Sophia Smith signs richest NWSL contract ever, Midge Purce tears ACL, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy Thursday, y’all. Yesterday was a long, busy day, but there was a ton of news that happened. The biggest non-soccer news was the announcement that the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards will stay at Capital One Arena after the Potomac Yard deal was officially killed and DC offered $515 million for arena improvements.
Now, to the soccer news:
Sophia Smith signs new Thorns deal, becomes NWSL’s highest paid (ESPN)
Sophia Smith’s new deal with the Portland Thorns makes her the highest paid player ever by annual value. She is now signed through the end of 2025.
In sadder NWSL news, Midge Purce announced yesterday that she tore her ACL and will miss the rest of the season for Gotham and will miss the Olympics with the USWNT.
Ban knees.
Manchester City agree deal to sign Cavan Sullivan, 14, from Philadelphia Union (The Athletic)
This 14-year-old phenom is the real deal, and he will be moving to Manchester City when he turns 18. Until then, he stays with the Philadelphia Union, where he will sign a homegrown deal that will shatter every record possible.
LAFC finalizing deal with Olivier Giroud through 2025 (ESPN)
LAFC is grabbing another Frenchman, with Olivier Giroud reportedly heading there upon the completion of the Euros.
Real Madrid drops new Y-3 kit in Yamamoto-Adidas collaboration (Pro Soccer Wire)
These jerseys are fresh. But not $225 fresh. If they were a normal price, I’d definitely grab one.
Mayra Ramírez opener eases Chelsea into WCL semi-finals despite Ajax rally (The Guardian)
Chelsea Women will head to the Women’s Champions League semifinals after defeating Ajax.
Hey Spirits episode: Rodman returns, rookie arrivals, rowdy Audi, and a dub (DP)
We have a new Hey Spirits episode to recap the win in the home opener!
What have we learned about your MLS club in 2024? (MLS)
A breakdown of what each MLS club has done so far in the early part of the season.
Takeaways from Loudoun United’s 2-1 loss to Detroit (DP)
Ryan gives us the low down on what happened in Hamtramck in Loudoun’s loss to Detroit City last weekend.
What San Diego Wave sale means for skyrocketing NWSL club valuations (The Athletic)
Did the San Diego Wave sale set the market for other clubs or overvalue it? They examine the rising club valuations.
Report: McKennie rejects Juventus contract offer with reduced salary (Pro Soccer Wire)
Weston McKennie has been arguably Juventus’ best player this season. Juventus responded by offering him a reduced salary. We may have another situation where McKennie gets placed back into transfer purgatory this summer.
Have a great Thursday, everyone.
Thanks, Donald. As reliable as clockwork , no matter where on this globe you are.
Whenever I see some American phenom get signed by Man City (or any other large EPL team), it always comes across to me as terrible move for the player. I feel like in the last 5 years or so, we’ve seen so many young (or even not so young) guys do absolutely great in MLS, get signed by a big EPL team, never end up actually playing for that team, and then get transferred to some other random European or MLS team having dropped off from the level they were before because they haven’t played at all. I could absolutely be wrong, and I hope I am, but I have hard time seeing the Sullivan situation as anything but “Man City doesnt actually want him thinks they can make a profit off of his transfer in like 2 years”
I have my issues with Man City- who they’re owned by, the financial shenanigans- but mistreating young talent? Not really what they’re known for- or at least, there are some giant clubs who are way worse offenders. Think this kid will spend some time training in one of the demonstrably best academies in the sport, and they’ll evaluate him and likely treat him decently based on his level.
Beyond the impatience of the big PL teams, signing any young player is an utter crapshoot. Even with one as successful as Philly’s. They could get seriously injured or just hit a ceiling.
