybe it gets
Speaker 1: to your salary limit, but you still lose more money
Speaker 1: by playing under an even smaller capacity, and who knows
Speaker 1: how long they would play under the smaller capacity. That's
Speaker 1: your Barcelona update, and it's even more ridiculous than it
Speaker 1: was Tuesday. Other news, James Madison he's going to miss
Speaker 1: a large part of the upcoming season. Tottena Motsburg confirmed
Speaker 1: that he has ruptured his ACL that happened in the
Speaker 1: draw with Newcastle in South Korea on Saturday, he'll undergo
Speaker 1: surgery in the coming days and we'll see if Spurs
Speaker 1: go back into the market to try to find a replacement.
Speaker 1: US women's national team was knocked off of the top
Speaker 1: spot in FIFA's latest women's rankings by Spain. Spain regained
Speaker 1: the number one position despite losing to England in the
Speaker 1: final of the European Championship last month. The US has
Speaker 1: been number one in the world rankings since August of
Speaker 1: last year, after they won gold at the Olympics. Spain
Speaker 1: was number one from December of twenty three until that.
Speaker 1: These all came out today World rankings or world rankings.
Speaker 1: I don't always agree with the FIFA rankings. There's been
Speaker 1: some weird ones over the years. Belgium on the men's
Speaker 1: side was very highly ranked for a long time, even
Speaker 1: though the results never matched it. So it is what
Speaker 1: it is. Maybe it gives some motivation to the US
Speaker 1: women's national team for their friendlies later this year. We'll see.
Speaker 1: We'll end with this. A preseason friendly which was not
Speaker 1: friendly between ral Bettis and Como, and Como goes to
Speaker 1: play Barcelona on Sunday. Maybe they'll fight. There was a
Speaker 1: fight between Betty's and Como several rough exchanges in the
Speaker 1: first half Betty's player Pablo Fournals and Como midfielder at
Speaker 1: Maximo Porni. They got into an altercation right before halftime.
Speaker 1: Few quick words and then some slaps and some punches.
Speaker 1: Players from both teams rushed in altercation escalated, benches were cleared.
Speaker 1: Substitutes and staff members entered the field, some trying to
Speaker 1: break up the fighting, some maybe trying to escalate the fighting.
Speaker 1: Took a long time before they got order re established.
Speaker 1: A player from each team was sent off, and the
Speaker 1: funniest part of it was Couco Ornandez, formerly of Columbus,
Speaker 1: now with Betty's. He came running in and threw a
Speaker 1: punch and I think it kind of connected with the
Speaker 1: intended target from the other team, but it kind of
Speaker 1: rebounded off of that guy's head and then connected with
Speaker 1: a teammate. So Columbian media was laughing about Kucho coming
Speaker 1: in punching teammates by accident. Crazy brawl. Maybe we'll get
Speaker 1: a crazy bral with Como and Barcelona at the Estadi
Speaker 1: Johann Krouf on Sunday. We'll see maybe Barcelona will get
Speaker 1: into a crazy brawl with the Barcelona City Council. That's
Speaker 1: possibly likely all kinds of things in this edition of
Speaker 1: The Morning Espresso. Thank you for taking some time this
Speaker 1: morning to be part of it. We'll be back tomorrow morning,
Speaker 1: much earlier than usual, with much earlier than this. A
Speaker 1: little bit earlier than usual because we have Atlanta United
Speaker 1: training and then I've got a plan to catch to
Speaker 1: go to Montreal for Atlanta United and CF Montreal on Saturday.
Speaker 1: Big thank you to our friends at Oglethorpe University for
Speaker 1: sponsoring this and every edition of the Morning Espresso.