SoccerWise - MLS Edition: Neymar To Chicago, Miggy Back In ATL & Lucho/Evander Update

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

Neymar yes that Neymar! Is talking to the Chicago Fire YES THAT CHICAGO FIRE about coming to MLS. Tom & Gass dig into what this could mean for the league and for Chicago while also breaking news about a DP officially signing. Not to be outdone Charlotte have ended their Miguel Almiron pursuit while sealing a loan for Wilfred Zaha, BUT could this mean Miggy is headed home to Atlanta instead? Plus a little clarity as we head towards a Lucho Acosta & Evander solution around their MLS futures. Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

dynamic duo the tandem back at it again soccer wise live on youtube if you are watching if not listening to your podcast we are back for some big time major league soccer conversation a ton to dig into david goss and tommy scoops with you but tom there's a bigger soccer tournament that needs to be discussed right now senor boger your dad is currently in my state of florida for the big time over 60 championship of lakeland florida or whatever it's called put a little respect this is a national over 60 soccer tournament team Darcy's Tavern my favorite of all time the best soccer pub if you are anywhere in New Jersey come to Bradley Beach come to Darcy's Tavern it's my favorite place ever and this is partly for them because uh we've talked about this tournament before on extra time

because this is the third year my dad is going to Florida for a national over 60 soccer tournament. And the last time we talked about it, I didn't say anything about the team name. And for the last couple years, I'm in Darcy's and I'm talking to the owners and the bartenders and the patrons and the soccer players of Don't Forget Our Team Name next time. And I'm like, I didn't forget. I don't know if you guys wanted me

to say it or not. Because then, now you can look at the standings. They won this morning, had a 9 a.m. kick against the team that beat them in the semifinals the last two years the storylines were overflowing they go down one nil and they look into each other's eyes and say we're not losing can't tie it late game winner right right before full time obviously at 11 a.m they're opening their middle lights and cores lights and bud lights and whatever else that they're drinking so i'm imagining if you're a betting man, you probably take the under tomorrow, and maybe this is when the injuries start happening. But right now, game number one, three points.

It is one of those where the commentary would be like, oh, mate, they're too satisfied with themselves. They're not going to come back hungry in the next match. It's like, that's an actual reality because they are currently drunk so therefore they are Tom we got to put a soccer wide team together that plays in one of these tournaments somewhere I want it to be a thousand percent it's got to be like in Wisconsin in July at 102 degrees like worst case scenario and then we see whether we're divided or we're united in our in our coalition nothing could break us up david goss you know this don't even put it in the air as if that there'd be anything nothing could break us up tell your dad if he needs a ringer i i pass for

late 50s pretty easily so i could probably sneak my way into an over 60 league if i needed to and then i would be the best player on the field and that would be oh there's some serious ballers out there man let me tell you we got former england youth internationals we got some dudes who played pro we have a guy who played in greece who still was extremely more fit than me i was i watched him play in an over 40 game recently because they had the game before us and i he just took his shirt off after the game to change and i was like god damn it i wish i had your physique and he's 60 yeah that's what being in miami's like by the way it's all like super fit older people who like bike every day kayaks that stand up paddleboard it's

like big manhattan beach santa barbara energy of like just casually don't know their age and don't know where they operate i'm excited for next update. So we will be back live next week on SoccerWise to update you on Darcy's Tavern's performance in the tournament. And if not, I think, is it streaming live on Netflix? Or is it available on Amazon? Maybe this will be like a Drive to Survive type documentary. I would watch the hell out of it. We should produce it ourselves.

We should do it. Shout out to EG, who's ready to, he would be ready to play in our team for whatever tournament we do and as long as you play to his feet you're good just get it into his feet and operate i would take a back seat to that if i had to we obviously have massive news to talk about on this show we are so excited we did a live q a about transfers and everything going on yesterday that you just felt the need inside of your soul to do and so we jumped on we didn't put in the podcast feed so if you're listening to the podcast you can go watch that on youtube if you want if not i fully understand we're going to talk about

all the topics again on this show and we might start to do stuff more stuff like that well a lot of 24 hours like these are two different shows which is incredible a lot has changed and i think let's not beat around the bush anymore let's dig into it yeah let's get to it let's get the chicago fire are in potential talks and you have reported that they are discussing the potential of bringing romingu kuame over from kadith a 28 year old who could play in the attack for Chicago Fire, brain broken right here. This is the biggest news of the day that I've reported against Chicago Fire

in talks from Mali International midfielder Romange Kouame from Gadif, as David got said. I'm assuming we're going to spend the whole episode on this one story because this is the biggest MLS news, definitely the biggest Chicago Fire news that I've had today that we need to sink our teeth into i absolutely agree with you we will don't worry mason stujar has been traded to rsl we'll dig into that jt marsenkowski signing with the like galaxy alejandro alvarado signing with sandy go like this is what we do on this show but we should probably mention the big one we did the live show yesterday and in the

middle of the live show all of a sudden the chat blew up about namar his name and the city of chicago we both thought it was a joke then we both started to think it was getting real then we both started thought it was a joke then we thought it was getting real and since that time you have gone out you've done your reporting tom where do we stand right now the chicago fire are in preliminary talks to potentially sign global superstar neymar from al hawal and the interesting detail to me is the talks are around right now a winter transfer move his contract expires in the summer so i figured anything here would be you're allowed to talk to a potential free agent six months before the contract expires.

And it was like, no, the talks are for right now. And let me kind of lay out all the factual stuff that I've reported on GiveMeSport with my good friend. And when we talk about Neymar, we're talking about the Brazilian one? Yeah, the Brazilian one. That one. Brazil's all-time leading scorer ahead of Pele and Ronaldo. Brazil's second all-time caps uh at 128 so sources stress that the the early nature of these talks obviously this deal would be complicated and difficult because of namor's

stature in world football and the potential financial requirements what we were told is chicago are prepared to offer a package similar to what leno messi got from inter miami in so much as around 20 million a year plus sponsorships and other ways that they can try to make up the money. He is making around $100 million per year at Al-Halal. The players camp, what we were told in these early talks, have asked for more than that Messi deal. There was some rumor about this

that maybe Chicago can offer something similar to Al-Halal. Obviously not. They are not going to be offering $100 million, $70 million, $50 million, right? That's not happening. But they believe that they can get a deal done in this range, and they believe that they can be competitive. A couple more points of information before I throw it to you here, Gaz,

is one, Neymar is not currently registered for the Saudi League, but he can play in the Asian Champions League. He's not registered because Al-Halal already have all of their eight international slots filled. This is a real thing. And Neymar is their ninth one because when Neymar got injured, they signed another international player. And now they can change the registration whenever they want. They can put him back on. That's not interesting.

