Maybe he is bosom buddies with Wes. But he sounds like is just full of hot air and likes to inflate his self importance too.
29 stated before Balogun trained with or "worked out on the side" with the team that Flo was not injured.
He also said he wasn't going to Orlando, so IDK... you'd be surprised how many "insiders" are just guessing and and deleting all their wrong guesses.
He knows a few people thru McKennie. Seems like he gets some scraps and maybe overhears some stuff. He's a self promoter that is using the scraps from the few people he knows for his social media business model. Whatever, you can be famous for knowing famous people nowadays.
The English version of the Athletic thanked 29 Diego Mendoza for helping prepare the article about Wes to Leeds.
That's cool, did they ask him about his extremely confident prediction at the end of December that "Wes is 100% going to a Champions League team"? Dude might have an inside line to Wes, but he's been wrong A LOT. FWIW, the Scuffed podcast won't use him as a source anymore because he's been wrong so many times.
Yeah, he may know Wes, but he acts as a source on a lot of things he clearly has no real knowledge of. As an example, he went on an online show the other day and said Pulisic only did the recent interview because his dad forced him to, against the advice of his agent, because Mark Pulisic hates Claudio Reyna. There's no possible way 29 could know this, unless Pulisic told him that, which seems more than unlikely.
I talked to my friend last week and he told me he was going fishing Thursday. I told everyone he was going fishing. Friday I called him to ask how the fishing was and he said ohh the weather was horrible I went to the movies instead. Am I a bad source because things changed?
It might be possible that he is stating a truth that he knows (perhaps Mr. Pulisic really does dislike Mr. Reyna) and then deducing that the interview was pop's idea. That wouldn't make 29 a bad source. But it might make him a bad reporter. These days it's easy to confuse those two roles but there is a difference. Well, there should be.
Maybe he just want to attend the clown convention. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...4QFnoECB0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw3Mg25j634S0caAXGky_9tZ
If he changes his mind and does something else then you aren't a very reliable source because you ran with info that wasn't accurate. You don't have credibility your friend dose. You are just some punk dropping crumbs on social media, it doesn't matter if its accurate because its just the clicks you are after; and living vicariously thru your famous friend. Lets be honest, you could get away with making a percentage of it up or even running a few red herrings. We wouldn't know.
Enough..... One guy lives between Dallas and LA and the other guy was living in Italy. Do you think they talk every day? I have great fiends that I don't even talk to weekly. Real life comes at you fast. Wes was sold on a project with Jessie at the last minute. You can believe what you believe.
Some of you are quick to drag in any transfer rumor in here and say look look this is where so and so is going. Then when this guy with some actual chops brings some red meat info you want to dissecting every word and confusing some things that were opinions with things reported as fact. Wednesday night 29 stated as a fact Flo was not injured. Thursday, Flo trained.
I don't know how often they talk because we have one person's narrative about a relationship with no confirmation or denial from the other side. I do know that people said 29 predicted that Flo wasn't going to Orlando after withdrawing from the u21 camp. Once Flo was confirmed in Orlando, I made the same educated guesses about Flo's situation that 29 presents as "scoops": 1. he wasn't actually injured 2. He probably wasn't coincidentally "vacationing" in the same city as the USMNT (especially since he's currently living just an hour away from Euro Disney). YOU can believe what you believe. Until I see proof that 29 actually has any sort of insider access beyond Weston Mckennie's mom, I will take all of his predictions with many massive grains of salt.
If David were eligible there would probably be a ton of excitement given he has a longer track record. But that battle was lost long ago.
Sure, but you could cut it both ways. Our squad in 2002 and 2006 was highly competitive, had made deep runs in tournaments, etc. Then, like now, there was always a great chance for a good player to make the team, since we weren't a terribly deep squad. I think this one is exceptionally young, which helps, and all these guys we've gotten are somewhat inexperienced and easily swayed, which also helps. To your point though, would Flo Balogun have been given the royal treatment at an Orlando Magic game in 200<whatever>? He certainly wouldn't have felt the adulation on social media, unless it was perhaps on MySpace.
Yeah. I thought about that watching him at Lille once. He really would have fit the bill. Just doesn‘t bother me much because of how he handled it. Of course I want all quality players, but when guys have a path that isn‘t ours, and are pretty clear about it I don‘t care all that much. Respect their decision. Is what it is type thing. I get your cynicism on Flo. I am not expecting anything right now. I am pretty surpised we may actually have a real shot at him now. Did not expect even that. If he does sign on I repeat…..that‘s a wow for me. I do think we actually have a shot now.
Yeah, but those days were different. MLS was on life support. Soccer culture was a joke outside of top Nat team matches. We didn‘t have a sustainable model. We didn‘t hive a thriving, growing league and a fan culture. I try to impress this on folks here and it drives me nuts. Among soccer folks here in Europe, Germany, Holland, France more specifically for me, there is real respect for what we have done here. The ones who know understand that we are actually a soccer country now and growing. Even the average local knows something is going on here. Back then we were still a novelty. A nice story but not really real. Another thing so may just can‘t rap their heads around here……..they look at our league and development as signs of true progress. They look at that fan culture. The Nats are one offs. Anywhere you go in Europe it‘s club. club, club and the Nats are a break from the club game. The games that matter. We have had it completely backwards here for so long. Subotic and Rossi did not consider this a real soccer nation. It wasn‘t IMO. I agreed. We are now looked at as a soccer nation and MLS has more to do with that then the Nats. Blasphemy here in many quarters.
Interview talking about his time in France: https://www.ligue1.com/Articles/Ligue-1-Show/2023/03/24/talking-talent-with-folarin-balogun