Vesper

not liking that at all we are tossing ALL our CB marbles into a (and I love the deal, and he is still WC IMHO) 36 year old jar

Edouard Mendy is a HARD PASS, especially for an INANE £45m. He looked sketchy in the last game I watched Rennes signed Mendy from Reims for just £3.6million in August 2019 and a £45m buy would mean his value has risen by over 12.5 times in one season.

well, hopefully we still sell AC for sure

Ethan Ampadu’s physical changes put him in the mix for Frank Lampard https://www.chelsea-news.co/2020/08/image-ethan-ampadus-physical-changes-put-mix-frank-lampard/ Chelsea are back in training, meaning there are photos coming out which allow us to make some all-too-early conclusions about the season to come. One thing that a few social media users noticed was a picture of Ethan Ampadu standing alongside Olivier Giroud and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the two tallest players in the squad. Ampadu doesn’t look out of place at all, in fact even without his hair he’s at most an inch or two off the others. That shows how he’s grown in the last year, while on loan at RB Leipzig. So while he didn’t get much playing time, he’s at least developed in one important regard when it comes to competing for a centre-back/central-midfield spot.

I would say that IF we sell AC, loan out Tomori and do not buy another CB (only one left who is actually available and worth buying now is Skriniar, as Upemecano will have to wait until summer 2021) AND we do not buy Rice until next summer as well Malang surely must stay

fuck yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! great free signing! I am not saying he will be a star for sure, but he has huge upside potential

Brighton & Hove Albion confirm Chelsea friendly for Saturday, with 2500 spectators! https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2020/8/26/21402606/brighton-hove-albion-confirm-chelsea-friendly-for-saturday-with-2500-spectators

£35-40m gets you Drinkwater or Bakayoko! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

A reply to Chilwell posting his contract signing

I agree m8, I agree it makes me too argy bargy

My guess is Monday the 31st

lol you boys smdh she is soooooooo not my taste too short (she is barely 5 feet tall), too thick and I detest big bomber thrupney bits

IF Messi comes in, I wonder if either Riyad Mahrez or Bernardo will want a transfer? Mahrez is probably the most likely as he turns 30yo soon. IF Pep keeps Bernardo at RW, then one of them will be buried. He will probably slide Bernardo over to much more of an AMF. They will have four left-footed RWers. Messi Bernardo Mahrez Ferran Torres (maybe they loan him out?) Complete imbalance, as they only have one true LWer (Sterling) None of their 4 left-footers likes to play on the left. And even Foden is left-footed, lolol. Plus they have 3 left-footed (obviously) LB's, and Pep doesn't rate any of them. So much so that he plays right-footed Cancelo at LB as of late. and finally, the low-rated left-footed RWer, Patrick Roberts, and then 2 left-footed CB's now (Laporte and Ake)