But, like, that's just another kind of interesting detail here. Another one is that Al-Halal or, like, want him to stay, or Saudi dealmakers in particular want him to stay in Saudi Arabia. There are still talks about him being an ambassador for the 2034 World Cup. Even if he leaves, as long as it's not acrimonious, I think that that will still continue. And lastly, of course, discovery rights. Chicago Fire have the discovery rights on Neymar.

So they are the only team allowed to. Whatar so they are they are the only team allowed to what i was told is they are the only team in mls that is having official serious conversations with namor and namor's camp that's what i was told uh miami club your maturana was asked about it last week or whenever it was that media day by david goss that they couldn't do it you the way you looked at me i felt like i had to i owed you one um that they said he said it was impossible and a lot of people would say how is it impossible you have lino messi and sergio busquets as your dps well i don't know this for a fact but the way he's talking about it plus what i have heard about jordi alba if he's saying it is impossible because

they have dp he was saying because of the roster rules it's impossible yes yes and the deduction is dps and then the further deduction is i've heard from several sources in the fall in the winter that jordi alba the first 18 months of his contract barcelona were still paying like 80 of it so that's part of why he was able to be on town and the speculation is if mascherano's saying that based on also what i've heard that maybe jordi alba is the third DP for Miami this winter. Again, I don't have that confirmed. I don't know that 100%.

But that would at least help explain Mascherano's comments. So, lastly, Santi Aona, first reporter of the talks for Chicago. ESPN's Jeff Carlisle, the great Jeff Carlisle, confirmed this news as well and has reported on it. Wanted to get that out of the way. David Goss, what are your thoughts? I made the face about mascherano because i thought it was the coolest flex that when asked about namar mascherano responded and he's like nay

we can't discuss nay he's not available to us and it was like oh cool so you're on like a nickname basis with namar like yeah no no big deal for sure yeah no me too Like I might hit up, you know, DB, my guy, David Beckham, and like see if he's busy later. There is no level to set for the magnitude of what this would mean, both for the Chicago Fire and for Major League Soccer. This should have happened two years ago. I understand the numbers and what's going on in Saudi Arabia and all of the outlier stuff. No one is as big as Messi.

No one has the gravity that Messi has. The only one who's close right now, though, is Neymar. And it would have been great if he was healthy last year and playing. He is still the centerpiece of the Brazilian national team, arguably the biggest brand still in the sport, even when you put them up against a Barcelona, Real Madrid, any team from Manchester, whatever it is. Brazil, number 10, playing in a World Cup. Brazil, number 10, playing in a World Cup.

Brazil, number 10, playing in an international competition. Like, that holds a place in sports that very few things do. Neymar is that person. He is top 20, I looked it up already, on all social media platforms for followers. He is, I think, to a different generation, the GOAT and a star, and, like, the player they want. He's, we talked about, I think on the live show yesterday, like if this happens, you've got to do the MJ like release video, have the music going from the Bulls and like have him come out because he's Air Jordan.

Like there are so many off the field things that matter. There's so many on the field things that matter. If healthy, I think Neymar hits all of them. I think he's worth every penny if it happens. And for it to not be Miami and not be LA and not be a New York team, I think, would be massive for the league. And it would be the moment Chicago has talked about.

Greg Berhalter has used this line twice in the last week. Chicago Fire are a sleeping giant in Major League Soccer. How do you wake up? You sign the second biggest player on the planet you sign the all-time leading goal scorer in brazilian history and to do it going into 2026 like me and paul had this debate on the show a few months ago when he was on and paul i think is right about a lot of what he was saying i don't want the pure like oh let's go get backup goalkeeper on loan here just because they're going to play in the world cup but like it matters and so to have namar come and be available and be

a part of your team and be here all the time and be talking about this in the build-up to that and during the club world's cup even though you're not playing in it like to have one of the faces of the game be connected to you it's just going to be huge it would be massive like i don't know that i get excited anymore about a lot of things i got hyped about wilfred zaha yesterday just because of the memories of thinking what it would be like if he ever came to mls i think if namar came to chicago specifically that would just be next level stuff yeah and like look soldier field isn't perfect but you already built in have a football stadium worth of seats that I think that that could be a really cool potential sight line.

Again, about 17 home games at a minimum, like not including League's Cup or whatever you're going to play in or Open Cup or whatever. I would hope so. That's what Miami has to travel to go do at the level that Chicago could do it. Yeah, exactly, man. So it would be super interesting when talking about, you know, big name players, right? And the way that you were saying that too, of, you know, just can't be a backup goaler, a guy that we know because he played for Napoli for a couple years, right? Like this is a global star that moves the needle. Talking to sources, you know, league office sources as well too. I think Tenorio had this story that there was like like mls has like an internal list of like global superstars that can make it like and it's it's messi ronaldo in their own stratosphere right they still are namor is third and i think he's by himself and then you'd probably say imbappe like in terms of name recognition and what would move the needle i've told the story before

but nycfc have said looking back on the lampampard-Villa-Pierlo era, we would have been, first and foremost, we wanted to win. But we also weren't getting the return on investment in terms of people coming to see these players. And those are three really big stars. So my whole point here is there are a few people who actually move the needle in a real way it's Messi it's Ronaldo and Neymar and obviously it's unrealistic in any way to talk about Mbappe or Haaland or or Bellingham or anybody else like that in terms of the realistic gets to MLS Neymar is that I want the world I want the reality to be that MLS signs these players at 27 and 28 years old and you take away the retirement conversation all of that I want that to be the reality it's not yet

Neymar at 32 though is like as close as you can still get he still has production left in him he I think it was Rivaldo that I watched on a video like two days ago say if Brazil's gonna win the World Cup it's gonna be because of Neymar like anytime Brazil's won a World Cup there's been a magical number 10 that the rest of the team has played for whether it's Garincha whether it's Pele all that type of stuff Ronaldo like that's what he said so those are the people you are talking about that will be talking about your team that you will add into the stratosphere of like being fans and being in this conversation the other thing is with Messi, you've brought South America into your sphere.

You're on the same time zone, the whole push around this Apple TV stuff of global audience, which you hear every single time someone logs on for a game and talks about the game and all of that. There are a few people who can help you push that. Neymar is one of them. I said it when, I mean, I think we talked on the show I would love Pogba to come I think Pogba has value because it's like an interesting storyline because he's

coming back from suspension you don't know what it is and he has like a very large presence in the world of the game but he's not going to play at the level that Neymar is going to play at and he is I mean no one else is at that name recognition level. So I think it makes sense he's on that list. I don't know what Ronaldo is at this point. I don't know what you're getting into if you get involved with that. And Neymar, therefore, is the next guy. But I think what's exciting about Chicago is this doesn't feel like a league initiative to say, let's pick X stars, let's sign them, and then allocate them to teams. Because Joe Monsueto owns this team, because they play in Soldier Field, because Chicago is one of the five biggest cities in the country, this feels like a genuine move that Chicago

can make themselves. And therefore, there's more sustainability in that. I think there's more connection to it of like, Neymar doesn't get dumped on their front door. And then both parties are like, who is this person? This is not what I signed up for. This is not what I signed up for. This is not what I signed up for. And again, all of Chicago stock, this fits in with. Like you built the new training ground.

