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USMNT Player Pool Discussion

I’m hoping we have Tyler Adams at full speed for the cup competition this summer and the ‘26 WC. He makes a huge difference in that midfield. He looked good last month.
 
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Tim Weah has played there although you hate to diminish his offense. Knowing Burrhalter, he'll prolly have Scally on the right. UGH!!
 
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I’m hoping we have Tyler Adams at full speed for the cup competition this summer and the ‘26 WC. He makes a huge difference in that midfield. He looked good last month.
That back ain’t gonna get him on the field soon and he probably shouldn’t play without at least a month of regular season fitness after that kind of injury. Which he won’t get.

And that’s a shame. When they were playing him as the regista, he shined last time out.
 
That back ain’t gonna get him on the field soon and he probably shouldn’t play without at least a month of regular season fitness after that kind of injury. Which he won’t get.
I'll bet he gets minutes, maybe starts, for the last 3-4 games in the EPL season. Add in friendlies vs Brazil (yipes!) and Bolivia and he just might be in full game shape for the big tourney. That assumes, as Huffy implied, that his Bournemouth coach and medical staff (not to mention Burrhalter) know what they're doing with Adams' minutes. Tyler has been known to come back from injury too soon and re-injure whatever.
 
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I'll bet he gets minutes, maybe starts, for the last 3-4 games in the EPL season. Add in friendlies vs Brazil (yipes!) and Bolivia and he just might be in full game shape for the big tourney. That assumes, as Huffy implied, that his Bournemouth coach and medical staff (not to mention Burrhalter) know what they're doing with Adams' minutes. Tyler has been known to come back from injury too soon and re-injure whatever.
They are middle table. Unless they are trying to sell him, he will coast.
 
Gio a twenty minute sub for Forrest in a 2-nil loss to City, He was largely ignored and showed no effort on defense. Free kick taking was grade school. Hes either done there or safely safe.
 
They are middle table. Unless they are trying to sell him, he will coast.
Don't know if Tyler Adams was "coasting" or re-injured or what but not named to squad today.

Several Americans yesterday but no goals, as Juventus played Milan in a goal-less draw. I thought Musah had one of his better games and so did Weah. McKennie came off the 2nd half bench and Pulisic has been in a 4 or 5 game slump and didn't do much.

Gio's loan to Forest has been a real nothing-burger. Dortmund will likely sell him if anyone's interested. Would be cool to have Milan or Juve show some interest.
 
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He was certainly playing like someone totally unconcerned about his pro future.
 
On Saturday, Norwich City & Josh Sargent were a lock for the EFL playoff and played a relegated team...and lost. That means a 4 seed vs Leeds this week and could have avoided them with a win. I blame the coach-David Wagner, who did not have his troops ready. No energy, no nothing. Sarge got very little service. Leeds likely beats beats them, season over & Sargent stays in the Championship, unless another team in a different league has taken notice of his 16 goals in 29 games. He's tied with Haji W. (19 in all comps) for EFL goals

Pulisic gets his 9th assist and gets off a 5-game scoring slump. Has 13 & 9 so far.....not a bad season for his new team.
 
Winning promotion voids his contract. There’s no guarantee he would go up or not be sold to buy someone else
 
Winning promotion voids his contract. There’s no guarantee he would go up or not be sold to buy someone else
Is this a standard clause written into Championship sides' contracts or players who play for a championship side contract which allows the club to buy it out upon promotion understanding they're going to have some more $$$ for the player pool and wanting to upgrade players as clubs know they only fully start to feel the impact of the added $$$ from EPL promotion in year 2? It's terrible to think that all the players that got teams to promotion all of a sudden are cast aside. Look at NFO and Luton (although Luton didn't go on the spending spree many thought they would).
 
