Boehly vs. Clearlake: The Internal Power Struggle Shaping the Blues' Future!

In this week's episode of Football Yanks, hosts Ryan, Derek, and Luke dive deep into the chaos and intrigue surrounding the football world. This episode uncovers every angle, from the promising performances and risky decisions involving U.S. Men's National Team stars like Brendan Aaronson and Slonina to the puzzling management strategies at Chelsea FC.

Tune in as we delve into Cameron Carter-Vickers' potential move and why Brendan Aaronson's stay at Leeds is a gamble. We also decode the turmoil at Chelsea, dissect the controversial decisions by Todd Boehly and Clearlake, and debate the impact of high-profile transfers like Sancho and Raheem Sterling. Our hosts call out Chelsea's inability to sign a true number nine and compare their approach to the long-term strategy seen at Tottenham.

Things take a lighter turn with hilarious anecdotes about Luke's carpet cleaning misadventures and Derek's newfound whiskey passion, but the football focus remains sharp as ever. We also tackle the latest transfer rumors, including Osimhen's puzzling move to Turkey, and analyze Tottenham's tactics under Ange's evolving, albeit shaky, coaching methods. This blend of humor and football insight will keep you entertained and engaged throughout the episode.

Join us as we grapple with the frustrations of international breaks, keep you updated with USMNT player transfers, and discuss the controversies brewing across Premier League clubs. This episode is a must-listen for all football enthusiasts craving insight, laughter, and a touch of drama!

Remember to like, subscribe, and join our Discord to keep the conversation going even after the show ends.

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Transcript

0:00

Hey, everybody. This is the Football Yanks podcast for the week of September 9. We've got all three of us this week. Whoa. Yeah. Very difficult to get to get Luke Corral, but we've got him here. He'll be helping us go through wrap up of all the us men's national team yanks in the ranks. Transfers from the summer window. I will go through those in detail. We'll talk about the latest developments in the Bluecolsea clusterfuck, both between our ownership factions. And we'll also get into some of the transfer nonsense, especially around Osman. And we'll talk about Tottenham's business practices and Ange's tactics and outlook for Tottenham for this season, continuing forward as well. We're american. All right, hope you guys enjoy soccer here. Hosts Derek Ryan and Luke are all football fanatics tracking our fellow yanks in the EPL and abroad. Enjoy today's episode. All right, what's up, guys? How's everyone doing? We've got Luke here. The full complement of football yanks here for the international break. Luke waited till the most exciting week of the early season. Nothing to talk about this. Actually, there's a lot. I'm sure Ryan has a lot to talk about. He's probably gonna take us through all of the. The winner trades for rumors ahead time. I can't listen to his fucking football manager brain anymore. Yeah. This is not a welcome break from your carpet cleaning. I don't. I don't have. I don't have anything to really say for transfers other than, like, maybe we can talk about, like, what happened with Asimon and the fallout of that, because now he's playing in Turkey and that. That kind of has implications for. For many clubs. Not Tottenham, but, like, a lot of other clubs that might be able to draw talent like that. But we should talk about Luke's question from yesterday, which is, yeah, we can. We could talk about that. Do we. Do we think Luke is funny? I think that's who he's asking. And I don't know if there was a joke embedded there or not. I said, I hope. I hope you think I'm funny because I made, like an offhand comment about me and my wife cleaning our carpets, which I thought was kind of. Oh, I didn't see. I was. I was not gonna make any of those comments of the poppies. I thought you were literally carpet cleaning. Oh, yeah, we are. No, we are. We got a new bed all of a sudden. Like, got Tessa on, like, well, I'm gonna hold clean the whole fucking house. Every carpet. And to be fair, when you have cats, like under the bed gets kind of fucked up. Like, how many beers deep are you into this project? And zero. I just played Charm city. I'm actually just letting Tessa do it all, to be honest with you. Okay. Very equal of you. I guess I'll help her move shit around. But like, I'm. It's her energy. It's her thing, you know? You gotta know when to step out of the way. Like, I just. You like how you frame that up? It's her energy. Well, I can't match it. And if I match it, we're all in. We're all fucked. The whole house is like gonna blow up. Yeah, speaking of Luke's energy. So, yeah, I do think you're a funny guy, Luke. And I'll tell you, I'll tell everybody a story about why. So last week I'm trying to tax Luke to be like, hey, this. This small business in Canton is expanding. Expanding the liquor. Like, do you want me to like to introduce you to the owner? Anything? No response from Luke, right? Week goes by. I send Luke a picture of the owner's business card. Luke's response is after he reads, he goes, I think this place only sells beer and wine. He puts only an exclamation in all caps. I guess cuz he's not sure if I actually can read a check. I need to check the record on this. I don't know. You know, it's funny you mentioned that. That's why I told you last week they're expanding into liquor. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did. I did say caps only. So I don't know if he thinks about like Jack Grealish's reading level or what, but. Yeah, yeah. You're a funny guy, Luke. Well, I mean, he. He didn't pick up on context in the first text, so. Right. Gotta really spell things out. I barely have time to get my. Get my life together. I don't know what this, like, this path, this journey. Derek is odd right now. He went from like. As long as I've known Derek, he has not consumed whiskey or any like related like dark liquors. He just was not down with that. And now he's like. He's like a local influencer. And that. That has happened like three months. Two things happened, right? Was one, I got into whiskey and two, you know, obviously I know Luke, and Luke's plugging me into all the right people, right? Because he's great at making introductions. Like I walk in a place and I see Luke and Luke's like, hey, look at this fucking asshole over here. Yeah, yeah. And that's with you. Yeah. It's how to be remembered. You know, most people who know me, if I introduce someone like that be like, oh, this guy fucking rocks. In the case of Derek, he also. Yeah, like, there should be like a lot of like, caveats and warning that come with the label, so it's helpful. Yeah. I think we should start Derek a Instagram for his, you know, his whiskey influencing. He'll probably get fewer viewers than our Instagram account does, which is a hard thing to do. Can start a discord. And I surely won't be on that one. I was talking with one of Shannon's friends, wants to start a trail running podcast. And he was like, picking my brain on how we got this off the ground and what applications and stuff I use for editing and how I got better at editing and all of that. I was like, he asked how many listeners we have and like, I told him it's more about downloads. And we get like this many downloads a week roughly right now. Couple hundred. And I was like, the big problem is, is like, I hate social media. I don't think the other guys want to do it either. And so, like, we just get, like, virtually no organic. I need to just. I need to sign it. I need to just get the go back. I know you give me the login Instagram. I should just start, like, working. I fucking hate it. I'm comfortable using the Instagram page. The app, the social app was a bit of a pain to use with