‘Under Monk, he’ll provide a lot of assists’ – a season to shine for Izzy Brown? https://theathletic.com/2010539/2020/08/25/izzy-brown-sheffield-wednesday-assists-monk/ Izzy Brown is used to life on the road. Now a well-established member of Chelsea’s loan army, six clubs in five years, plus a number of serious injuries, have forced the 23-year-old to grow up fast. First Vitesse, then Rotherham, Huddersfield, Brighton, Leeds and finally Luton have all given him a temporary home to varying degrees of success. Certain expectations and perceptions — good and bad — come with being a young Premier League player repeatedly sent on loan to the Championship. The tag of being one of Chelsea’s pampered academy kids sometimes weighs heavy but as he joins up with Sheffield Wednesday for his seventh loan spell, Brown will finally hope to shake off that familiar preconception. The stakes for success this season, for Brown and for Wednesday, have never been higher. As Garry Monk’s side prepare to start the campaign on a negative points tally, the attacking midfielder could be approaching a crossroads in his career. Brown has one year left to run on the four-year deal he signed in 2017 before joining Brighton & Hove Albion on loan, but he is not certain to be a free agent in the summer of 2021; sources have told The Athletic that there is an option to extend his stay at Stamford Bridge for a further year, though no talks between the club and the player’s representatives have yet taken place. Committing to a team that will start the season in a fairly dire position is a bold move but then there are great rewards to be had with great risks. “The manager said that this is the season where I kick-start my career again,” Brown said on signing for Wednesday. “I’ve had my injuries in the past and he said this is the season I can prove how good a player I am, that I can go out and prove what I’m really capable of. I’m excited that he’s got the belief in me that I can get back to what I was before and even better.” Rebuilding his career in the wake of an ACL injury sustained while he was at Brighton for the 2017-18 season has been a slow process. Rehab was gruelling after months where the creative midfielder was unable to move his leg, relying on his partner to help him shower and get up and down stairs at home. Recovery from two operations required heavy painkillers, which brought mood swings but, slowly, Brown made his way back to fitness to seal a loan to Leeds the following season. “People will always say about his injuries but I think that’s because of how committed he is as a player,” Brown’s former Huddersfield team-mate Mark Hudson tells The Athletic. “He is always in positions to take knocks because he’s creative and always forward-thinking and people try to knock those sorts of players down. “His stats last year showed that until his injury (a hamstring injury sustained while on loan with Luton), he was one of the most creative players in the league and he added assists and goals along the way as well. “He was a great kid and a big part of helping us where we needed to get to in the Premier League. He’s gone out and got lots of experience. He’s happy to put himself in uncomfortable environments and he’s not just gone out and played the easy game. He has gone out and learned his trade and played for different managers under different styles.” Wednesday fans will be familiar with Brown’s impact while on loan at Huddersfield, which came before his devastating ACL injury, as part of the team that knocked Carlos Carvalhal’s side out of the play-offs in 2017. He bagged five goals and one assist for Huddersfield, and three goals and five assists for Rotherham in a combined total of 41 games across 2016-17, in what was almost certainly the best season of Brown’s career so far. Each move since that initial first loan to Vitesse, which “scared” Brown as he moved abroad at the age of 18, has been his own decision — for better or worse. Brown’s decision to join Chelsea as a 16-year-old in 2013 was not without controversy as he left West Brom in what eventually became a £1 million deal after the two clubs went to a tribunal. While some would question whether that decision was worth it now that Brown has spent the majority of his time as a Chelsea player on loan, having played just 11 minutes of senior football in the season that Jose Mourinho’s side won the Premier League in 2015, it’s not something the midfielder regrets. “I was at Chelsea before I went to West Brom, at the age of 12,” he told The Athletic earlier this year. “I chose to sign for West Brom over Chelsea. When the chance came to return, I couldn’t say no. Sometimes you look back and go, ‘Should I have joined so early? Shouldn’t I have established myself more?’ but I wouldn’t have played with the players I have or learnt from some of the best managers in the world. I don’t regret the decision at all. “People will always have an opinion (thinking I made a mistake) but I feel any young player will want to join the club they support if the chance comes at 16. It’s tough to say no to that. I had a good relationship with people at West Brom and it was tough for me to leave but I’d turned Chelsea down once. I couldn’t do it again.” While some of Brown’s academy cohort are now in Frank Lampard’s first team, with Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Mason Mount just some of the youngsters to break through in recent seasons, it remains to be seen whether the former West Brom man