Is this a standard clause written into Championship sides' contracts or players who play for a championship side contract which allows the club to buy it out upon promotion understanding they're going to have some more $$$ for the player pool and wanting to upgrade players as clubs know they only fully start to feel the impact of the added $$$ from EPL promotion in year 2? It's terrible to think that all the players that got teams to promotion all of a sudden are cast aside. Look at NFO and Luton (although Luton didn't go on the spending spree many thought they would).
Most of them receive bonuses at or above $1 million for going up, which is typically a years wage or more.

There are standard clauses written into every contract at every level. Up or down, you lose your job. Though that is changing. Basically players can agree to multi year deals with mandatory wage decreases, but these are basically mutual option arrangements, other clauses all the team or the player to walk away in reality. Other multi year clauses say they have a right to a free transfer if the team is relegated another EPL team offers a ridiculously low wage.

Sunderland made a mess of it not long ago. They signed multi year deals then waived the relegation wage drop clause to entice players who would otherwise not consider them. They thought they would be safe with the added talent. They weren’t. So when they went down half the team wasn’t locked into a contract at a reduced pre set wage. Then the players triggered their relegation release clauses, leaving a bunch of players nobody wanted at an inflated wage.

Most clubs do the right thing and retain people, Those moving on usually go to lateral clubs at increase pay or a team moving down with cash to spend.

What really stinks is when there is a fan favorite striker but the club knows they need help to stay up the following year. So they move out two or three defensive starters to free up cash to go sign a big name scorer on the open market.
 
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What really stinks is when there is a fan favorite striker but the club knows they need help to stay up the following year. So they move out two or three defensive starters to free up cash to go sign a big name scorer on the open market.
Josh Sargent?? BTW, it is estimated that promotion to the Prem. is worth about $300 million to the club.
 
Not to mention over 80k fans crowd into Wembley Stadium in London for the final.
I watched the Luton final last year, and there was easily 8-10x more people than what Luton can fit in Kenilworth Road. Remember, their schedule had to be configured the first few weeks of the EPL because the required tech upgrades and camera berths were not completed in time for their 1st originally scheduled home match. The tech upgrades were required for the advanced VAR used in EPL.
 
Winning promotion voids his contract. There’s no guarantee he would go up or not be sold to buy someone else
Since Bla mentions Luton Town as winner of that EFL playoff last season, they are a prime example of Huffy's comment. Ethan Horvath, as their starting goalie, helps lead Luton Town to promotion to the Prem and they promptly sell him. I'm not saying Horvath is a quality enough goalie to hack it in the EPL, but he could have been better than the guy they bought. Luton has a couple games left in the season and they are 3 points deep in the bottom three. They might pull it out & survive but will likely go straight back down to the EFL . If so, at least they have all those tech upgrades to play with in their dinky little stadium.

The team above them is Nottingham Forest with Gio Reyna. They're a train wreck also, although they'll probably stay up & send Luton down.
 
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Since Bla mentions Luton Town as winner of that EFL playoff last season, they are a prime example of Huffy's comment. Ethan Horvath, as their starting goalie, helps lead Luton Town to promotion to the Prem and they promptly sell him. I'm not saying Horvath is a quality enough goalie to hack it in the EPL, but he could have been better than the guy they bought. Luton has a couple games left in the season and they are 3 points deep in the bottom three. They might pull it out & survive but will likely go straight back down to the EFL . If so, at least they have all those tech upgrades to play with in their dinky little stadium.

The team above them is Nottingham Forest with Gio Reyna. They're a train wreck also, although they'll probably stay up & send Luton down.
Forest is a wreck because they kept blaming the GKs and bringing in new guys and didn't look hard enough at the defense. Same with Luton. Luton has scored only 3 fewer goals than ManU, yet they're languishing at the bottom of the table because they can't stop anyone from scoring. Right now, between Forest and Luton, you could have Courtouis, Oblak, Donnarumma, or Neuer back there for any of them and they likely would not have improved their placement. Forest blamed Turner so they brought in the Ukranian guy...who couldn't stop anything so they brought in Sels, who can't stop anything. Well they do stop shots, they can't prevent all the shots from happening which is on the defense.
 
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