Instagram, but I think if I just go on there, I can actually, like, motivate myself to do it. But, yeah, I mean, like, I'll chop it up on the discord all day. Like, if people come in there, like, I'll talk shit, but, like, God, man, I hate Instagram. I hate all of that shit. And it's just like, what you have to do to really grow faster. So, yeah, the growth people are on Twitter even, right? Yeah. So that I will do. I'll go on Twitter and fire off. Especially when Tottenham is losing or Man United. I'll fire off. I'll take some shots. Some into the dark. Yeah, actually, like, the best tweet I ever made in terms of, like, traction that it got was the one I made about Aaron Rodgers. Like, we. I was watching Monday Night Football at the beginning of last season for the NFL, and Rogers went down within like 1 minute of the season. After this whole, like, the HBO, like, show that they put on for him and like, the jets were like heavy preseason favorites and that he just like, gets fucking killed like 1 minute into the season. And I tweeted out something like, hey, jets fans, if you're looking to pick up a new sport, do I have the podcast for you? Like, that actually, like, got some traction. Anyway, so the other thing we could talk about and like, frankly, I'm getting exhausted. Are we not going to look at my show notes? I put. No, I know you have. I was just gonna. Yeah, I was gonna let you like, roll through that too, but like, the only other topic I have for submission, which I'm fine with ignoring, but I think it would be foolish for us to do it, is the, like, whatever the fuck is going on at Chelsea with their, their leadership, like, that is. That could be a weekly episode that, yeah, what the fuck is going on Chelsea next week? What the fuck is fucking going on with Chelsea? You just add more expletives. The brief episode. The brief for this show is that it is a, like, well, it's an, it's an american soccer podcast. It's not supposed to be Chelsea focused even though there are two, well, one and a half Chelsea fans on the show. But, like, Chelsea has been such a dumpster fire that it is. It's like it would be negligent for us to ignore them each week. Yeah, well, the first thing I want to hear is, so three weeks in, luke, how are you feeling about Tottenham since like, we only get you like once a month? Not, not fantastic, but yeah, I'm gonna ride, ride the wave. I'm a little hesitant to get behind the team too much, so. Well, we just don't have. My biggest issue is we don't have a number six to come in later in the game to control, to make the game a little bit more predictable for ourselves. That's one. And we haven't had a striker that's healthy yet this season. Yeah, dude, it's real rough. And Sunny is a really good finisher, but he just doesn't play that well in the middle. If Sunny can be out left and we have a player through the middle, like slanky, like some of our younger players, maybe even Richarlison, but I feel like Richarlison will likely get sold to Saudi in January, despite his protestations. We just need the striker and we need number six to make the game predictable later in the game. The way we're playing isn't bad, but like, I think generally, you know, we need to score more goals than the other team. That's just the way the team functions so yeah, we'll see. I'm still positive. I think we're more of like a 6th number, like 5th, 6th position team this year. Honestly I do like a lot of the young talent like Oda Bear looks really, really good. I think some of the young players coming through the academy will. Lancashire is the number nine coming through the academy that I think looks pretty good. Mikey Moore obviously. Does he play? I wanted to ask that. I've watched zero minutes of Tottenham this season. Mikey Moore won't play until the Carabao cup or Europa League probably. I wouldn't imagine. Do you guys think you'll make an attempt to stay in the Carabao cup this season or likely not. I don't think Ange gives a fuck about it. I don't think we'll change all eleven players for the first game against a Premier League team but maybe you guys. Could play a higher line than you already do in the care about. Just to test it out. If you line up at the third. The defense is just right at the right of the outside. It kind of works when you have a player like Mickey Vande van in the team who's just faster than. Yeah, but you have to. He's hurt now too, right? Yeah, I think he just, he had a really awkward land on his knee. It looked like he like destroyed his knee but he kept playing. So I think he just has it as an issue that I'll take until after the international break. Okay. Like a bruised knee type? Yeah, like. Yeah, like be a strain, ligament kind of thing. Okay. So hopefully he's back. I think the big issue with spurs is that the team is always on the knife edge. Like it takes one card. It's like a house of cards. Jack Pickbrook. That's something I picked up from him. He's an athletic reporter. It's like it's a house of cards. Right? If one card falls that whole thing is fucked. If it stays in. It's kind of a beautiful, fun thing to watch but it can be very frustrating for sure. So you mean, do you mean like the cards are the players? Because you guys. It sounds like you guys have a lot of injuries. Like Salon Kate got injured immediately, right? Yeah, I think that Salaki could probably play but I just think that they see it as too much of a risk with how long the season is. Yeah, I read somewhere that he didn't miss a game last season. In the second game. That is. That is some spur, man. Actually that's some Chelsea shit. But also, it's just some bad luck. It's just unlucky. I thought the game against Newcastle actually was encouraging in a lot of ways. It's just we can't be so naive and transition. Like, that's just. Yeah, so, all right, so I didn't finish my thought there. So, like, house of cards in the sense that, like, if you. Because you've talked about how thin the first starting eleven is, maybe that's been addressed a little bit. Although, like, I think the players, off the top of my head, I think a lot of the players you brought in are young. Right. The issue has been fixed and in for. In two years time or in a year's time. Right. The team is still thin. It's still thin at the first eleven and then, like, one thing goes wrong in the match itself and then it's a cascade. Yeah. It's like if everything isn't working tactically, if the players all aren't in the right positions, the. The system falls apart far too quickly for my liking. I love the way we play. I love Ange's approach. But again, I just think we need a player to. Or we need to allow moments in the game where it becomes predictable. And right now we just don't do that. Like, the Asp, it's. The team is too aspirational for that. Like, Ange's whole coaching approach right now is about aspiration and, like, pumping the players up. It's not so much about tactics. So he needs to start bringing in some of those, like, more refined tactics in the team. So when there's a, you know, a five minute period when we're kind of under it, we can manage it with. We can make it predictable instead of just playing helter skelter and getting caught on the counter for two, you know, two fucking stupid goals, like, like that ESAC goal is just like. It's just, it's just a ball down the middle like that. It's just all they did was Madison played too tight, Joe Linton turns and he just splits the center backs. That's it. It can't be that easy. Yeah. Especially when we're. We have 70% of the possession and are playing pretty well, so it's all good. I'm gonna have fun watching them. I'm not gonna complain so much. I'm having a good time. I'm a Tottenham fan. My expectations are not quite as high. So, yeah, I'm just having fun. It's big of you to admit all of that. The. Thank you for calling me, big Ryan. Somebody's been doing their work in therapy, I guess. Yeah.

