Premier League Swap Shop
Hello! It's June 24th, and while nobody can stand up on the pitch, or is sitting down in the stadiums at Copa America, there's a nice little scam going on in the Premier League. Enjoy!
What do they all have in common other than nobody’s ever heard of them, and likely won’t until they pop-up on season six of Welcome to Wrexham?
In a desperately cynical or superbly smart move to abide by PSR, three of the clubs forced to sell players to balance the books before the June 30th accounting deadline, Aston Villa, Chelsea, and Everton, decided they’d ditch Transfermarket Sweep and have a little ‘swap meet’ instead over the weekend.
Essentially, they sold swapped each other the aforementioned bunch of ‘academy prospects’ at highly inflated prices while costing them very little. Oh, and Ian Maatsen.
For example, say a club (let’s call them Everton) have an academy starlet piece of deadwood who is ‘worth’ $6M, and another club (who we’ll call Manchester City) have ‘the next Peter Schmeichel’ a fifth-choice U21 League Two keeper worth $4M.
Standard transfer swap practice means a difference of $2M to be paid, while noting the standard valuations in the books as a piffling $4/2M profit.
Now that’s not a huge dent in the $XXXM they need to find before the end of the month.
But, there’s nothing to stop clubs valuing them at $28M and $26M respectively and still doing a ‘swap’ with the same $2M cash difference - instead they’ve ‘made’ a very different profit of $26/22M.
BINGO!
Suddenly, they’ve ‘balanced’ the books, met PSR requirements, and kept their star players prized assets.
They obviously needed a new model seeming Vincent Kompany and Burnley were no longer around to buy the likes of James Trafford.
You can read more over at the BBC.
EURO 2024 Round-up
Where to watch: all TV broadcasters around the globe from UEFA
It’s Crunch-Zeit - the final group games played at the same time and it’s all on the line.
Yesterday was Group A.
Hungary could still advance to the last 16 as one of the best third place finishers, after Kevin Csoboth scored with the last kick of the game on 90+10’ - the stoppage time due to Barnabás Varga suffering facial fractures in a collision with Scotland’s goalkeeper Angus Gunn that immediately knocked him unconscious.
Awfully decent of UEFA to gaslight us that there was ‘no delay’ by medical teams even though we all saw the Hungarian players have to get the stretcher themselves.
Meanwhile, Scotland go out of a major tournament at the group stage again:
In the other Group A game, Switzerland secured second spot - and would’ve qualified as group winners - had Germany not equalized in the 92nd minute. (BBC)
And today, it’s Group B:
Croatia vs. Italy 3 PM on FOX
- Commentators: Ian Darke & Landon Donovan
Albania vs. Spain 3 PM on FS1
- Commentators: Darren Fletcher & Owen Hargreaves
Yes, we’ll be watching Ian Darke and Landon Donovan, too.
PERMUTATIONS: Spain have qualified as group winners.
The defending champs will finish runners-up if they avoid defeat against Croatia, but will be out if they lose and Albania beats Spain.
If Albania beats Spain and Croatia beats Italy they’ll finish runners-up to Spain, but will be out if they lose and Croatia wins.
Croatia finish runners-up if they beat Italy and Albania loses, but should they draw and Albania not lose they’re out.
Switzerland awaits the runner-up in the Last 16.
COPA America Round-up
The pitches aren’t getting any better, and Weston McKennie isn’t impressed by the crowds, either:
"It's frustrating, especially for the player, to be in a stadium that seats 70,000 people and barely 25,000 get in. There is no atmosphere."
He wasn’t a fan of the AT&T Stadium’s pitch, despite USA’s easy, if labored 2-0 win over Bolivia: "It's an uneven pitch, it breaks away with every step".
And while it was far from a full house in Miami for Uruguay’s 3-1 win over Panama:
They made a decent enough racket as Uruguay showed why they’re one the the pre-tournament favorites.
In Other Soccer News
Bastian Schweinsteiger speaks into his coffee:
Raul Pinto, the Football Leaks hacker, is threatening to release more documents related to Man City’s dodgy dealings - another five hard drives to be exact containing millions more emails and documents. (Y!Sports)
Ruud van Nistelrooy could be joining Manchester United as part of Erik ten Hag’s coaching staff, or possibly Burnley’s new manager. (The Telegraph)
Stat of the Day
The Poland vs. Turkiye had more pitch invaders (5) than goals (3). Including this little munchkin (and the kid on the left):
The Daily Soccer Quote of the Day
"I’m over. I’m dead. Paul Pogba doesn’t exist anymore." - Paul Pogba
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