You think it's a world-class facility. You know how people see that? Watching videos of you being at your training ground at your world-class facility with big name players and big things. And like, let's be real. They've already signed zinkerniegel and namar plays on the left side so he fits into that attack if if necessary i can't believe that

we both were loading up a zinkerniegel novel point because i was about to say i usually don't like to go to the ins and outs of like agencies and stuff like these are all like superfluous information i think to the average fan but i'll make an exception here zinkerniegel and namar are at the same agency. So there's familiarity between that group and Chicago. Again, that doesn't mean a whole lot. Do you think Zinkernagel and Neymar have hung out at the agency? They both grab an espresso while they wait in the lobby to have their meetings?

If I was Zinkernagel, I'd probably be trying to force that. Whether they have or not. I think that's the totem pole here. Oh, I mean, but that that, like, but that helps. Like, they were working on that deal for a while. They got it done. And I don't know. The agency, it's like a big super agent.

I don't know if he was doing the Zinkernagel. He probably had other clients as well. But, like, again, that helps with familiarity. These are just little things that, like, so you know for certain that Chicago have talked to his people. Like, regardless of whatever. Maybe they said, hey, you know, we got this player. What about you? You have anybody else?

Maybe Neymar? I don't know. Yeah. I think you're going to get a million comments about Greg Berhalter. I don't think Greg will be intimidated by it. Like, I think he believes soccer. The whole thing he set out to do with U.S. soccer was like to make U.S. to advance U.S. soccer, to change the perception. I. to advance U.S. soccer to change the perception I have said

this many times I know Greg Berhalter I know people that are respected throughout the soccer world that have nothing to do with U.S. soccer that value Greg Berhalter's opinion on the game and value him and so there is no coach in MLS that Neymar is going to feel intimidated by like every coach is going to have to manage that situation and Greg Warhalter I think would be the same man imagine being Hugo Kuypers right now and being like oh the potential that it could be Holly Salese serving balls into me or it could be Neymar like not quite sure what it looks like this year this is like absolutely mind-bending stuff it should happen it's exciting that it's on the verge or it's exciting that it's being discussed or being opened like it's exciting that it's real and if it doesn't happen that's

also okay chicago should at a time like this when there's no expectations this year when they're starting from the bottom when they're rebuilding these are the conversations chicago should be having and if it's not namymar I hope it's another big name that they're able to go out and say this can be a centerpiece player for us I could understand if you're a Chicago fan being a little snake bitten by the Shaqiri stuff but we're talking about two players in just two different stratospheres although your Liverpool Darwin Nunes fans are uh in the chat right now I should have went I should have went full Nunes with with with the haircut with what he what I think he has like shaved from like a couple inches over his

ear but i'm not anywhere near his hands and his darwin nunez that man is is beautiful and i hope he never leaves liverpool i don't care okay um on chicago he said yeah on chicago that that right now is where we stand with them um they have that DP spot open. They have to make a signing. We think it'll be the same position, whether it's Neymar or not. If it's Neymar, it will change the landscape of Major League Soccer. And I think that's exciting for anyone who cares about this league. Maybe less exciting for people who are fans of rival teams. Let's continue to dig in here. Let's go to what has been a developing story, Tom tom and you've been reporting on which is the futures in mls of a different brazilian evander and uh lucho acosta yeah so we touched

on this on the live show yesterday but i have more information on this front and the idea behind the story i wrote was that what i enjoy right now is it's not just us on podcasts or us as friends and and people who are fans of the league talking about what could happen this is interesting what's going on i'm getting those texts and calls from sources who all have intrigue around the league the people who are deciding who is getting bought and sold with the new cash trade initiative the new just cash transfer market within the league and i think that that's really fun and really interesting like one source kind of said to me directly was like look like just like you guys were at the frontier of this too like we don't know exactly like this thing is new to us too and that brings us to all these interconnected deals let's start with lucho costa

sources increasingly believe he's played his last game for cincinnati whether he's transferred within mls or not that is much stronger than I've heard it even yesterday. This is much stronger than I've heard it, again, in the fall when they were hopeful and saying no bridges have been burned. He had been talking about wanting to go back to Boca Juniors, wanting to go South America. I'm saying

that again because sources point to FC Dallas as a club, as a likely place that will be trying to sign Lucho O Acosta. Again, no bids have happened between Dallas and Cincy. Don't know for sure, but Dallas is being pointed to as a potential spot for Lucho because they sold Alan Velasco to Boca, which meant Lucho Acosta wasn't going to Boca, but also meant Dallas needed a DP10. So now they look at Lucho Acosta. Let's pause right there for a second, because as for Evander, you know, the first name that I keep on hearing, FC Cincinnati. If slash when Lucho Costa leaves, Cincinnati are

going to turn to Portland. I know that they've had preliminary conversations to try to gauge where things are. Another one that remains all interconnected, Orlando City have a serious interest in Evander, only if Martino Ajeta leaves. Martino Ajeta could leave because Estudiantes are interested in signing him. Estudiantes are interested in signing him because Sebastian Drusci, they didn't sign. And Sebastian Drusci left Austin to go to River Plate. So now Estudiantes might need a 10 and they want Martino Ajeta. If they get a deal done there, then Orlando looks to replace him with Evander. And that's interesting in the way all of this is moving. Again, nothing is imminent.

I was also told, in addition to Cincy and Orlando, there are two other MLS teams that are really serious about Evander as well. Portland remain insistent that we're happy if he comes back. He's got a couple more years left on his contract. You know, there's work to be done to repair the relationships, but that's their stance, that they're at least not saying, saying we're definitely getting rid of them the same way that it ended up happening with Chicho Arango to San Jose um and probably part of that is they're asking for 15 million dollars for Evander I don't know if they're going to get it but they're not going to

sell them at a discount is kind of what I've been told and and that's the other side of hey we'll be happy if he comes back he's an MVP candidate um we believe in him we you know we would like to make things like things could work out if we're able to repair the relationships but all these deals are all connected and maybe that there's other dominoes to fall beyond these two players that aren't obvious ones that we don't know about because teams are asking around hey how much would this player cost the same way that a lot of teams call t call others about how much allocation money would it take to get insert TAM player, insert young player, whatever, right? You couldn't do that. Nobody would waste their time calling, hey, curious, how much game would it take to get Lucho Acosta?