Dude, should I start calling you on Mondays at 11: 15:38

00. I wouldn't answer. What do you think that so I don't know. Like, if you think back to a year ago when we sort of. When you started on this podcast, I guess I was pretty stoked about ange coming. Like, I was supportive of his selection. I think I've cooled on him and, like, you missed the last episode, but we sort of talked about how I think there. Unless he. Unless he evolves, I think there's a ceiling on what he can achieve in the Premier League and he sort of tells us that he's unwilling to evolve and I guess. So what are your thoughts around that? Do you have the same, like. Like, do you think that he's, like, the guy before the guy for Tottenham? If Tottenham is gonna, like, make its way back into the top four and, like, maybe challenge one day? Because, like, you hear things from him in press conferences where he's like, we don't need a set piece, coach. While you guys are, like, dreadful at set pieces or, like, you get fucking pumped because you. You keep your line so high in a game and he's like, that's just who we are. Like, what do you think of all of that? I don't know if my question makes. Sense, but, like, no, I think it does. I think. Well, one, on the set pieces, we've actually been pretty good on set pieces this season, especially playing two teams like Everton and Newcastle that are pretty aggressive on set pieces. So we've defended those well, actually this year. So I do think there's been some interested addressing of that, at least up till now. I think that that ten game spot at the beginning of last season gave. Made the team seem better than it was at the time. And I think this is a longer term process. Right. If we're going to stick with Ange, which I think we should, this needs to be a three season project to where we come to the end of that third season and then you really look at where we are versus where we're going, right? Yeah. The squad's been cleaned out, essentially. Other than sunny. Like, the team's playing in a totally different formation with brand new players at almost every position. With the entire squad being changed as well and made into a much younger team, I think it's a little lazy to think that Ange isn't evolving. I just think it's going to take time in the players that he wants. I think it's too early to judge still. But I do think that what I think is game needs to become a little bit more predictable then for them in phases. And if Ange can't bring that over the course of the season, then I think we're in trouble. Okay, I've cooled on him, but you cool on any manager except fucking Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. After 18 months, it's just normal. So I want to give the guy time. I like the way we're playing. It is fun. Like, I mean, I'd rather enjoy it. I'd rather enjoy it and see where we can take the team, essentially. Yeah. And I like the investment in young players. RG Gray, Lucas, Bergval, Oda Ber. Like, these are really good 1819 year old players, if they can progress, are big, are big signings in the long term. Yeah. And on net, your owners outspent our owners this season. Yeah. If you look at the. If you look at the profile of player purchased, it's a totally different conversation. I'm really rich. What do you mean? So, one, we don't have like five left wingers in the team right now. Yeah. And the team is really obviously geared for longer term, stable success with young players. Oh, you mean because your team's not borderline insolvent like ours is? Well, we've had to sell no hotels to ourselves. That's an interesting. The hard thing about spurs, we proved to be like the best run business, maybe in the Premier League, with the least exciting results. I think it's hard. You know, I think that's. It is a really well run business, for sure. But I would disagree with that. Like Chelsea, I mean, last season they had the youngest squad in the PL, and they have gotten even younger. I think this. But the spread of where the players are being purchased, like the positions they're being purchased for, doesn't really make sense. Like, the player profiles aren't totally different. I agree, but the way it builds the squad isn't as obvious. You know, it's very obvious the way that the team is being built to back up positions with young players who then in 18 to 24 months can become starters themselves. Yeah. There's a progression plan where I think Chelsea is just like a rip up the page. And let's start with a bunch of young players with a lot of talent, see what we can do. Right? Yeah, they're, there's definitely a. It's a arbitrage, not arbitrage, dollar cost averaging of, like these young players. And it's kind of gross. Yeah. So anyway, I'm secure where Tottenham is. I'm happy to ride this season with a little lower expectation and go into next year with like, where we really need to push on. Right. That's. The excuses are out for ange. I'd say end of this season, beginning of next. Okay. And. Okay. Fifth place this year, I think would make sense for the team that we have. Yeah. Honestly, with Ford being aspirational, the reason. Your net spend, that stat was interesting to me is because that that sort of takes away Derek's ability to give you shit about that for the. And your owner's unwillingness to spend for at least one season. So I don't know. Yeah, we're not Liverpool. We didn't sign only one player. Actually they did. Yeah, that was pretty weird. And then. Arne. Arn. Arn slot. Arnie slot. Arnie slot. I don't know how you say his first. You're making him sound like a fucking Simpson character. Arnie slot. Arnie slot. I think it's. Arnot looks like a Simpsons character. He does. He looks like he actually. Dude, he just fucking exposed ten hog, though. Like, it's like a sort of similar thing that happened where like you had. You had a generational coach and his tenure and I guess with man united there was some like mayhem in between, like that coach and, uh. And, um. Ferguson. Uh, yeah, Ferguson. And, uh. Yeah, there was a bunch of shit. Between, but yeah, yeah. And then ten hog, but yeah, Arnis slot came in and just beat the out of them and. And made them look really silly in the process. I watched a long form tactical analysis of everything that went wrong and it made Casimiro look real bad. Well, Casimiro's are gone, but yeah, he's also isolated. Like, hey, he's also. He's not making good decisions, which I wasn't picking up on until I watched it all slowed down. He's also being tasked with playing these like 50 yard diagonal balls and all of these entry level bought, like, entry point balls. But he's never been that player. Yeah. Ever. He's just. He's cleaned up in front of the back pour and played out. And if you can isolate him, they're cooked. They're cooked and. Yeah. Cut. Let's. We should probably get to Derek's. Derek. Derek sent us show notes so that he doesn't fucking murder us. Is this just. I don't. Us men's national team. Yeah, he's like, got reviews for the us men. Yeah, it's my contract. I have to. I have to write about this shit. Yeah, but yeah, we could get. We can do that last or we could do it now but now and then we can. We can wrap up with the Chelsea bullshit and. Yeah, so I took a look through because I wasn't prepared last week, all the us men's national team kind of transfer updates for the. I'd say mostly the relevant players so you guys could weigh in with thoughts or opinions on these. But Tanner Tessman, kind of a U 23 all star for us, goes to Leon. I think it's a good fit for him. Right. So it's a top five league. France kind of. Isn't that great. But Leon's a pretty good team. He has a chance to be a pretty important player I think, down the line for the. For the men's team. I don't think we necessarily have a lot of people playing like attacking mid necessarily. Um, though another name on here that kind of plays that police position is Malik Tillman. Had a killer season at PSV. Um, he's extended there. Um, he probably is going to have a pretty prominent role in the us men's national team moving forward. So Geno got um, his loan converted to buy. He's coming back from injury but yeah, I think that's good for him that he'll get as many minutes as he can handle on that team and was kind of a key contributor until he got hurt. Mark McKenzie goes to Toulouse. I don't know. He's one to watch to see if he kind of gets more into the mix in time in terms of the first team. But you know, pretty talented young player there. Aiden Morris, which we talked about a little bit. The discord is that Middlesbrough? Middlesbrough. Which, you know, I guess there's more exciting places to be in England but it looks like he's getting a bunch of minutes and he's already kind of shown up as a