will get another chance at Chelsea. Last season’s loan at Luton Town saw Brown created the most chances per minute of any player in the Championship over the course of 2019-20 and brought rewards in the form of individual praise and the team’s survival from relegation. That came after a frustrating season on loan at Leeds which didn’t work out as Brown only played 11 minutes of first-team football. Still recovering from his ACL injury when he signed, Leeds gave him time with their under-23s and he regained fitness but the bigger problem was impressing Marcelo Bielsa, who was never quite convinced by the player’s levels in training and as such, was reluctant to give him game time. Luton was a better fit for Brown, who found confidence with the support of then-Town boss Graeme Jones as doubts crept in about whether he could return to his past levels in the wake of his ACL and subsequent hamstring injuries. But meditation and the guidance of Chelsea’s technical coach for loan players, former striker Tore Andre Flo, were a big help. “Tore messaged me during the week; watched a lot of my matches and came to see me every month,” Brown told The Athletic while at Luton. “We sat down in a Costa near the training ground and chatted for half an hour. He showed me clips from all the games and just tells me as it is. That’s how I like it. “He talks about creating chances, saying, ‘This is good, you’re making the right decisions’ but then he will show me the opposite, explaining, ‘You could have been more selfish here and had a shot, rather than passing it to someone else’. I didn’t know about it when (Claude) Makelele came to see me, too. “It gives you such a boost. I watched players like that growing up. They were my idols, so to get advice from them is special. They know what they’re talking about. They have done what you want to do, so you have to listen.” Brown’s talent has always been clear and he is a popular figure with former coaches, who describe the midfielder as a “match-winner” who has fit in well with team-mates at all of his past clubs. Understanding how Brown works and thinks is the key to making him tick, it seems, with staff at loan clubs finding they got the most out of him by ensuring they kept a close eye on him to maintain high standards in training. While some sources described Brown as a case of a young Premier League player who has been given “too much too soon”, the Chelsea loanee is quick to dispel that impression of himself. “I feel like a lot of people have a perception of me that I am big time,” he told Football.London in 2019. “I am not big-time when you get to know me. I am confident and I like cars. It is just a hobby but I don’t do it to show off. People have their perception. When they really meet me, then they know. “It is probably because I am from Chelsea. People think when you are from Chelsea, you get everything. It is true that when you are growing up at Chelsea, you get everything given to you. It is not the real world. “When you step out in the real world is when you go out on loan. Then you really understand what football is like. I think at Chelsea, they sugarcoat it when you are young. That’s why loans are so important because you can man up. When you come in the dressing room, there’s no one there for you. They are grown men and they will tell you when you are not doing good enough.” Brown’s early days at West Brom and the fact that he has been on loan so often have meant he has not been in the Chelsea “bubble” for too long. He now has a young family and his mum, who coached him in his early days when he played in youth teams in Peterborough, have helped to keep him grounded. His maturity and leadership qualities — which will be welcomed in the Wednesday dressing room this season — have not gone amiss at his former clubs. “Firstly, he’s a great kid, willing to learn, but he is a man and plays the game like a man rather than someone who is young and coming through,” says former Huddersfield defender Hudson. “He’s not quiet — he is vocal. He demands the ball in training, he wants to be the best player on the park, get those assists and be that shining light but you can’t be like that if you are timid, especially in the Championship. If you see those loans he has had, he has made an impact in a lot of them, even if it’s just been short-term. That comes from character and he is definitely a character.” Already in pre-season training at Wednesday’s Middlewood Road training base, Brown at least has one familiar face in former Huddersfield coach Andrew Hughes, who recently joined Monk’s coaching staff. While Hudson is confident that Brown’s outgoing nature means it won’t take long for him to settle in, he is also certain that Hughes’ supportive coaching and existing relationship with Brown will be an asset to Wednesday this season. And if Wednesday can get Brown back to his best, then that’s certainly a prospect to get excited about. “In a team that is well organised and forward-thinking under Monk he will provide a lot of assists because he’s so creative,” Hudson said. “He doesn’t look for the easy pass, he likes to penetrate by driving forward and he’s a good link between the midfield and the forward line. I’m sure he’ll come and show what he is about and he’ll want to come and blend in, and be part of the group to make sure that he works hard and is in the team. “Izzy knows what it takes to compete in this league, especially at the top part of it. There’s no shortcuts to that and he knows that.”