But now they're having those conversations. And I've heard about a lot of random ones. It's like insert any star player in the league, more or less. Like you can at least ask the question now. And I think that, going back to my initial point of sources around the league are trying to figure this out that's part of it too hey i don't know if this is a guardrail or not if we ask about you know i'm not going to name any players i don't want it to sound like i'm talking with knowledge but insert a best 11 type player and be like how much would he cost just curious

right like these things are happening and like i have no idea if this is going to be disappointing or this is going to explode and have a bunch of moves but it starts with lucho cost and it starts with the vander i've been looking for my red string so that we could try and chart this all together but the big question in the end is who is pepe silvia there is no pepe silvia there's no one working in these offices it is all fake you sound like charlie day right now trying to connect the dots with all of these moves it's really fun it is cool like everything you said and the the last part that's cool is one of the exciting things about major league soccer over the last few years has been how it's it's entered the transfer market and like cl merlo is a major reporter on major league soccer in argentina because mls is so connected to the game in argentina and mexico and then ecuador and colombia not brazil as much so to now have it

come full circle which is ex-argentine club can't sign ex-mls player so therefore a new player is available to the other team and that's all going to move and shift like it makes a ton of sense but i don't know that we were ever i wouldn't have guessed we'd ever see a day in which the two leagues and clubs like this were, like, so closely associated and so closely connected. And now the last piece of that is the ability to move players inside of Major League Soccer at this level because a Boca doesn't have enough money or a River doesn't have enough money or studiantes can't get the deal over the line and these clubs now being aligned with all these other teams because of the way moves happen and because of the way they move around for example in the past evander wanted to leave he's gone velasco's gone and then you get two young players that come into the league and maybe they hit maybe they don't the hit rate, you're probably looking at 30% chance that one of them hits. And the higher rate is that both of them don't.

And the league's worse off for it. Now you're in a situation where can Lucho go somewhere else? Can Evander go somewhere else? Can Portland now bring in a big addition? And the league is stronger next year overall as a league because of it. Lucho to Dallas would obviously be a dream scenario for FC Dallas they'd be better than they were going to be Lucho's a better player today than Alan Velasco is Petar Musa is ready to go like you start having a true attacker around him

who can create chances for him and all of that like that's massive I don't love the fit still with Evander and Cincinnati but I get it from a Cincinnati point of view, which is where you're at in a win-now mode of Miles Robinson on his contract, Matt Miasga at his age, Nwobodo on his contract, a known quantity from inside of MLS who gets the intricacies and the travel and all the expectations, even if he's not a clean fit for your system, is maybe safer than trying to go from outside the league and bring in another player and have a potential huge failure especially alongside Kevin Denke who's going to have to find his feet in MLS and all of that so it is this is a wild set of scenarios Dallas's name coming in here I don't think was something we expected when you mentioned I think it was Orlando yesterday

being tied to one or both of these players. That's one that you could see the money they spent on Muriel. The Wilfs have come in. They care. They won on the NWSL side. They won an open cup on the MLS side. Like they are trying to invest. We've never seen Dallas really invest at this level, but Petar Musa was a first step in that. And so if they could bring in Luchucho like this team immediately becomes a contender in the western conference i completely agree um i i'm worried about the defense but like i work figure it out later it's easier to find another center backer it's easier to scheme a better defensive situation than it is to find an mls mvp candidate in lucha former mls mvp i should say and potential and current mvp candidate in lucho Costa, and a golden boot potential winner in Peter Musa.

Like, I don't think that's a stretch in any way to say. So, yeah, I would like that. Still have questions about defense. There's other stuff that needs to go on with Dallas. Again, I will say that this is, like, there's nothing imminent or advanced or serious. Like, these are just some of the teams, particularly in this one,

it's a team that would be interested but again i don't know if they're gonna go to whatever asking price since he has i don't know what since he's asking prices i don't know if since he will prefer to send him out of the league if a middle eastern club comes up or if a south american club's up comes up i don't know what lucho costa wants to do he said he wanted to go back to argentina but now it's well dallas is closer so maybe um there's just there's a lot to go here so i don't even know if it's worth it to talk about you know the potential fits for for luce because i got i just don't want people to think that i'm saying it's it's all imminent yeah one thing to note the way the rule is written you cannot combine a cash trade with other assets

so this would not be a place for d Dallas to use all this scam they have now acquired in the Jesus Ferreira, Paul Ariel trade plus what they've converted over from Alan Velasco. Now, this is a new rule. So we could see, I don't know, Nick Hagelin go for 700,000 in allocation money at the same time by coincidence that, know lucho acosta uh ends up signing on a cash for trade deal all of those would be new i was thinking about this yesterday and i didn't say it and then we got here but we have you know dp rule was the beckham rule for a while i do wonder if like lucho leaves and evander goes somewhere for 20 million dollars if we end up calling this the evander deal or an evander you know the Evander rule and all these types of things because it wasn't built because these two players made these demands

but it has been made very clear in their process over the last three months and maybe how it ends why the rule was necessary and what sort of MLS teams were pushing the league for to be able to get to this put in place as well so a lot to follow for these fans, a lot to follow for these teams. You know I have it in the rundown just in case. Universal Epic Universe opens on May 22nd in Orlando. It's at five different themed worlds at Universal Parks. So if Evander is as big a Universal fan as we think he is, pure speculation, but you got to think he's pretty big,

that could be something that could sway him as well going forward. Let's talk Atlanta now. You want to dig into the Dirty South for a minute? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's start with Latte Loth, and then we'll go into Miggy. Okay, so the Latte loth update from this morning is myself and ben jacobs are reporting that a deal is agreed in principle with burrow for emmanuel

latte love i was told that personal terms are close atlanta are looking to close that deal but nothing is totally done and there was still a hurdle or two that needed to get resolved before anything could move forward but i said this tuesday and wednesday that you know there's growing confidence cautious optimism because there are still potentially clubs from england that could come in for lots i love and see if they could turn his head but i things are getting closer and closer frontland united to set a new major league soccer record transfer of around 20 million deal to sign Emmanuel Lateloff. The agreement in principle between the clubs is reached. They are working on personal terms and hope that they can push this along

over the next 48 hours or whatever to get it over the line. As this got reported by you and has been sort of worked out, I've fallen more in love with this deal for Atlanta because I really, when I look at him as a player, watch him play, look at his profile, look at his background, I do think they're getting a Premier League level player without having to wait to see him play in EPL. Like EPL teams are in for him.

They're talking about him as well. Clubs that are in the championship that think they're going to get promoted are talking about him. The Atalanta stuff was hectic for him. A lot of loans out. I think it delayed his development a little bit. And when you watch him play, like he's a guy that can score goals at that level.