critical team for that or critical asset for that team. So good to see him getting major minutes in Europe. John Brooks I mentioned here just because, you know, I don't know, he's been around for a while. He's back at Herther Berlin which is interesting but he's kind of. He's old at this point. Point but. And frozen out of the us men's national team. Yeah, yeah, he's frozen out for a bit. He was inconsistent, was a big talented guy. I don't know, it's kind of disappointing situation but good to see him back at kind of his home club there. Tim Ream goes to Charlotte. I mean, I think there's worse places for him to put, be playing at this stage in his career. You know, he's had the Europe experience. He's still playing at a fairly high level. So maybe this keeps him in the us men's national team mix because he's going to be. He should be in form as long as he's healthy because he's going to get a lot of minutes and that's a pretty good team. Weston. It's a shame what was. Do you know the story there? Because I thought he played well for Fulham. It just. He's just old. Yeah. I think it's just a depreciating asset. Probably just. Could he play a full season again? You know? Yeah. Yeah. It's too bad. Yeah, it's kind of. Yeah, I got the feeling it was more. I got the sense at least it was more. So his decision, like, I wanted to go back to the US and kind of finish up my career there. He had done his thing in Europe and he'd been there a long time. Yeah, he. For a long time. Yeah. Multiple clubs. Yeah. He moved there from the Red Bull, from New York. Red Bulls. Like, feels like forever ago. Yeah. I think about, like, I don't know, in a corporate sense, expats that have been away for that long, they kind of, you know, they're kind of off of their own world at that point. So he might have sensed to need to kind of come back. To come back to the states. I don't know. Yeah. The west and saga had Juventus continues. He got a new contract there after it looked like he was being pushed out for a second, uh, preseason. Yeah. Yeah. I'm curious what the terms of that. That new contract. I wonder if he took less money to stay or something like that. Like really interesting. Maybe. Um, you know, I. I'm not. I don't think we need to grade all these, but I don't think it's not the worst. Like, he grew into an important role last season. I think he has that opportunity again. He's only played 23 minutes, but, I mean, at least he's playing. But you do worry about, like, him playing enough minutes and staying engaged and continuing to develop. Right. But, I mean, that's a big club. There's worse places to be. Austin Trusty goes to Celtic, which step down from the Premier League, but it looks like he's got play a ton of minutes. So again, I think better than riding it out with. With Sheffield first. Another season at least. Right. So worse places to be. He'll be playing with Cameron Carter's Victor or Cameron Carter. Vickers. Vickers. Vickers. Vickers. Say it again. Cameron Carter. Vickers. Yeah. Could have gone to gallatin. My only feedback here is, yeah, I mean, I can understand now we're in the go play in a third world country, so you decide to go to. Oh, boy, you don't want to throw shots like that at the turkish fans. They'll actually come out and kick you in the face. You might get taken. Like, I'm gonna call Liam Neeson if I can save your ass. The stream goes black. Just Derek's window. Derek's pain just gone. A hand goes over the lens. See a flashbang. We just keep talking, Ryan. We're not shot. I'm not. I'm not getting involved in whatever that is. Yeah. All right. Interestingly enough, Brendan Aaronson staying at Leeds, kind of risky given the history there, but he has two goals right this season. It's kind of rendered himself to the bad. So he looks like he's cooking there. I feel like that's the level for him. To be honest with you. I don't think he's a Premier League like player in a lot of ways. He's too slight. He's not like he presses really well. He has lots of energy. But that's not really what the Premier League needs for a team that's going to stay up. Yeah, the stay up is a whole nother. I don't know. I think he can. To your point, he can help him get back. I don't know what that. To me, Leeds is another team that's at risk of bouncing back and forth over and over again. But who knows if they get back up? I mean, they. They look like they have Premier League level players. We talked a couple weeks ago about that. So they might be a team that could actually stay up a little bit. Again, Ryan's favorite player to talk about. I'm not even sure why I had to cover this, but Gabriel Slanita is at Barnsley on loan from Chelsea. I mean, I guess Ryan did bring this up, but I think the takeaway here is it's good for him to again, be getting a ton of minutes, a ton of reps, which is what. He kind of needs at this career cooking there, too. I think his average match rating is like eight. Yeah, but there's a reason that he was snubbed for the latest international cycle. Yeah, because our coaches are fucking brain dead. He. Do you even have a coach? I. Maybe not. Yeah. I like how I was fucking flabbergasted by that Matt turner. Should be working at a lemonade stand. That part's fair. I mean, I do think that some of the other younger players that they brought at goalkeeper, I think the one guy was from Barcelona have some promise that are playing, you know, are owned by big clubs. I don't know how many minutes of getting. So it was a little bit disappointing not to see him get called in, especially from a Chelsea perspective too. I think one of the games he, like, literally won them the game. I don't. Do you think he's remembering football manager? Do you think he's talking about an actual game that. No, I don't think Ryan understands the difference between. Yeah, we wouldn't be able to differentiate this. I mean, I'm sure he's. Yeah, I don't. I don't actually doubt any that, but I am glad he's played. I think Barnsley's probably a more relevant team than wherever he was playing last season. Yeah. He was playing in like, the belt. Like, for a team in the belgian league, I think is what it was. Yeah. So step up ton of reps. I think that's good for him. Ryan gave me a nice segue into bat. Turner's going to. Crystal is at Crystal palace. Right. So we talked about that. Yeah. I think he folds towels there. He's actually down the kit man. Yeah, Turner's the kit man. I fucking hate Matt Turner. I don't know if we've talked about that enough on this podcast. You can't hate the guy, rash. He's just not that level of a goalie. He is like the lankiest motherfucker. Like, he's had just like, he looks. Like the guy out the inflatable outside the car dealership. Yeah, the crazy. Like. Anyways, he's got hockey sticks of feet. His feet are like huge. Like he can't play the ball at all. It's so good. Yeah, true. I love it. Gio remains stuck, I want to say, at Dortmund. I mean, he's kind of buried in the depth chart there. I think that was disappointing from my perspective this season. Him stay there. I think we do need to continue to keep abide that, how young he is because I think he's only like 21 still. He's very young. He still needs it. He needs a move. Yeah. He needs to go to a club. Permanent. Yeah, he needs to go to a permanent. Like find a permanent club. Like France, something like, I don't know, Portugal. He needs something different. Yeah, true. Yeah. Those wouldn't be bad spots. The top five league where you can play for, you know, a lesser team and get some. Yeah. Like a, like a benifika kind of. Kind of team. Like a good team in a big. In a smaller league. Yeah. Then last one, list to Caleb Wiley, on loan to Strasbourg through the blue co holdings arrangement there in Chelsea. Spot for him. Yeah, I think he, he had like an assist or something already. Yeah, I think I saw something about that. They're good. Strasburg is going to be good this season, I think. Strasbourg in the Bundesliga or the austrian league. The french french league. Oh, shit. It's a weird name for a french team. You would think it's german or Austria. Yeah. Anyways, that's. I think that's the full recap of. You've got Cardo said at Tottenham. What, what's this? They. Did I put that in there? What's in the article? They keep the. Well, go ahead, Luke. You know about this? Yeah. So as part of the transfer of Ge arena to Bettis, I believe, real Bettis or whatever fucking club Johnny Cartos is that. I think that Tottenham basically purchased rights to his contract so they have the option to buy him first. And if then they choose not to and Betta sells him on, they get a part of the sell on fee. Oh. So it's a very interesting structure. That is weird. Yeah, I think it's basically we want to watch