¡Més que una telenovela!

GKer?

they are just butthurt because Bayern rapes them with impunity on free transfers lol

I think he could and this is the last window to get anything much for Alonso, as he turns 30 soon (2 days after Boxing Day) I have always had a love for multi positional players the second greatest back ever (IMHO, after Beckenbauer) Paolo Maldini, could play (and excel to an all century team level at multiple ones, especially as a CB and then a right-footed left back) all three CB positions, sweeper, left back, right back, DMF., and even CMF its one of the reason I so want Theo Hernandez, as I think he has massive LCB potential (look at his brother, who is smaller, he plays LCB and LB) Rice is another, as he can play both CB and DMF Havertz is ultra versatile, he cam play anywhere in the MF (except DMF), either wing (better on the RW though), AMF, a classic No. 10, as a SS, as a false 9, a classic solo 9, and in a dual striker role. (hello 4 4 2 with a double 6 (Rice and Kante in the dual pivot with Rice the deeper, or Rice and my dream signing there, Camavinga) and then Werner as the left CF, Havertz as the right CF) would so so love to see Ampadu come good in a huge way (he is a DMF/CB hybrid), and maybe we would not even need to make a move for Camavinga, but I do not see this at all, unfortunately, ATM Sarr is very much a wild card as well, he has huge upside plus, in a couple years he (hopefully he explodes) the mother of all huge technical CB's coming up to the top team in Xavier Mbuyamba we have a WC (even at his age I still think he is showing he is there, or damn close) for 2 years (especially the coming season) in Thiago Silva so looking ahead to 2022/23 if things REALLY fall into place our choices at CB (as Silva will be gone by then) could be (Rudiger and the rest will be sold by then) Mbuyamba (provided he lives up to his crazy talent) Upamecano (next season he is my number one CB target) Sarr (if we get him) Rice (if he is not playing DMF) Tomori (unless he is a bust) Marc Guehi (o clue if he is good enough, its 50/50 atm) and Ampadu in the mix (if he comes good, but I see him at DMF) that is potentially an INSANE (and still so young, but many are vets even now) CB corps I thik the only good enough CB avaiable right now (giminex is too expensive) is Skriniar, but we will need to liquidate a lot of players to buy him DMF options (Kante long gone by then, same for Jorginho) Rice (CB option as well) Camavinga (can play anywhere in the MF) Amapadu (CB option as well) Conor Gallagher (can play anywhere in the MF) if he comes good wild card Trevoh Chalobah I don ot think Jake Clarke-Salter is goig to make it, he is 23yo in weeks and is not making big strides Fullbacks If Reece doesn't actually go up to top level (I have faith he will), then I so hope we look at Nordi Mukiele or Sergiño Dest as competition Wild Card Dujon Sterling (woud be MASSIVE is he came good, I rate him still, but he is soon 21 (2 months from now) and needs to start showing top level skills. He is a great size (1.86m) and is a good athlete, He had a HORRID hamstring tear though, and is still struggling with it. LB should be fine with Chilwell and Sarr, but if we do not get Sarr, then ffs, go for Theo, as we will need a left footed CB for certain games, and he can play there I am sure), or, IF he explodes as I thik he might (and is available) Nuno Mendes, a potential beast (1.84m, like Theo, and strong pacy as well) Nuno Mendes of Sporting (he is only 19 now, but we are talking 2, 3 years down the road) and finally, of course Ian Maatsen, who I am not convinced on yet (plus he is so short) but am keeping an open mind