If Atlanta can get this done, they bypass the fact that the tax then in two years on a player like this becomes way higher because they have EPL on their resume. And so I think this is really good work from Atlanta to get ahead of the curve here, to get a player in his profile that's willing to come to MLS. We talked about it on the last show or on the live show. Garth Lagerwey really respects or values players that have already moved leagues and moved countries to show that they can settle in and figure it out and sort of understand the changes that come as you change leagues

and change cultures and all of that type of stuff. It's a really interesting deal. I think it's an exciting first move to go along with Moronchuk and what they already have out on the wings. And it would be even more exciting if Miggy and Miguel Almiron was a part of this as well which you broke my brain with yesterday yeah so miguel almirone though that is getting closer and closer i'm told that essentially a deal is very close in terms of a transfer fee around 10 million plus

add-ons hearing from sources across the pond is that they believe miguel almirone has played his last game for the club it has been conveyed to them he would like to return to Atlanta at this stage though there are other clubs interested and once again Atlanta are working like hell to close personal terms with Miguel Almarone to have a shock return for the former Atlanta star to come back to MLS maybe he could be traveling as soon as this weekend that That's speculative. Everything has to get done and agreed. But again, this could be moving pretty soon. And again, Newcastle are working under the impression that he's played his last game for the club.

He came on as a substitute yesterday in a 3-0 win over Wolverhampton. I tuned in to try to see what hints I could glean from his body language of the crowd or whatever. Unfortunately, Peacock cut away immediately after the final whistle, so i don't know what happened uh but there was a couple of sequences where he got on the ball and if he was within 30 yards crowd was the crowd was screaming shoot um they did like he's fallen out of favor this season but that that fan base loved him man the same way that atlanta did and was watching him when he was in newcastle these newcastle fans love him just because of his work rate his smile everything he's about so i think that things are

moving in a very positive way the way that he's leaving this club and again there was nothing short of a big success for miguel maron to nick castle and guess what miguel maron is very close coming back to atlanta the thing that fans love about miguel almiroiron is for a guy of his talent and for a guy who makes the money he makes, he's a grinder. Like the way he plays the sport is at 110 miles per hour, and he's constantly putting defenders under pressure. He's constantly running. He's constantly moving. It's why I was confident about his move when he made the move to Europe. I didn't think he'd be a superstar and be the face of a team, but you knew he would fit in because he's got world-class athleticism he's got clean touch he's got vision and he does

the work off the ball to be a piece of a good team now coming back to Atlanta he could be the center of another team and it's not the exact same fit of like I doubt we're gonna get Dragon Ball Z celebrations I think him and Joseph had something special once in a lifetime, similar to you and me. Like, you just feel that flutter in your heart when you get on with them and when you're texting and when you see that message and all of that come through. I'm not sure that that's the case, but Miguel Almiron is now an older player.

He's an experienced player. He understands the industry. He understands the business. It just feels like a spot for him to be happy and a spot for he's struggled to get minutes a lot and he's had to grind through and win spots and like now all of a sudden it's on him and it's like do what you love in a place that you've already done it and you already enjoy and we said it yesterday it's gonna be 60,000 fans again like Miguel Almiron signs it lights up the Atlanta

fan base they already believe they're turning the corner you had the run against Miami last year Chris Henderson comes in if Loth gets over the line the Matty Cleek move like it's a better team they're already going to break a transfer record if you add on top of all of that the most beloved player or one of the two most beloved players in the club's history and someone who won the only championship returning to the team for all of that. It's just going to reignite this Atlanta fan base and put them in a space where they are the must watch show again. And they are the big party in that city. Because I remember when you'd go down there for big games in 2017 and 2018 and 2019,'d get out of the airport there'd be atlanta united stuff everywhere and anyone who you were talking to you're like i'm here for the game

they're like oh atlanta united we're like other cities you go and it's like oh cool i thought the bills were out of town like dude there's no question in that market and so this is a way to like guarantee that you get back it's such a fun point and like it is so correct we're in you know ubers and lifts and and la it's like oh what are you here for it's like oh man like what are the chances this person knows about mls like am i gonna do i don't feel like explaining this if not i'm in town for the side for the game i'm working this i was like oh what what what what game is going on soccer there's oh that's pretty cool. Those teams are – how are they doing? Well, that's the final.

What game is going on? Do you guys play well? And it's like, oh, we're not on the team because we're not pro athletes. Yeah. It was like very clearly, just look at me. I'm not. But then they just start talking about hotel deaths. And it's like, oh, yeah.

What's in town? Man, I really don't want to have this conversation with you. Just say hello and goodbye. So, yeah. It's like in Columbusumbus i'm like in columbus is pretty soccer crazy it was recruiting season in 2023 mls cup every every single ride share i was in had ohio state recruiting news transfer portal on the radio and it was like oh cool i'm dropping you off though there's something happening at the soccer stadium this weekend right right? Like, so that's pretty funny. So the news around Miguel Almiron is related to Charlotte.

But before we get there, we want to jump back, I think, a little bit, Tom, because you've got some news for us. Yes. So the Chicago Fire are finalizing a deal to sign French winger Jonathan Bamba from Celta Vigo. I'm not clear on the fee for Breach Romano for his report of this, and I sent him a DM. We talk occasionally.

He's a nice guy. So I said congrats on him for that. But Jonathan Bamba being finalized to the Chicago Fire. This will be a DP winger. Before that, you yell about Neymar. They can add another DP. But we're starting with this. Jonathan Bamba this is a

name that I heard a few weeks ago as one of their top targets I know that they were looking at several different players I don't know what it was and then the feedback I'd gotten from asking around about this was this deal is dead or you know talks are off for right now things aren't happening so they came back around like they bid on Jonathan Akone that was somebody I knew was behind Jonathan Bamba in the pecking order of their target. So then I was like, oh, damn, like Bamba really isn't going to happen. And now here we are. They got the deal back on.

Jonathan Bamba, after a lot of rumors to potentially linking him with MLS, when Atlanta United signed Luis Zaraújo in 2019, something like that, Jonathan Bamba was the guy they wanted. Or maybe that's too far. I know that he would have been the ideal target for several MLS Cups. Chicago was linked with him during the Gay-Ark Heights era at some point over the last four years as well. And now Jonathan Bamba is coming to the league

via a DP deal being finalized with the Chicago Fire. It kind of kills some of our Zinkernagel jokes, but it's okay. We'll accept it to have a DP player come into the league and be a part of the Chicago Fire. 28-year-old, you mentioned it, French-born, but has officially joined the Ivory Coast national team and has been playing for them for the last two years. Most of his career at Lille, like you mentioned, at the first team level, at least. And then Celta Vigo, he joined in 2023 and was a difference maker at both those teams.