and see how he plays this year. Yada, yada, yada. Just wheel and deal on the Tottenham way. All right, guys. Did you guys talk about how fucking shitty the us men's national team is right now? Do you guys watch any of that Canada game now? The Maryland game, which I'm not watching. International friendlies. Yeah, I didn't watch all of it. I watched what anyone want with. Exactly. I don't have to wake up in. Canada every day, but yo, it was two one. It could have been like four one. Yeah, it was not good. I pulled up the. So I saw the score, I pulled up the. The player ratings and it looked like a bloodbath. Like it. It's like there wasn't a player on the us side that had a rating much higher than a two flat. Like, it was like everyone had like a 2.1. Yeah, it sounded, sounded bad. Yeah. I just can't, I can't. I can't be arsed to watch. I like, hate this international break. It's so stupid. It's like all the Premier leagues getting going. This is great. Like, I'd rather players just get a week off to train. Yeah. Like, what is the point? Well, I'm like, a lot of them just do that. I was surprised. The reason I even brought up the match ratings was I was like, well, who did we start? Cause I just assumed, like, everybody opted out. But, no, we had, like, a good team out there. Yeah, not good. Not good. Was Turner in goal? No, he was washing meats in the back room. Gotcha. They've hidden him. He was directing people into the stadium. Like, he was throwing one of those. One of those, like, fucking orange vests on. Patrick Schulte play. It was. He is the keeper for the Columbus crew. I don't know a lot about him, admittedly, but, yeah, I thought the whole. I was trying to look around. Yeah. What was it was UEFA nations league, I guess, were the relevant games. And actually, some of those are being played today, but the matchups weren't, like, great on the whole. I mean, I guess we missed. I wasn't paying attention to. Denmark played Serbia, beat them to nothing. Croatia plays Poland later, Portugal plays Scotland. But, I mean, like, most of these matchups, you look at, like, they're not interesting matchups. Switzerland, Spain maybe being the only interesting one today, but I don't know. So should we talk about this dumpster fire that's in London right now? Which one? Chelsea. Which part? It's more of a way. I would like you to tell me. I want you to direct me to the conversation. The private equity douchebags and the owner douchebag are fighting with each other. Haven't heard of this. Tell me you haven't heard about this. I don't follow Chelsea that closely. I don't got time for that shit. I know you watch, like, pl podcasts, so. I do. I just haven't heard. Listen. Yeah. Like, this is. Everybody's gonna be talking about this. Oh, shit. It's at a breaking point. Oh, I was just. So. Sladina's average rating at. That's what I was doing at Barnsley. Across six matches as a seven five. I like. He's killing it over there. Dude. That's such a high rating for a goalie. And. And. And our fucking mouth breathing federation keeps going with. With. Yeah. Anyway, we can move on from this, but, like, this dude should be. Can we about it? Yeah. I wonder how good he is with. The one thing I don't know is how good he is with the ball at his feet. I mean, to your point, presumably, he's got to be better than Turner. Turner who can only pass to one part of the, like, one half of the pitch and. Yeah, anyway, so yeah, Chelsea. The way it's set up is, like, 66% owned and by these venture capital private equity guys called Clear Lake Capital. Who is that? Is that me? Someone's calling me. Oh, that'll be fun for your editor. I'm leaving that shit in. Anyway. Clearly, capital, they own, like, 66 ish percent of the club. And then the other third is held by a combination of dudes, primarily Todd Bowley, all dudes and, huh? All dudes. Just. I think it is all dudes. Yeah, there's this guy, like, vis or this, this, I think, swiss guy, Hans Jorg vess or something like that. I could be getting that completely wrong. But what I, what I remember is he was just a guy who really hated Abramovich and wanted to be part of the group that, that purchased Chelsea from the russian oligarch. Anyway, there are. There have been rumors for a while that there was a falling out between Clear Lake and Boley. They, like, basically had never been seen together. So clear Lake, the face of Clear Lake is this dude, Bedad Bali, and he and Todd. Todd Boley, the Todd father, they were often seen together at the beginning of all of this and had not really been seen together for quite some time. And so all these rumors had spun up about, like, are these guys, like, falling out? That sort of thing. And it was just rumors until Friday where it broke that these guys just, like, hate each other and they're looking to buy each other out. And I think there are a ton of complications around all of this. But the fundamental issues seem to come down to Todd Boley wants to buy more, wants more balance in the acquisition of, like, promising young players and, like, ready made players that will help Chelsea win now, whereas the clear Lake group are fully committed to just buying young players on very low wages and doing this, this dollar cost averaging across assets, basically there. I think what brought this, this is an official. But I, like, the obvious thing to me that brought this all to a head was the Osaman negotiations. That was Bowie, who was out in Italy trying to make that happen. And, like, shortly after that didn't happen. That didn't work out. These rumors really ramped up. And then the third thing that appears to be giving these guys a lot of heartburn is the stadium build out. Todd Bowley has this, like, 30 year plan that he has put in place to make Chelsea, like, a modern club with a modern stadium and stuff. And he wants to keep it at Stamford Bridge, which is a more expensive build out. And I guess Clear Lake would prefer to move it to a cheaper area to build a large stadium. And so, yeah, there's just like a lot of friction in the way forward. Bowie interestingly thinks that they should, like, I guess egg Bali has been involved in a lot of the decision, the transfer decisions, the talent id decisions. Boli is taken a step back from that now that they have directors of football, but egg Bali is insisted on being involved in that and. And Bowie wants, like, he's like the finance guys should be out of those decisions with all. That's a weird dynamic to your point that. Yes. Whole private equity, like in an individual owner dynamic that exists in soccer that doesn't necessarily exist in like NFL, for example. Yeah. And the friction it creates and like whether they really have the best in mind for the stakeholders and in the, you know, the team. The fans. The fans. Yeah, well, yeah, the fans. The only thing that matters. I don't think the Saudis would be involved with the only thing that matters. But yeah, fans pay the tickets and. I do think the fan. Yeah. Should the focus be on the fans? Yeah, yeah, it should be on the fans and that's why we have these sports. That's a fair point. Right. And so I think, yeah, those guys are. I gotta bite my tongue and they're focused on other things, you know, like spreadsheets and. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I. I just have a job. Right. Yeah. The awesome man thing, like the real truth about the awesome and thing isn't, I don't think has anything to do with that particular player acquisition, though, was a bit shamboliche. But it's just the fact that the club signed so many players and none of them are number nines. Like Niko Jackson maybe being the closest and maybe in cuckoo coming in at. Are you just saying things to upset me? Like, do you disagree with those things? Niko is a phenomenal talent, so I'm. Not gonna argue about that. But in terms of as an established number nine, who's gonna get you a certain amount of goals a year, I think Nico Jackson proved last year he can score goals, but doesn't necessarily score the important goals. So it's kind of like awesome is a player who could do that. No, there are other players out there. There are other players out in the wit in this window who could have played that role. Putting all your eggs in that Osaman basket really shows kind of some of the short sightedness of a purchase like that. Like what the fuck is Jaden Sancho doing in the Chelsea team? Like, he's gonna be our starting. Lows, my mind and then, like, selling Sterling to. And I said this the last time I was podcast, selling Sterling to Arsenal is just like, throwing your hands up and saying, they're better than us. Like, all right, take them. Or is the next. We think he's gonna be the next Mason? It's an, it's an indictment on