Inside the rise of Jonathan David, the Canadian who cost more than Alphonso Davies https://theathletic.com/2017429/2020/08/24/inside-the-rise-of-jonathan-david-the-canadian-who-cost-more-than-alphonso-davies/ One by one, a team full of grown men stood in line to shake hands with a teenager, each of them echoing the same sentiment: I hope I never see you again. Jonathan David was 16 years old, playing in the Ottawa Cup, a tournament for amateur men’s sides from local soccer associations that included the best university players in the region. David’s Ottawa Internationals had just beaten Gloucester Celtic, with the teenager scoring in the final. Jay Da Costa, long-time technical director of the Ottawa Gloucester Hornets soccer association, watched as his team held on a little tighter in the post-game handshake line. Many players were previously unaware of David. He was, after all, just another teenager in a youth soccer association. “You’re way too good to be here,” Da Costa recalls hearing his players repeatedly tell David. “You’ve got to go somewhere else.” Now 20 years old, David has done just that at the professional level with an August move from Belgium’s Gent to Ligue 1’s Lille OSC — a team with aspirations to return to the Champions League. A source confirmed the record-breaking transfer fee at €30 million. It is the most expensive transfer of a Canadian player — more than what Bayern Munich paid for Alphonso Davies, which could max out at €22 million — the most expensive outgoing transfer from Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League and the highest fee Lille has ever paid. Back in 2016, Da Costa was impressed with David, but still had reservations. “I wouldn’t have bet my mortgage that he was going to go as far as he has right now,” says Da Costa. Few would have — except for David himself. His path to Europe was unconventional, and he only arrived in France by betting on himself. If you blink while driving east out of Ottawa on the Queensway towards Gloucester, you might mistake it for every other Canadian suburb. Movie theatres and strip malls dot the side of the highway. Take a right onto Bearbrook Road and the landscape becomes even less inviting: a massive asphalt site sticks out along the forest-lined road. Just when there is nothing else to look at besides the road ahead of you, the forest clears and 12 soccer fields and a dome appear. This is the Hornet’s Nest, where David spent countless hours as a teenager, focusing on the one thing that led him to shatter those aforementioned transfer records: scoring goals. “He always put it in the right spot,” recalls Da Costa. Born in the United States before his family moved to Haiti when he was three months old, David and his parents then emigrated to Canada when he was six. He joined the Ottawa Gloucester Hornets when he was 11, after playing local house-league soccer. He was a raw talent, with quickness and a silky first touch matched with the ability to overpower defenders. Like many young North American players, he dreamt of playing in Europe. He grew up watching the tail end of Ronaldinho’s career with Barcelona and AC Milan, and loved how he could impact a game with every touch. His coaches remember players around him only wanting to show off their skills on the ball by taking on opponents one-on-one. David was no different at first, until he started working with Hanny El-Magraby, the Hornets coach who would stay with him for the rest of his time in Ottawa, including a move to another local association — the Ottawa Internationals. “That’s what gave him an edge: you could teach him something and he’d absorb it right away,” says El-Magraby. For the next five seasons, as David developed both his tactical acumen and his finishing ability, scoring multiple goals per game became the norm. When he started playing on the club’s U-15 and U-16 teams in the same season, as well as Ontario provincial teams, he separated from the pack. “The guy never said no,” says Da Costa. “He always wanted to play more soccer.” With that exposure came interest from Canada’s three MLS sides: the Vancouver Whitecaps, the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC. They wanted him in their academy setups. The Whitecaps, who then had Alphonso Davies in their fold, made an aggressive push as some of David’s teammates moved to their academy. He had a critical decision to make. Those closest to him did not want him to get lost in a North American academy. There was concern over the limited first-team minutes some Canadian professional clubs hand out to academy players and the fact that MLS clubs spend heavily on foreign attacking players, reducing opportunities for domestic forwards. David seriously considered a move, but still trusted the plan that El-Magraby had for him. He wanted to take a direct route to Europe, while Canadian clubs could only offer one with stopovers. Among Canadian men’s internationals, his decision is even more unique. Some, like Davies and Cyle Larin, have used MLS as a springboard to Europe. Others, such as Lucas Cavallini and Stephen Eustaquio, were developed in foreign academies. But given that no ability is more valued than goal-scoring, David wanted to dictate his own path. So he stayed with El-Magraby in Ottawa. Opinion on his decision throughout Canadian soccer was split. Some believed he could have gained structure in his training habits, off-pitch lifestyle and tactical approach by joining an academy. He could have benefitted from the tutelage of professional players sooner. Others believed that a player of David’s immense talent is rare in Canada, and that he was right to have faith in his own possibilities. Even if he was on the fringe of a European side, his value would be higher than if he was on the fringe of an MLS team. One person with knowledge of his situation in Canada said that if he went to an MLS academy, he would now be the equivalent of fellow 20-year-old forward Ayo Akinola, who only started to receive regular first-team minutes with Toronto FC this season. To ensure he would achieve his goal of playing in Europe, El-Magraby doubled down. He didn’t have the resources of an MLS academy, but that didn’t restrict him from placing lofty expectations on David and his teammates. “As Canadians, we should aspire to do what a Brazilian kid aspires to do,” says El-Magraby. “Brazilian kids, yes they want to play for their local club, but their hopes are to end up in Madrid or Juventus. So I thought, why shouldn’t we have the same aspirations? As Canadians, it’s not naturally ingrained in us to feel that