He is an elite chance creator. I think when he comes into MLS at 28 years old, he's entering his prime, he's in his prime. So he can be a huge part of your team. And you go into the like, what happens with Neymar, what doesn't? The roster you put together today with Jonathan Bamba in this group, maybe a couple more tweaks at central midfield,

that's a competitive team in MLS. Under Greg Berhalter, that's a playoff team. I know Joe Larry will tell us everyone makes the playoffs, but, like, the Chicago Fire have it in a little while. So that's a great starting point and a great base for this team to be able to put together the next step of who they become. We mentioned it already. Greg Berhalter loves wide players.

He wants teams to be built around wide players getting to the end line, getting in 1v1 situations on the edge of the box, creating chances for their center forwards or creating chances for each other or themselves. That's the way he wants the game to be built that's what he's trying to put together so to already get a piece like this in the door is huge because this is a go-to attacking winger this is a player that other teams will have to game plan around and a player that you can play through game in and game out and like to have that in place is huge for Chicago early on in the off season. Exactly. And I think that this is going to be an excellent addition. And you look at the Chicago fire team right now, get Hugo Kuypers through the center.

Now you have Jonathan bomb on the right. Brian Gutierrez is as an attacking midfielder and then hail Stelosay or Zinkranogel or whoever has that left wing. And that's a really strong attack. And they still have another DP spot that they could use to sign somebody like Neymar or another super ambitious target that they're looking at. Like, this team with Jack Elliott, Carlos Teran, if he stays, Sam Rodgers, and everything else that they kind of have back there,

I think that they're solid enough. The double pivot of Cal Nicaso, Fede Navarro, I like a lot. Like, this is going to be a solid, good team. Solid at minimum is kind of where I'm at. But, like, I think that Jonathan. This is going to be a solid at minimum is kind of where I'm at. But I think that Jonathan Bamba is going to be a success in this league. And I also think that the knock-on effect, that he's going to make Kuypers even better. Because Kuypers is elite at what he's elite at.

And he needs chance creation like most other center forwards. That's not a knock in any way. The more chances you give him, the more goals this guy's going to score. It's just simple math. He scored double-digit last year, his first year in the league without a ton of production and a ton of support they've already improved that right back that was an upgrade that they've made so that you expect more attacking output probably better crossing from that position for this team guttman has been hurt over the last few years he can still give you

high level performance from the left-back spot. So now all of a sudden, the increase in creativity, the increase in chances created for Kuypers is massive. And you've got finishers. Bamba can be a finisher, and we hope Neymar one day might be one for this team as well. We hope Neymar can be a finisher one day? We hope Neymar plays for this team. It feels so weird to be like, oh, We hope Neymar can be a finisher one day? We hope Neymar plays for this team.

It feels so weird to be like, oh yeah, Neymar. Chris Mueller could start, Sergio Orgel could start, or Neymar could start. One of the three. Throw names in a hat and just pick one because you never know what's going to happen and you never know what they're going to do. What a day to be the Chicago Fire

and not the TV show for the first time, the actual soccer team moment. They might come up first on the SEO on the, on the Google searches for the first time in a really long time. If ever. Shoutouts. That's that's, that's why when you Google Chicago,

I get a Chicago fire FC, but it's back. Hey, Chicago fire TV show. We're coming for you. It's over. It's our time now. It's fine.

Everyone knows Chicago meds where the real money is made. I don't know if that's true it's our time now it's fine everyone knows chicago meds where the real money is made i don't know if that's true but i just threw it out there let's uh let's dig into charlotte here real quick let's talk zaha we we one of the reasons we went on live yesterday was with the zaha news sort of dominoing into the miggy news like we were so excited about it let's do it now on the pod um what are you hearing now the details with this aha move and what it means for charlotte yeah so again i reported yesterday that a deal was that they were nearing a deal they were very confident confident enough to give atlanta united permission to pursue or push really push on for the miguel marone deal what i was told is that things are very close. It is not, wouldn't say finalizing quite yet, but very, very close. There's a lot of optimism.

This is going to get done and going to get done soon. The details here is that the agreement would be for a loan through December with an option to extend that loan beyond that. Goss, you were telling me that as best you could see, his contract expires next summer. So what, 18 months from now? So I think Gallatin or just looking to get him off the books. And what I was told in talking to more people about this is Wilfred Zaha, for whatever questions of his age or anything else, they are convinced that this is a player who is extremely hungry, extremely eager to come to Charlotte FC in Major League Soccer,

and eager to prove himself as one of the best players in the league. Like, people I talk to, like, in a meeting he he used he used the word MVP like that he he wants like he he's got that on his mind that he that he's not just coming here or at least he's convinced people that he's not coming here just for a paycheck that he's absolutely locked in and really wants this and again this is a player who since he left Crystal Palace it hasn't been perfect uh the Galatasaray the full season he played a lot again he had good numbers and everything but he wasn't playing he wasn't the team obviously wasn't built around him right that's kind of what his role will be in charlotte who have so much more responsibility and his loan to leon the first half of this season has been even worse because he hasn't

played very much so this is a player who's kind of been knocked back a little bit and he's going to be extremely hungry to prove he is still at the top of his game here and even better for charlotte fc we when we discuss this when it first got announced and you first announced it what i like about this move for charlotte is he does not need to be the center of everything there's enough quality in this attack that he can play his role at a high level and that can be enough to make it worth the deal that they're bringing him in on at least for this first year and they're not locked in right it's a loan they can get out of this if it goes poorly i think leo alabada will be better this year pet bl pet bl coming back i've said over and over again

mvp now now we're really talking mvp, exactly. We're talking about a borderline DP player, not on a DP contract. Patrick Oshabon's obviously the best player in the history of Major League Soccer. And Kerwin Vargas has been inconsistent. So if Zaha is just the other half of Kerwin Vargas, and between the two you get an attacker who's in form at all times,

and you're solving a team to, that would be a victory. I think it'll be better than that. I think Zaha has a really clean place in this league he doesn't need the money he's on the contract like they're not paying him galatasaray has already put the money there he feels like is one of those people who's looking for a life change wants to get back to the thing he loves to go into bank of america stadium and do it in front of 40 000 fans with pepas in the background and like have a good time enjoy what you do again he feels like one of those

people that that's what he's looking for i think charlotte could be the right spot for him to like push on from there and say oh like i'm really happy i'm really enjoying this and this team wasn't far off they were fifth in the eastern conference last year and they made a ton of moves through the year they were going to be better in the first game of next year anyway because tim ream is there and settled because kalina has returned to the level he plays at because they've cleaned things up in central midfield like the base for this team was already better now you add an attacking output on the top side of this and it's going to be really really dangerous and we still don't know

what the future is for carol swiderski and so that's still up in the air this team could get better like they could on top of zaha still continue to improve um as a club this should be the most excited charlotte fans have ever been this is the best group they've ever had this is the most coherent they've ever been and it's the earliest they've ever gotten their work done so to be able to like go into a pre-season with the pieces and then from there start to build is a really big deal for charlotte and i think a lot of it goes to like dean smith has been the right presence for them so far and now he gets to continue to build things he went from now hopefully the base to building things even higher and more dangerous so really good for atlanta or sorry for charlotte worked out for atlanta that miggy then becomes available and