I’d also say, some of these giants that have been horrible in the past are also wising up on youth talent, cuz they’re being forced to consider them through market forces. Real Madrid and PSG come to mind, the former signs astounding youth talent for a premium and carefully develops them into Vinicius Jr, and PSG are finally using their home turf which is fucking Paris to generate cheaper efficiency. There’s the irksome part where a lot of these clubs will take the payday on homegrown talents because of the “pure profit” model, but generally, it pays to play them, both from a transfer market and salary standpoint.
All this said, if he signed with Chelsea, I’d have been concerned.
2 points — Cavan Sullivan isn’t just any player — this is no Seb Lletget for instance signing with West Ham. Cavan is widely regarded as one of the best players in his age group, anywhere in the world. Second, he should be pretty seasoned by the time he makes the leap across the pond. It seems highly unlikely he’ll crack the big squad at 18, but the U21s is a real likelihood. A great place to play for a year or two, while City Football Group figures out his level and his future. Not out of the question he makes it with City. Look at Phil Foden, who came through their youth program.
Midge Purce News: UGH!!! This merry go round is not good for these athletes, it’s heartbreaking.
And yeah, McKennie might have outgrown this cash strapped former giant of the game, if they don’t pay him his worth, a transfer might not be the worst thing- and if they try to hold him ransom, they’re even bigger jerks.
Really bizarre behavior from Juventus. Unless the whole point is to get him to move because they can’t/don’t want to pay him. I hope picks his next spot carefully.
I imagine he’ll have decent suitors. He’s definitely a CM vibes shuttler, but there’re clubs in need of such.
I shared this on Twitter yesterday, but figured it might be fun to put some eyes on it here.
Top 10 (games played) European players for @dcunited
.
1. Frederic Brillant (99)
2. Ola Kamara (85)
3. Dema Kovalenko (77)
4. Julian Gressel (73)
5. LEWIS NEAL! (53)
6. Wayne Rooney (48)
7. Nigel Robertha (45)
8. Zoltan Stieber (44)
9. Branko Boskovic (43)
10. Rod Dyachenko (42)
Christian Benteke is at 41 games, so he’ll enter the top 10 the next time he plays.
Eyes Rod Dyachenko
So sad to let the classics slip away…
He was on teams that won a Supporter’s Shield and a US Open Cup, which is more than you can say for Rooney. He also went to Vietnam for awhile and won a Vietnamese Cup in 2016.
DC United also traded a 2008 first round SuperDraft pick to Toronto to get him back after the Reds selected him in the Expansion Draft. That pick turned into Pat Phelan, who would later score his first MLS goal against DC (while playing for New England).
I just remember him as being dead weight and horrible talent evaluation by Nowak.
This is not wrong.
He scored a great goal in the playoffs against Chicago Fire, as DCU nearly completed an amazing comeback. I still say the most delirious moment I’ve ever seen from DCU crowd was when it seemed Christian Gomez had scored in stoppage time to even the series. More so, even than the Lewis Neal play. It was totally bonkers until the refs waved it off for a handball.
Good news! Dave Johnson is back o. The radio calling DC United’s game against Montreal. I certainly hope this means that Apple TV will still carry that audio, cuz I friggin hate the soulless commentary we’ve been subjected to so far.
It seems like it’s the same deal as last year. With home games, you can select the local radio feed.
I’m stunned to learn that there is a hot prospect teenager from Philadelphia that I share a first name with.
People have been talking about him for years, and he’s still only 14.
Well, no-one has actually seen the two of you together in the same location–I’m just saying. Coincidence?
I am also glad that the Wizards will stay downtown. That is where they belong. Ted Leonisis will get his Teddyworld entertainment complex in the building to the north of the arena and the arena will get renovated. There won’t be a huge social and economic hole downtown and they will stay in a location that is accessible from both sides of the river.
Just add this to the decades long list of failed Virginia stadium deals. You won’t see any major league stadiums in Virginia because Virginia does not have a special stadium/entertainment authority with bonding authority like DC and Maryland. The MD Stadium Authority and Events DC both structure stadium financing so the debt service comes from taxes on events at the stadium and hotels near the stadium. That keeps the stadium from taking away monies from fundamental services.