way. So I felt like I had a responsibility to push him on that and see what the result would be. Jonathan took that seriously.” How seriously? He heeded some particularly jarring advice from his coach: “You can’t just be a regular kid.” El-Magraby wanted him to consider how to eat, hydrate and sleep properly, and how much time he spent with his friends versus alone with the ball. “Twenty-four hours a day,” he said, “you have to do something to help you.” Some of this advice rang hollow for El-Magraby’s other 16-year-olds. David was different. Paradoxically for a striker, he was never interested in bringing on more attention than necessary. He took after his father, who was an accountant at a bank in Haiti: reserved, and able to keep his emotions below the surface. “He already had a natural inclination to be a homebody,” says El-Magraby. “So that helped him.” The seeds of the composed player dubbed the “Iceman” by Canada head coach John Herdman were planted. Take his answer to a question about what many people might not know about him. He paused for close to 10 seconds, rubbed his chin and shrugged. “I just like to chill,” says David, eventually grinning. “He won’t give you too much beyond what you ask,” says El-Magraby. “You’re going to get the condensed version of what you’d like to hear.” Only his teammates and coaches who have stuck with him since he was a child know him best. A “second family environment,” says Da Costa. So much so that, to help keep David playing, Da Costa remembers different parents of his teammates contributing financially to his club and travelling fees nearly every season. Loyalty became ingrained in him. “He was getting the improvement he needed,” says Da Costa, “and he hoped the stars would align.” By the time he was 17, he had represented Canada at the 2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship, scoring two goals. His agent organized trials in Europe: an unsuccessful, brief spell at VfB Stuttgart and six weeks at Red Bull Salzburg, who had interest in signing him. It was at this time that Toronto FC also offered David a professional contract, but he continued to gamble on himself. In hindsight, his plan looks even riskier. Yes, other Canadians, such as Liverpool’s Liam Millar, were scouted directly out of their youth organizations. But the facilities, coaching and exposure that professional academies offer makes them hard to turn away. David remained loyal, and confident that his scoring abilities would get noticed. “Of course every time an opportunity came, it was difficult to refuse,” he says. “My mind was always set on Europe. I had to focus on that and stay on that.” No person was more important to his development than El-Magraby, who he still credits consistently. El-Magraby remembers driving David to a game when he was playing up with the Hornets’ U-16 side as a 15-year-old. Before they arrived at the pitch, El-Magraby pulled over and told him that for all his goal-scoring prowess, he needed more from him. The players he was going to face would be bigger and more physical. It was a challenge. “Potential is empty if it’s not pushed,” El-Magraby said to him. David responded. “From the first minute, he was on fire,” says El-Magraby. “Chasing defenders, and on one play he went shoulder-to-shoulder with a defender and laid him out. He took it on his own to goal and scored. It just showed me the type of player and person he is. Something you told him 30 minutes ago immediately impacted him.” David summoned that intensity ahead of his trial with Belgian side Gent — the last shot on his European tour. “He realized he had more to give,” says El-Magraby. Still 17 and unable to sign a European professional contract, David travelled back and forth multiple times from Ottawa to Belgium while on trial. His insistence on his path was justified when he signed for the Gent’s reserve team in January 2018. “I was in Ottawa almost my whole life,” he says. “What I’m most proud of is that I had the guts to wait and really go after what I wanted, which was to go play in Europe.” After a stint with Gent’s reserves, David delivered on his potential: he scored five goals in his first four first-team appearances, all off the bench. Just days after that fifth goal, Gent wasted little time extending his contract to 2022. In his first full professional season, and still a teenager, he scored 14 goals across all competitions. Though his contract was again extended, this time to 2023, it felt likely the 2019-20 season would be his last in Belgium. He left on a high note, scoring 23 goals across all competitions, and tying for the league lead with 18 goals. Interest came from across Europe — Arsenal, Manchester United, Leeds, Brighton & Hove, and Crystal Palace. Borussia Monchengladbach were also in for him, given the connection between David and their manager, Marco Rose, who was managing Red Bull Salzburg at the time of his trial. But it was the opportunity to start in his favoured position as a striker every week with a side that could be in the Champions League in 2021-22 after missing out for the upcoming season by one point, and appears ready to build around him. Lille also has a history of selling players on to bigger clubs. Just in the last year alone, Lille has transferred young attacking players to AC Milan, Napoli and Arsenal. “I think Lille is a club that gives a lot of chances to young players,” he says. “I wanted to go somewhere where I knew I could keep getting better, could keep playing.” As the Ligue 1 season begins, he wants to do exactly what he did on those pitches off Bearbrook Road back in Ottawa. “I want to score each chance I get,” says David. And in France he’ll be under pressure to do so. For now, he is a reminder of the quality that exists in different corners of the world, hidden in plain sight. David bet on himself, and on taking his own path to one of Europe’s top five leagues. And he’s willing to wager there are other players like him. “Canada has a lot of talent,” he says. “Maybe we just don’t have the exposure yet. Let’s say there’s a player playing in the street, they may have more talent than all of us. We just don’t know. We just have to give the players chances to really prove themselves.”

I assume you are talking about Sarr I had him down as a good option for left back months ago he played there more than a few times zero issues signing him on a free hell, try him out at DMF

given his utter lack of playing time and his chronic injuries, I would be shocked if he is up to it

Kovacic is a box to box ball carrier, not a stay at home and defend type