then he's able to potentially go home and that all works out for everyone involved i cannot wait to see miguel almeron against charlotte for the first time it just feels like a fun little thing that we're gonna have to build up to i would agree. I mean, I know why you're saying it because we're talking about Charlotte right now, but I just want to see Miguel Moro back at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. I believe that they played an international there, and he was obviously adored by the Atlanta United fans

that came to that game. That's going to be beautiful. I'm sorry that I had to just lean to type. I got a tweet at some point here. I got to pay the bills at some point. Anyway, that brought me back to Jonathan Bamba. I just want to clear up for probably the minority of people who have asked this question,

as I think it should have been assumed. Yes, he is a DP. That is confirmed. There is no way that this player is a TAM. And like anybody who maybe sounded a little underwhelmed, I got a DM that was underwhelmed that this would be a really good TAM signing. I don't know about DP.

This is an excellent DP signing. Let me just say that, right? Like, maybe he doesn't work out. Sure. Maybe this clip looks dumb in a year. Sure. That's possible. But the profile, his age, the fact that he's proven across multiple different leagues

and technically multiple different national teams, because he was a France Youth International before he committed to the switch to the Ivory Coast, where he has 10 caps. This is an excellent player player and i don't know what the fee is yet i am working on it but like this won't be cheap it won't be nothing right like this is a dp level player and like just just to set those expectations and that this is not a damn deal and this is not somebody who i don't know if he should be a dp if you're signing this player it's a dp and you're committing to him, and I think it's an excellent signing. Listen, Sean Maloney's not walking through that door. Derrick and Shakir is not walking through that door.

Flacco Fernandez is not walking through that door. There are some legends who have played out on the wing for this Chicago Fire team as a DP, and you've got the next one in Bamba, and as Tom said, you can guarantee it's going to work out because of chicago history with those signings in the past i kid i kid uh someone just put into my group chat that namar is a mets fan because he is juggling in a mets jersey so game just changed everything just shifted all of a sudden and we need to reevaluate who we are and what we do and what we think about. Games back, mate. Let's talk Austin FC.

Yeah. It has been a chaotic, exciting, interesting two weeks, three weeks for Austin. They set their transfer record acquiring Brandon Vasquez. Immediately, the reports came that Sebastian Drusi, interested in going home to play for River Plate, did not arrive for preseason training. And now two major moves have been done for austin tom with drucy on his way finally to argentina yeah so i

reported yesterday that deal was being finalized for river plate to sign sebastian drucy for 10 million dollars from austin fc and austin fc were only going to sanction this deal with two reasons one if they got the asking price, and eventually they did. And two, if they felt confident they had a DP replacement lined up. They have been working on these two deals parallel with each other for weeks. It has been difficult, and they are at the finish line to get another DP over the line. Myrto Uzuni, an Albanian international center forward for Granada, is close to being signed. Deals agreed in principle in Austin will be triggering his $12 million release clause.

A significant outlay for, again, a player who's in his prime. So this is another ambitious signing of we want to win. We're not buying this player to sell him on to try to turn a profit. And this is the third time in six months they've set a new club record transfer fee and again yes this is a this is a young club that is a fair point to say except the record was seven million for usman bukar in the summer that is a club record for probably half the teams in the league off the top of my head i don't know exactly brandon vasquez was 10 million that is um a very big deal. And now Uzuni at just 12.3 million US because it's 12 million euros. That's a top 10-ish, at least, signing in MLS history in terms of transfer fee being spent.

So this is a serious signing. And it's another forward. And they've been working really hard on this. And they're right there. Max Krugs asks in the chat, if neymar doesn't go to chicago is austin fc the offseason winner oh that's a great question that's a very good question austin's there charlotte's there honestly chicago is there um who else has the top of my head like if miggy signs i think atlanta is at. Like, so Atlanta is, but, um,

and maybe it's unfair to like grade them on a curve just because that they have so much money to spend this season. But yeah, it's Atlanta. Like I won't actually say Columbus is up, but like Columbus keeping non say and Kucho so far and essentially keeping their entire team together. That's a big win. You can't say that that is Seattle. I like what they had coach being the win over spending $22 million is the most soccer wise answer we could possibly have come up.

No, no, it would have been if, what was the, the award for that's a nice little player. That's a nice little sign. Or Dwayne Yost move winning it for Houston. That'd be perfect.

Mason Stooge, Dar and Gavin Beavers being sold, meaning RSL wins the award for the best offseason. It's a good question. Listen, $22 million, like, you should be in that conversation. And I think for Austin fans, we've had a lot talk to us and a lot sort of interact with us. There's a ton of hope because it has gotten really stale and been really frustrating for them over a year and a half. But the other thing was, like, we didn't know this was a club that would do this.

There was not a path that said Austin FC is going to spend at numbers like this and continue to push things and spend on players that aren't going to be flipped. Like Austin felt like where they sat in the markets of MLS, they were going to be a fun atmosphere. They were going to sell out, but mid tier market. And they were going to probably try and lean on u22s for a decent chunk of money and then finding deals with guys who were free agents or their move didn't work out and we're looking for a new spot to finish and that's kind

of what happened with drusi who i believe bought himself out of his contract to be able to come there it's what rigoni looked like when they made that move it's what jr just jossie zardes was like when they brought him in. Diego Rubio. These aren't the biggest names they've signed, all of them. But these were the players that were sort of on the top end of their roster. So to then turn around and say, nope, we're going to spend $10 million on a USMNT player who's scoring in Liga MX. We're going to go break our transfer record again a week and a half later with a guy who has scored goals in la liga and league two at

granada like that's a pretty big deal and we'll see how it all fits together as well uh once it happens a few minutes left here let's open up the ice cream shop let's let it rip tom what uh what do you feel and what do you want to talk about uh let's start with san diego um a couple days ago right after the show actually that was why i had to get off the show. Luka Del Vittore. They're nearing a deal. San Diego is to sign him on loan from Celta Vigo. He will be a TAM player, I believe, not DP. Still some final details, as last I heard,

but I have heard nothing that would suggest that the move is in any doubt. But San Diego, I really, really like that signing for them. And I'll just add that it seems like their pursuit to sign alexander zubkov from shaktar danesk is inactive at the moment because shaktar is just unreasonable the player wanted the move the player was pushing for the move and they had a couple bids that were real bids at least a five million and just not gonna happen and san diego have moved on to other targets as far as as far as i understand but hey chicago did that with bomba and then they came back so maybe it happens but

as i've said on the show a few times shock to our not the easiest club to deal with we have a question in the chat from a fan who says tom any updates on the chicago bears head coaching search you're getting left and right uh i like lucas delatorre on this team i don't like him as a 10 i like him as an eight you had mentioned to me yesterday that they're going to play with two eights in those spots i think he makes a ton of sense especially in a team in which it sounds like they're targeting the wing as their other dp across from chuki that you can space the field out and you can have places where a player like Luca Del Toro can break lines with his dribbling and be able to attack defenders 1v1 in that way he is not a passer he

does not control the game that way he is not a pure goal scorer or a pure chance creator like he is a possession transition attacking central midfielder with the ball at his feet and I think it fits for this team similar what Danny Pereira was for the first year and a half, two years in Austin when they were dangerous out on the wings and Pereira could break lines with his dribbling coming up the middle. I think Luca Del Tori can do something similar. And I love the idea of having a San Diego guy for year one who's probably the biggest name currently playing alongside Brandon Vasquez.