the project. Right? Like, yeah, we're gonna sell a really good player to one of the top teams that we want to be. Right. And we're gonna buy Jane Sancho, who's underperformed for, like, three years. You think Jane Sancho underperformed last year? Well, no, I think. I think that's fair. In the Bundesliga with. I think that's a fair comp. But still hasn't performed. Yeah. The way. But still didn't perform. Has never performed in the Premier League. Yeah, but he's never really been given the chance to. Yeah, but I think. I think that's fit. I think that's fair. But that's kind of like. That's a rhetorical argument. Right? It's. It's not built out in any fact. You're right. Sancho is a good player. He has not performed in the Premier League. Raheem Sterling, good player. Has performed in the receipt in, in the Premier League. Like, it just doesn't, it just doesn't make a sense. A lot of sense to me, particularly when you've bought Pedro netto. You have NKU, you have Merweke, you have Palmer, who can also play out wide. It's just like. And there's no number nine in the team. It just doesn't think Raheem Sterling, I think, is the last. So there was a period when blue coat bought Chelsea that they were, they had no director of football. And Todd Bowley Washington, the acting director of football, and he bought horrible players. That's. That's when put them on too big of contracts. Yeah, yeah. We purchased. Well, I think during that period is when we bought Sterling. Yeah. I mean, that would make sense. He's on like, 350,000 a week or something like that. Like, matter at that point. Yeah. And Sterling, interestingly, like, Enzo Mareska took a look at him in preseason, and Mareska was the one who was like, he's not in my plans. And apparently he told Sterling he's not in his plans. He doesn't like what Sterling offers from that role. And I think that's what's going on. Like, I think that, like, there are a few facts. Sterling is really old in terms of miles on his legs. He's played. Played so many matches. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I read somewhere this week that he's, like, 38 years old in soccer years. Like, in terms of matches played and minutes played. Yeah. Those kinds of associations. But he does. You don't games. I think, like, I'm, like, I'm a little skeptical. Like, I'm like, I don't think it's right or wrong. I think it does make sense, but I. I don't. Like. That's not true for every single player. You know, I think bodies. Well, yeah, I think it's like, you have, like, a robustness to you that is individual. So, like, Thiago Silva, he played, like, at the highest level until he was 38 or whatever. But, but so what? I think the larger question here is, like, why get rid of Raheem Sterling? Makes sense to get Raheem Sterling. Right? Does. But why do that and then bring in Jaden Sancho, like, the same week. To replace Sterling? What do you mean? But Sterling wasn't in his. There's, like, five fucking wingers out there, and Sterling wasn't in his plans anyway. Like, who is now not in his plans? Because Jayden Sancho is going to. The only left wingers with the current. The current team are Mudrick and Sancho now. Mudrick, Neto, Sancho, Jackson side. If he plays wide, it's on the left. Like, well, Jackson's playing nine. He's our only nine now. He is. Yeah, but, yeah, I'm just saying there's. Depth in that position. Neto is going to play on the right. It'll. It'll be Noni and netto on the right. Palmer and in cuckoo at, at the ten, and then some combination of Inkuku, Felix and Jackson as, like, the nine. And Felix will play, like, wherever, too. You've just named, like, ten different players who can all interchange in different positions based on what the manager wants now. But I'm just not convinced that there's balance in the team. And I think that, well, there's been awesome. Not coming into the team just projects a certain kind of, like, ineptness in recruiting. I just. Sancho, I just do not understand. That's all. That's my pain point. Sorry, but Sancho, like, you need two players in that position. He's one of two players in that position. And then, so, like, the other way that Sancho makes sense is if you look at this from the private equity guys, like, they're, they view this as, this is a dude who United bought for €100 million or what? I think it was €103 million. And they're getting him for, like, 25. They're getting a loan with an obligation to buy at 25. So, like, they see it as, like, his asset acquisition. And that's what it's like to me for more than any playing style that you can try to make sense of. Yeah, well, I don't, I don't know. I do think that the way Mareska plays and the traits that Sancho has shown to be good at, like, he's very, he's very good at getting wide and taking on a player and I, he's very accurate at passing and setting up goal scoring chances. Quick combination play is really good. Yeah, yeah. And that's, like, exactly what Maresco wants to do with his wingers. That's why Noni has been so successful. That's what. Yeah. So, like, I think, like, the profile, like, Chelsea have been trying to get Sancho for, like, three seasons now. I don't think it's, that, that doesn't, it's not as crazy as it looks if sterling wasn't there, like, so here's, like, where I bring it all back together is what Todd Bowley is saying. Sounds better to me. But I think that watching Todd Bowley execute, he was really bad. Like, you mean, it's understandable that, like, somebody else might be frustrated with them. Yeah. It's taken us, like, two years to dig ourselves out from under the, like, koolabali and Raheem Sterling, and he renewed Chilwell during that time at, like, a very high wage. And who is the striker? What's his name? Former Arsenal guy. It starts with, with a bummying, a bamiyang. Yeah. That brought him in. Now, part of this was like, he was just going to tucle and being like, what do you want? And Tuchel was like, I mean, I'll have him if you can get him for me. And then, yeah, and they've, now they've. Gotten, like, the complete opposite side of the conversation instead of finding somewhere in the middle that works. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, that part's rough. I think. Nothing rebuilding on Stamford Bridge like keeping it in London proper at Stamford Bridge is a unforced error. But, yeah, I don't know. I think the structure is it as it's set up now, it seems to be starting to work. They're selling. I mean, it's gross and I think it'll be litigated in some way at some point. But, like, what they're doing with these players seems to be working. They're making money on players that they're buying and turning around in one year. Yeah, it feels like they're really, like they're counting on the inflation of the transfer market, which is not a bad bet to make because it's only gone up. Right? Yeah. Well, they're combining that with, like, they're trying to identify players worldwide that they can bring in, put under the Chelsea name for a season, and then move them on at a premium. Even if that premium is like, well, like, Angelo Gabriel, they sold it like, a 33% premium after one season. That dude. But, like, that's gross, right? Like, do we want these clubs acting that way? And then how do you litigate that out? I don't like it. Like, the Angelo Gabriel was never, ever, ever going to play for Chelsea. He was literally brought in just to be sold a year later. And, like, is that, like, these are humans? Well, and that's also on the players to, like, stop agreeing to sign for Chelsea. Like, what are they? Like, the agents are all making money. Maybe because it, like, instantly raises their profile. And now Angelo Gabriel is going to make more money than he ever imagined. Yeah. They're on higher wages as soon as they sign Chelsea, I assume. Yeah. I'd be interested to see how that plays out in the long term. If players start, just say, no, I'm not going to go there and flounder for a year and they get sold or go there, get loaned. Like, I want to be a part of a team and a system. You'll see. Like, I don't think that's necessarily true. It's kind of an interesting thought, I. Think, for me, about Sancho, in knowing this because of Ryan emphasizing it, but being back in the news. Right. Is Estavia Williams is coming in next season. Right. As a, as a winger. And he plays on the right. He plays on the right. But that's another winger in the mix. Yeah. So then you've got. He's been cooking wherever the hell he's playing right now in Brazil, I guess, still. Right. But he got called up to the national team. Like, there's every indication that, like, he's going to need significant minutes. So then you've got now five wingers vying for two spots. Oh, yeah. He's been playing for the senior brazilian team already. Same with Kendry. Paez for Ecuador. Yeah. And Kendry, which is the other one. Yeah. He can play as a ten or a left winger or an eight. Like, he's kind of in plate in those three positions. Well, they doubt Todd Bowley for sure, has a hard on for wingers, there's, like. Doesn't matter what side. There's a lot of them there. Yeah. Well, I mean, he's not. He's not bought any of. He's not. Whoever has bought, I don't. I don't. I don't know who has, but, like, huge hard on. