Also...........eyes peeled this weekend. Konrad de la Fuente in the Champions League squad for Barcelona. He's got a chance to be in the 18. 1291717893802151937 is not a valid tweet id
He was with the first team during the restart, in the quarantine hotel. He somehow got hurt before training even started. He will get hurt again. Almost anytime I post about him in a positive manner, or really anyone does, he gets hurt.
There's a lot of "we'll believe it when we see it" when it comes to Nick Taitague. Its good news that he's training with the first team. Schalke is having financial problems (as we know due to the McKennie transfer saga), so they may be giving more chances to young players this season.
Has represented both the US and Sweden at the youth levels: 1291449361780613120 is not a valid tweet id
The world is moving closer to the MLS model, not the other way around. By the way, Mexico has just done away with pro/rel for the next three years (at least). Clubs in League One and League Two have voted in favour of introducing a salary cap, taking effect immediately.Developing story: https://t.co/DTwBPANp8Y#bbcefl pic.twitter.com/0EtUlpSxfV— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 7, 2020
On a philosophical level, I much prefer revenue sharing to a salary cap as a parity mechanism. But all competitive sports are much more interesting without massive talent gaps driven by non-sporting reasons.
The statement added that clubs in the third and fourth tiers are talking about "additional measures aimed at addressing club financial sustainability", while Championship clubs are continuing discussions "in respect to amendments to their own financial controls". I'll be interested to see what amendments the Championship is considering. The English model of bidding up prices of domestic players, many of whom wouldn't command anywhere close to the same amounts elsewhere, has struck me as completely unsustainable the past few years, even prior to the pandemic, but I'll admit I don't have a lot of insight into the financial situation at those clubs.
The world's top leagues are not. Their feeder leagues are. If MLS is comfortable with those peers, right on.
I don't know the law here really and certainly not in England. But price fixing is generally illegal in most western democracies. American sports leagues have salary caps because they are collectively bargained, not imposed. I would think this move by these leagues, unilaterally, will lead to a stronger players union in England. It is interesting how un-unionized the players are in Europe. Probably because of the incredible competition and easy free agency.
The soccer world is a helluva lot more than the big teams in the top several leagues. I know that goes against the grain to say. Virtually every club in the world is a feeder club/league to somewhere. You know that as a Dortmund fan. The epitome of a feeder club. Around and around you go on the carousel selling your best players to bigger clubs..............while you watch Bayern lift title after title. Congrats.
I posted a blurb on Nick earlier in this thread. He is still with the first team with a new 1 year contract with a club option 2nd year. Looks like he will be on the squad this new season and will likely get some playing opportunities if he stays healthy. https://schalke04.de/en/team/nick-taitague-extends-contract-30th-june-2021/ Nick is well liked around Schalke and is a respected technical talent. Unfortunately he is almost always injured. He may just be too frail to be a successful BuLi player. When he is fit he looks like a great young prospect. We keep our fingers crossed.
Gotta love MLS fans. Their club isnt considered in the top 500 in the world but they continually go on and on about how great their franchise is and criticize a club who is rated in the top 11 to 20 in the world. BVB is one of the best run clubs in the world and has actually won the Bundesliga and CL in the last 10 years and only three of those years have they not been in the top 2.
When we say "viewers" I assume you mean tv sets tuned to/streaming the game. I believe some games - I believe NY team got 400/600k. I wonder what kind of number they get for MinnTwins v. Mariners (edit: are they even in the same league? ) on a week nite. Is it a lot more?
I definitely don't want to single this kid out with criticism or anything, but have any of these guys we track in the Scandinavian leagues ever panned out? At this point I arbitrarily rate is as slightly below MLS, is that about right, or am I once again wrong?
BVB Is a selling club. Nobody thought for a second that Pulisic or Sancho or Auba or Haaland is:was going to retire there. The real big boy club is very small.
And yet the Mickey mouse MLS hasnt wanted to be and still isnt a selling league. How can you guys not wrap your head around the fact that the 12 ranked team in the world doesnt have the finances to go head to head with Bayern, but a league with a horrible track record of developing domestic players doesnt have a clue of its place in world soccer. Reus will retire at BVB. Hummels came back and will likely retire there. Witsel could retire there.
I asked earlier (or in another thread recently) how to pronounce Taitague. I figured it was "Tie Tah Gyew", but I have my doubts. Is it really "Tie Tag" or something different???
Miazga is not a bad defender, just a mediocre one --barely international quality. And to understand why he's mediocre and not a top defender, one has to understand the game. It's not something you can explain to a neophyte on a forum post.