Get him back in the national team get his feet settled again and if he likes it and it works then you bring him back full time and then he you know can be a building block for this club going forward at the age he's at it makes a ton of sense and I like this move for them the way they've set it up yeah I agree anything else that you want to add on San Diego no I. I like Alejandro Alvarado. He is part of what was a lost generation of LA Galaxy Academy guys. I'm hoping a few of them hit. Kobe Hernandez has had some time in USL.

You know, Uli Lainez, it never worked out for him. There's way too many names that fell through the cracks for those few years when the Galaxy just couldn't get their stuff together. And so, shout out to alvarado for coming back to mls and having it happen in san diego i agree um next team for me vancouver whitecaps the club are nearing a deal to sign uruguay youth international forward anderson duarte on loan from taluka this is a 20 year old highly rated uruguay youth international he won the u20 world cup with uruguay 2023 i believe he was their top scorer or tied for the top, something like that. He was a key player for that team. He wasn't just somewhere on the bench.

He moved to Toluca for a $4 million fee in the summer, hasn't played a ton. Now a loan deal has been set, nearing a loan deal, sorry, I should say, with the Vancouver Whitecaps, and I think this would be an awesome addition. And this is just, what, backup and rotation for Brian White? I think that he's another fluid player who can play on either wing. He's played as a second striker. Like he's not a nine.

He's more of like, I guess, backup rotation for those two spots under Brian White, whether it's playing with Gauld or if Stuart Armstrong kind of drops deeper. This would be, like, this is a really, really good way to use the U-22 initiative. I would really be happy with this move for vancouver the u22s have been a hit and miss spot for them pedro vite's been really good it took him a little while a different position than they thought he'd play in i think he's played deeper than expected he's been very good every

other u22 they have struggled with they have tried to just get real attacking talent and creativity out of those spots. It's just been really hard because you're talking about unknowns or you're talking about inconsistent players. It does feel like they have the structure around for a player like that, player like this to come in and be like,

again, Ryan Gould's the star. Stuart Armstrong's number two. Brian White's going to be there and put in minutes. Kubas behind you. You don't have to do too much. And you can take risks. And you can sort of change the game for us, whether it's off the bench or from the starting lineup. So it makes sense for Vancouver.

And they didn't have a ton of flexibility. Like, this is probably kind of it for them in this offseason. Yeah, and that's kind of why I like this, too. Because I didn't know. Like, this is a real high-talented target. Again, whether he works out or not, like this is a really good role to dice. I didn't know if they were either going to have the money to spend,

like, cause that's why he's alone. This would be a really significant transfer fee. So I think this is a creative way to get in a really talented player and figure it out from there. You can let Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds buy him when they have the money coming up in a year or two. We've got 87 questions about Vancouver ownership. We don't have any answers for you.

Sticking to Pacific Northwest, Kim Keehee has signed with the Seattle Sounders. I think Sounders at heart had the reporting on this. 35 years old, but was best 11 in the K League last year and obviously won MLS Cup. He was a huge part of the 2019 team. Post Chad Marshall, like it was, and Roman Torres. Who was going to step into those spots? Kim Kiki, both in possession and out of possession, was elite for this team. It could open the door to three at the back for them.

It could just be more rotation and depth at the center back position. And of course, they're going into Club World Cup. We don't know what their experience will be like with Leagues Cup and Open Cup. We don't know how many competitions they're going to play in. Seattle has always tried to play in as many as they can and compete across all of them. It just adds more depth and more quality to a pretty young back line as well. Let's continue on here. Tom, what do you want to hit next?

John Tolkien to Holstein Kiel is official. Deal around $3 million plus to sell that percentage for the New York Red Bulls. Red Bulls have options now at left back. They're still working on that Chilean international Morales, but even if they don't sign him, they have another player, the Panamanian, who is with their second team and has been promoted to the first team. We'll see where else they go, but they're well covered at the position. They knew this day was coming, and this day would be this winter,

and so well done to everybody. Get this deal done. Eric Dwayne, yes, we already know. The best low-key move. Oh, sorry. I was in two different conversations at the same time in my head. John Tolkien has left the U.S. January camp because of this move. Correct. He, along with Jalen Neal, who has left because of a minor injury,

and Jesus Ferreira, who has withdrawn from the camp because of fitness fitness issues which I don't love if I'm the Seattle Sounders but it is January so it's not exactly time uh but I don't love that being the situation they've all withdrawn going into what is the friendlies coming up so the Venezuela game is coming up on Saturday and then they travel to Orlando I believe to play the second game I cannot off the top of my head right now. Is it Iceland? Play a second game in that window. We'll have some coverage for you of that next week after we see the first game. I think with so much unknown being Pochettino,

we haven't seen a ton of games, plus this group being a January camp, so an odd group of players. I think we both wanted to see a little bit more before we dug into it and talked about it. So we'll do that on the next show. Miami has made a ton of moves. We have not talked about it a ton because Miami is such a like absurd, insane mystery of things. We'll dig into that some more as well next week.

Tom, before we get out of here, anything else you want to hit? Let me just scan this. Nothing. I mean, I guess we also like signing rafa cabral start a new starting goalkeeper uh mason statuars come in as a backup goalkeeper and kurt schmidt their sporting director said that chicho arango asked them for the move away and a fresh start and that's why that one happened he said he wasn't shocked by it as we were all shocked by it yeah if someone asked you to make a move and you've been working on it for weeks or months, you're

not going to be as surprised as all of us will be. Same as you are all always shocked whenever we do go live because we are chaotic in our own beautiful way. Monday, I believe, is Martin Luther King Day. So everyone have a good day there. We will be back on Tuesday with a live show as Tom continues to scoop, scoop, scoop it up. And we've got big NWSL coverage.

Go listen to the interview with Casey Stoney, new manager for the Canadian Women's National Team. And thank you to all of you who are here live. Thank you to all of you for listening. And we'll talk to you again very, very soon. We'll see you then.