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, next season, we'll probably see Madwick a sold would be my guess. I don't think they'll sell netto that quickly and, like, the asset value won't be there yet. And then, I don't know, like, cooking might get sold. Yeah. The question there, then. So you're talking about all these relatively high profile signings, financials aside, let's talk about, like, in terms of profile, how does, what. Where does that go to building a team for longer term success? You gotta separate the wheat from the chef. Well, you're. Can you do that effectively when it's all about a 33% return on individual players? Yeah. I mean, they're doing it so far. I would say, like, Madwick a, they've determined that he is a senior team player, but if you're talking about getting sold next year. Yeah, I'm less convinced of that one. But, I mean, it's possible that he'll. Be sold or that he is a senior player. I think he's going to be the second leading goal score on Chelsea this season and actually has the potential be the highest good score. Right. Chelsea this season. So, like, I. Sure. But then you have this guy who is, like, considered the next. Well, yeah, that's where the. This is. To Luke's point, this is where, even for me, it's pretty fucking messy of, like, what the. What the fuck? Yeah, do it. 30. Particularly players. Particularly if you can't keep a manager for longer than a season. I don't. I think that they will be sticking with Mareska. We'll see. But. Oh, that's the other thing. I didn't even mention. This will make you, like, Todd Bowley even more. Apparently, he was. He was, like, furious about the sacking of Pochettino. And there were people found or, like, the tabloids or whatever in the UK, the paparazzi, like, had pictures of Boli with Pochettino at dinner the night before Pochettino was sacked. And. Yeah, I guess that whole thing, like, that was just the. They out overruled him, the clear lake people, and sacked potch. And so, yeah, I mean, on both sides, like, part of these roots. So now they're all posturing, like, which is like, hilarious, because it's these, like, billionaires taking shots at each other in public, but, like, comment. Yeah, clearly, clear Lake was like, we are committed to the long term future of this club. We know more stability is needed, and a disruption like this wouldn't be in the best interest of the club. And we are only interested in increasing our position in the club, ie, buying Boli out. And Boli said the same thing. He came out today and was like, I've raised 2.5 billion pounds, which would give them a profit and they can fuck off. He didn't say it like that, but that was the. The gist of what he said today was that he had the money to buy them out. And then there is further complication in that. The UK government had a lot to say about how this deal was handled because they had effectively seized this asset, or, like, kind of done that, like, with the mechanisms that they had. And it is stipulated that they cannot sell the club for ten years. And so, like, there's the whole question of, like, could anyone, like, either side of this actually back out? They might be legally just stuck with each other. Each other, which is great. The contract. Too many, too many, too many voices in a room. I hope it keeps going. I love this kind of controversy. I don't care what club it is, it's just, like, exciting. Yeah, I know. Who's going to. What's going to break first, Ange's high line or our private equity struggles? Well, I would say that Angie's high line will probably break at least once every single game, so. Yeah, yeah, that broke during this podcast. There was a crack. I think that angel not last as long as the ownership of Chelsea, though. The Premier League did pass that. That hotel. Hotel sale. Yeah. Which was kind of interesting to hear. I think talk sport generally is very sensationalist and not like, the best source of information, but there was some, like, format I watched this week where these. This dude was hosting two lower league. I think it was managers, I forget which teams of, like, general managers, directors of football, whatever their titles were. And they were talking about Chelsea and the, like. They specifically talked about the finances and the sale of those clubs. And it was really enter the hotels, rather. It was really interesting to listen to because they, like, sort of broke down why that was allowed and, like, why Chelsea were able to do it. The Chelsea inherited, like, when they bought the club, because Abramovich, like, was the sole holder of it previously, and the UK government made it so that Abramovich couldn't make any money off of that sale or take any money out of it. All of Chelsea's debt to that point was with Abramovich, and so it wiped the entire Chelsea debt clean. And so these guys could come in and just relate every asset there all over again. Assets. Yeah, yeah. That they owned out. Yeah, absolutely. So, like, not every club could do this, like, because most of them have loans for things like their training facility or the hotels that, like. Like, they're all there. They have, like, mortgages and shit. And so they've just been leveraging the fuck out of everything. Yeah. Leverage their sidewalk, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, yeah. It really was just a hack that they. That they inherited because of the geopolitical shit that was happening. And I. Yeah, I wonder if those. Levers run out for Chelsea, you know? Oh, they have run out. I think they. I think they have done that. Yeah. And is. Is that. Is that all reactionary strategy because of the issues with PSR potential issues with PSR? Or is that just about creating value for investors? I don't know. I mean, they would say it was creating value. And I think that they're starting to prove that to be correct. Like, as they've moved on, these players that they've bought. The problem is, like, they're never, ever, ever going to, like, the two biggest buys they made were Quesado and Enzo Fernandez. They're never selling them on for a profit. Like, never. So I don't know. Like, they can claim success on. So, like, Cole Palmer's value, right? Like, they bought him for 35 million pounds or something. And he's. He's like, the third most valuable player in the PL now or something. Fifth, I think, is what it was. But that's fine if you're gonna have Kaiser and Enzo just play together for the next six to ten years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yeah. I don't know, but, yeah. These. These guys, like, on this talk sport, they were like, chelsea's done nothing wrong, and I wish I could do it. At my club was like, there they were just like, I'm. The only thing I could do is look on it with jealousy. Do they think that city did anything wrong? They didn't bring that up. I get the sense that Tom is sick of talking with us about this. You mean the fact that we don't even. Literally don't even talk to him about it? Like, he'll sooner yell at me about, like, anything else other than that to define conversation, dude. Like, if I've mentioned city, he's like, are you gonna tell me about the charges again? Yeah, right. What else am I gonna talk to you about, really? I don't like you that much. And then he changes the subject. He's like, Derek, let me tell you about what you're doing wrong in your professional life and how to fix it. Yeah, let me tell you about what city is doing wrong and how they should be demoted from the Premier League. Yeah, like, hinted at that, the discord. I sensed things about to go off the rails, and so I was like, all right, I'm just gonna log off. That shit needs to come to a resolution soon. I think Paquetta and City will get the. Their judgment in 2026, the way things are going these days. Yeah, maybe. I think the aim was 25, but yeah, yeah, I posted the, like, this all came up on our discord. Like, whatever the hell this drama is with Chelsea. And I posted that, like, babadook meme where the mom is in the front seat of the car and yelling back, why can't you be normal? And the kid is just screaming, and that's. That's Chelsea. It is exhausting. I guess the last thing, like, what? Like, what do you guys think of Asimin going to Turkey? We