Brendan Aaronson starting as the collective United Kingdom outside of north London will be cheering for……. *checks notes*……… Leeds United. How the turns have tabled
For the '3' in 4231, the pool is McKennie, Tillman, Weah, Aaronson, Pulisic, Zendejas, Arfsten, Reyna, and Luna. It depends how McKennie and Tillman are used. Either way, Zendejas is in the mix. I'd take him.
Aaronson and Leeds took a 1-1 draw against Tottenham, and Brendan went 63. West Ham still have a shot at this, not dead yet. A loss today and yah it woulda been over. For playoffs, you dont wanna jinx anything, but if Middlesbrough and Morris beat Southampton, youd have to think Middlesbrough have a golden opportunity at going up. Hull ended up surprising Millwall, who lost 2-0. Southampton are absolutely the better side of the two.
It's funny. Tottenham had an option to buy Cardoso, but somehow lost him to Atletico. If they had completed that move, wonder if they would have done better.
Atleti are in a serious growth trajectory. So much so that a big American asset management company purchased majority ownership. I'm not sure how much that influenced Cardoso but it was smart of him to choose them.
Culturally he fit better there. So yes, smart if all is else is fairly even. As a veteran with many games under him it would be a better time to move to very top teams if he continues to improve.
I'm certain they have had their success also. They are apparently specialists in asset management and the asset in question is Atletico's new stadium. https://onthemoney.sportbusiness.com/2025/11/real-estate-riches-central-to-apollos-atleti-swoop/ Experts in Spain seem pretty certain that Atletico will get significant new revenue streams from this project.
My concern with the current crop of private equity owners is that they're expecting a return. Between about 1960 and 2010 we had owners who took on clubs as passion projects and when things didn't go well, they were willing to put up their own money to fill in financial black holes. Examples include Abramovic writing off £1.5 billion at Chelsea, King Power writing off £194 million of debt at Leicester City (2023), the Coates family writing off £120 million at Stoke City and Marcus Evans writing off £96 million at Ipswich Town when they were in League One. These private equity companies aren't all going to make money. Only a very small percentage of soccer clubs in Europe are profitable. My concern is what the impact will be if these projects don't work out. I know the Bordeaux story was more complex but let's hope they haven't started a trend. Ares, Apollo's baby, leant Chelsea £500 million to build their new stadium. Money gone, no new stadium.
Morris looks very good. At the half 4 tackles and 100% passing sitting in the middle of their 3-4-2-1!
Yeah that sucks he’s surely getting sold this summer with number of suitors sounds like. spyhampton should be heavy favorites in final. I got a feeling Middlesbrough are going to sue the hell out of them though , saints are about to pay up
Sue on what grounds? Most likely Southampton will get a fine and someone on the coaching staff will be suspended.
I know what I did. I accidentally hit reply on my post, then replied to his post but deleted his name instead of mine.
I know I have no say whatsoever, but damnit if I was steering some of the guys into our pool to a champions league really good situation, Id say "go to Real Betis young man". They just got a 5th champions league spot in spain, and theyve been rock solid under pellegrini for some time now. Hes getting excellent value out of bargain basement players. Smart Real Betis..........throws that winnings at the new stadium almost entirely. They might actually do just that and still be competitive in the champions league
A Spanish friend of mine told me yesterday that he'd read that Matarazzo is on the shortlist to lead Real Madrid next season. I can't find any articles confirming that, but I'm sure my buddy didn't just make it up. I sure hope he doesn't take that job if it's offered to him.
Would be amazing, but I think they are going with The Crying One instead. They do need to get the locker room in line it is an absolute disaster..........it might be a smart here.
absolute truth. I dont want any of our players touching that situation with a 39.5 foot pole. If Jose is that manager, hes selling Mbappe and Vini to Saudi or Qatar without a second thought.
I wonder how Vini feels about Jose possibly being his manager at Real Madrid, considering how Jose responded when Vini (allegedly?) experienced the racist incident in that Champions League match versus Benfica.