In Virginia, any infrastructure or tax breaks for a stadium needs to come out of General Obligation bonds because the Old Dominion does not have a counterpart to Events DC or the MD Stadium Authority. That means the bonds have to compete with fundamental services around the state. The VA Senate Finance Committee Chair is from near Norfolk. I don’t blame them for not wanting to pay for an entertainment venue they’ll never use or even see with their own eyes in favor of paying for regular services in their part of the state.
It’s has been stunning to me since the beginning that Governor Younkin didn’t know that. Neither he nor Ted Leonisis did their homework. They both deluded themselves into thinking that all they needed was a press conference and some renderings and it would solve the problems inherent in trying to build a stadium without an agency whose job is to do so and make sure the debt service costs to fund infrastructure are recouped in the stadium and related development.
Their lack of foresight is everyone else’s gain.
Plus, the two Virginia governors who ended up with egg on their face (Wilder, now Youngkin) were looking for big surprises where they pull a rabbit out of the hat and go “look at me!” And when you’re dealing with a State Legislature that needs to support that action, that’s dumb–just dumb.
That’s tough news about Purce. As for Smith, she rocks in NWSL. But I wonder about her internationally. She’s not a winger in a 433–provides terrible service, doesn’t see the field well. And do you see her as your central striker internationally in a 433? I’m not sure I do. She’s fabulous in NWSL–which to this point has been a league big on quick transitions, not a lot of tactical or positional focus.
I think for Smith to excel internationally the US is going to have to shift formations and approaches. Either play with just two up top (so Smith is paired with someone like Fishtel). Or she’s got to grow her game a lot.
I thought the comments about DCU in the “What have you learned about your club so far” are good.
And McKennie is a fine player but man is he high maintenance. It seems like he just wears out his welcome with clubs where they figure the hassles and “care and feeding” isn’t worth the quality on the field he provides. Maybe he’s just being lowballed but that’s how this reads to me.
I think he’s being lowballed. Reducing his salary when he’s having his best season for them? This is just a sign Juventus are in a financial mess, especially related to salaries.
Smith might not be a tremendous passer, but her dribbling and finishing are astounding. I wouldn’t mind her getting some European experience, though
Cincinnati just signed Yamil Asad.
I know he wasn’t everyone’s favorite, but I’m still surprised DC didn’t hang onto him for this year given how cheap he was and the sheer amount of positions he could play. Like sure, we need to play the kids, but as we saw last week, sometimes we run out of those too
I’m still pissed we couldn’t get a deal done with Sarsfield after his first year with us. Instead we replace him with Lucas Rodriguez, who seems to be having a relatively ok career, but never fit in all that well (and we also failed to sign him permanently). I think Asad ends up one of our favorites if he didn’t have to go rot on the bench between his stints.
And then, once he came back, Lossada just decided that he didn’t like him for some reason, so more bench time! But I totally agree that had he been able to stay after his first stint, I think he would’ve been a long-term fan favorite
Canouse out indefinitely. Health related, but no ankle injury related. Best wishes to him.
That’s unfortunate.
Opening Day. Orioles about to kickoff their first
matchgame. Nationals in an hour.Also, it’s Opening night for a new Soccer movie!! BBC News reporting about the premiere of “The Beautiful Game,” a fictional movie about the very real Homeless World Cup.
Long-timers at B&RU might recall I wrote about a documentary in 2008, called Kickin’ It, which featured various teams including the US men’s team.
The new movie stars the incomparable BIll Nighy as the English team coach, and hits Netflix this Friday.
As an aside, not sure what this says about Mexico and homelessness there, but the Mexican teams lead the way, with the Men’s team winning 4 titles, and the Women’s side winning 8 titles. Based on the data at the Wikipedia page, the USA have never medaled.