can, like, wrap up on this. He had to get out of Napoli. Like. Yeah, he was just not gonna play. Yeah, yeah. He'll make a lot of money. He'll have some fun. I don't know. They're covering what they said, nine out of 10 million of his wages, whatever he's getting paid. So, like, that. I don't know. If that wasn't on the table to Chelsea, maybe it wasn't because it. Chelsea's financial. No, they wouldn't. They wouldn't. They wouldn't cover those wages. They. Yeah, I mean, it was a miscalculation on Chelsea's part and his agents part to think that Chelsea would have. Yeah. And so it makes sense to go play. Like, he's not taking a pay cut. Right. He's gonna play, which is good, presumably, and can go, you know, increase his value, how to get the goal out. I'll be the top goal score. Galatas, right? Yeah. We didn't have a green. Right. So. Well, I think that there is, like, some, like, isn't Jose's at Fenner botch? No, Jose Galata. Sorry. Is he at Galata? Sorry. He said the opposite club of, like, whoever Osaman went to. Yeah. So there could be, like, some cool storylines in that league, but it's just like, I don't. Yeah, no, I don't think it's relevant, right. But like it's better than if he had gone to Saudi then he wouldn't come back and ever play irrelevant game of soccer the rest of his career, potentially. Whereas now, like he can go somewhere after Galatasaray and like have a career and we can see him play in games. Yeah. And you look at Ivan Tony, like Ivan Tony went to Saudi Arabia and. You already forgot he existed. But why, like, I don't know why Chelsea didn't go for Ivan Tony. Well, I could come up with some reasons, but I. Yeah, like I'm never gonna watch this turkey Super League or whatever it's called. Ivan Tony wanted to buy a sandcastle so I was. He's gonna buy as many sandcastles as he wants. If there's a player that goes to Saudi that I actually am not that upset about, it might be Ivan Tony. We discussed this last time, like, yeah, dude came up from like the third league of english football to the Premier League. He gets like, good for him. Go make. Yeah, I mean, I have no problem with anyone going there, like. But like, I'm not gonna care about what you're doing anymore. You're no longer relevant. Like, like Ruben Neves. Like, what the fuck are you doing, man? I couldn't. At the peak of your power, stu. That's crazy. Like that. That player is a world class player. But that's what awesome. And going there would have. Would have been. Yeah, and, yeah, I don't know. The assimil is really, really complicated. He truly only has like he, his seasons at the top level, in the top five leagues to this point are like mostly marred by injury. And then he had one season, I think it was like 22. Yeah, 22, 23. They won where he, he put it all together. He stayed mostly healthy and they won the skedetto and he won the golden boot and then he went to war with the club but then extended with them for some reason. And he, I don't know, it's hard to say how this ends for him. It's truly bizarre because like he needs to prove to the big teams that he wants to play for that he can stay healthy and score consistently. And I don't think he's gonna do a lot if he's, I mean if he's banging goals in and the 8th best like league in the world, who fucking cares? Yeah. We won't know until he makes the next move, I think. Yeah. Fair. Well, he did. He'll have opportunity in the Champions League probably. Yeah, he's, I mean he's 25. Like, it's weird. It's weird for a, like 25 year old who was at one point considered like in the top three strikers in the, in the world for. For at least a season. Like I remember reading an article that was like this, like Osaman will be a player who defines a. The next ten years of football. Of sigh was. I was never so hot on awesome. Yeah. A good player but he had one good season. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree with that. I'm just saying that. Yeah, there's some people who like, thought that and like now he's like 25, 26 and has to retool his career in, in Turkey. It, it's crazy. I think it goes hand in hand with the over and inflation of the market and the striker market in general. Like he was the guy out there and so everybody built him up and everybody talked about him and we talked about him. Right. And then, you know, because there aren't a lot of, there's dearth of talent there and there's not a lot of other people to talk about the moment. Yeah. Interested in making moves, shifting around. Like, Holland's not going anywhere except Real Madrid. Very well. He is going to Real Madrid. Yeah. After, after this season when, when Pap leaves and they. I don't think so. Yeah. I think he's gonna want to play the championship. I read today that they have tabled a huge offer to him that he's probably gonna take Man City. Yeah. Like he's basically gonna extend forever is what it sounds like. Yeah. I guess I'll play in the championship in 2027. Yeah. The last thing on Aciman was that he, as part of that move, he had his release clause lowered and there's a midseason break that he named ten teams apparently that could come in and break his contract mid season for, I think it's €65 million. So it's possible that in December he, he moves on and that I think would be best for him if, if he could make that happen, obviously, but we'll, we'll see. Luke, I'm sorry to inform you, but Tottenham was not among the ten top clubs that he listed on. Don't not want him at Tottenham. There's no desire for him at Tottenham. I rather put Will Lancashire, all 19 years old up top instead of pay $65 million for awesome and who just like, like the part of the problem you went to war with his club. Like that is my, like, don't do that. You know, like you can have a successful career, get sold, just don't like play don't fuck up with your club. I don't want to fuck them. Don't give a shit. Don't care about that. Ten teams. Like, I don't know. Don't I even believe that? But, like, that's true. That is true, I guess. And he had fired his agent and negotiated this himself. This probably got fucked. So they, they said that, yeah, Derek. Derek hates agents, by the way, so he's probably, he's probably team awesome. And on that. That idea, but I am not. No, he probably got fucked, but I. Yeah, the rumor was that he wrote the ten teams, like, literally on a napkin and then, like, somebody included it in the contract. Like, he just very quickly jotted it down. It was like Real Madrid and, like, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool. Yeah. I don't know. Speaking of Tottenham, spending money, why are you guys ranked 8th in your, your premier League? Beer prices? Shouldn't you guys be at the top of the charts? Revenue? You're talking about Tottenham? Yeah. Like, what they're charging? Yeah. You guys, you guys need to be. Number one at 510, 5510 pounds in arsenals at 630. Oh, and what are you guys doing over there? Fucking amateur hour? I don't get it. Yeah. Stadium. Yeah. Gotta pay it off somehow. Where's Chelsea? Chelsea's probably like $15.15 pounds. Chelsea's fourth. We're at. We're at 570. Which, hell yeah. What's that? That we back up to Kensington's. The Bougie neighborhood there. Right? I'm surprised. I'm surprised we're not higher, to be honest. But anyway, if you want to get a lift to go after. Awesome. And there it is. I just did the financial analysis for you guys. Oh, yeah? Yeah, yeah. I bet if we, like, closed. If we. If we closed off that delta between us and Arsenal on, on beer prices, we could afford Acoman by. By December. Yep. All right. That's probably a pod. Thanks for tuning in. We will be back next week. Lucas informed us he won't be here. You guys probably expected that, though. What are you up to, Luke? Where are you at next weekend? You think I know where I am next weekend? You just know you're not coming to this. You're like, I will find something to do. No, I'm dry. I'm driving up to New York for the day. I got to pick up some paintings. Oh, yeah. Back to Baltimore. I'll be up driving up into Bushwick and back down, which will be probably not fun. Are you playing, um, playoff soccer with me tomorrow? Yes, I'll be. Is that tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow's Monday. I mean, tomorrow's playoffs. I thought we got knocked out of the class, but, yeah, I'll be there. Yeah. All right, well, like and subscribe, leave a review, dislike, do all those things, all those interactions. They help us out. Join our discord. The link is in the description of this episode, and thanks for tuning in, everyone. See you next week. Thanks for tuning in to the Football Yanks podcast. Be sure to subscribe wherever you heard this podcast so you never miss a future episode. We'll see you next time.