Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / USMNT Transfer Window Preview: Pulisic, Adams, McKennie Rumors Addressed

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USMNT Transfer Window Preview: Pulisic, Adams, McKennie Rumors Addressed · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

0:00
Speaker 1: Think about it. I was transferring from a big club
0:02
Speaker 1: ral Betty's to a big club Tigrez, and yet I
0:06
Speaker 1: gave really, I gave up my career to a league
0:08
Speaker 1: that didn't even start yet, and I felt like that
0:11
Speaker 1: was part of my duty as an American player to
0:14
Speaker 1: help grow the game. It was sort of given myself
0:17
Speaker 1: to a league that didn't start yet because I would
0:19
Speaker 1: likely convince other players to do the same.
0:25
Speaker 2: What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to Inside American Soccer
0:29
Speaker 2: for our special US Men's national team January Transfer Windows special.
0:33
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Tom Bogert, and as always, I'm joined
0:35
Speaker 2: by my friend, one of the greatest players in US
0:38
Speaker 2: soccer history, a veteran of three World Cups, a former
0:41
Speaker 2: us U twenty World Cup and MS head coach, tap
0:44
Speaker 2: Ramos tap. The hollidays have started, Hanukah has already started.
0:47
Speaker 2: Christmas is coming up here. You got any big plans
0:49
Speaker 2: coming up?
0:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, big plans. One of the few years when my
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Speaker 1: brother is actually in from Arizona, so I have my
0:55
Speaker 1: brother and his family here, My kids will all be here.
0:58
Speaker 1: They'll be a big, big Chris miss this year for US.
1:02
Speaker 2: Oh that's exciting. Do you guys host What is that?
1:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we're hosting, and it doesn't always work out
1:08
Speaker 1: that way with everyone being in one place at one time,
1:12
Speaker 1: but we are lucky enough to have everybody this year.
1:15
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh that's the life. There's nothing more special than that.
1:19
Speaker 2: I'm lucky that my family I still live fifteen minutes
1:22
Speaker 2: for my parents, my wife's parents as well, kind of
1:24
Speaker 2: the same area, so that helps. And it's always nice
1:27
Speaker 2: to have everybody together and once again putting together my
1:30
Speaker 2: own pickup game on Christmas Eve morning. So soccer is
1:32
Speaker 2: always part of these holidays.
1:34
Speaker 1: Wow, I didn't know that. Okay, oh yeah.
1:38
Speaker 2: You did know that, but it's okay, we'll see you
1:40
Speaker 2: if you and your son are there this time. You know, No, well,
1:43
Speaker 2: who knows. I don't know. I don't know.
1:44
Speaker 1: If I knew that Thanksgiving you put something together.
1:46
Speaker 2: I didn't know that. It's every holiday. Last year after
1:51
Speaker 2: doing so we do Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve. I've been doing
1:54
Speaker 2: this for honestly, I'm thirty. I've been doing this for
1:57
Speaker 2: like twelve years. It's been It's really awesome, to the
2:00
Speaker 2: point where now people like Easter fourth of July, like, hey,
2:03
Speaker 2: you're putting together a game it's like no, no, no, just
2:05
Speaker 2: Christs and Thanksgiving for that. So we'll figure it out
2:07
Speaker 2: for ye. Outside of that, on today's show, it's all
2:12
Speaker 2: things January transfer window. We are six months away from
2:15
Speaker 2: the World Cup. This is the last transfer window before
2:17
Speaker 2: the World Cup. The World Cup happens during a transfer window.
2:19
Speaker 2: Obviously that will not impact the form of the players
2:23
Speaker 2: going into that. So what's going on with all the
2:25
Speaker 2: players in the US men's national team pool? Who could move,
2:28
Speaker 2: who should or shouldn't move? All of the latest information
2:31
Speaker 2: and sourcing that I've got, we're gonna give it to
2:33
Speaker 2: you here and then we're gonna go inside the locker room.
2:35
Speaker 2: We're talking about transfers. So in Tab's incredible career, he's
2:39
Speaker 2: gonna tell us about a couple of the big moves
2:41
Speaker 2: that he made. So I'm very very excited for that.
2:43
Speaker 2: But to get right into the transfers or the potential transfers,
2:47
Speaker 2: this January, it's an interesting time. If players were going
2:51
Speaker 2: to make a move, it should have been in the summer,
2:54
Speaker 2: making a transfer six months before the World Cup, where
2:56
Speaker 2: it's mid season for most of these players, the ones
2:59
Speaker 2: that aren't in MLS or in South America, so to
3:02
Speaker 2: move mid season and potentially risk playing time or or
3:07
Speaker 2: continuity and being comfortable and risking the idea of you're
3:10
Speaker 2: not gonna land well on a team is very dangerous.
3:13
Speaker 2: So the tenor of the show is going to be
3:15
Speaker 2: about a lot of guys who aren't gonna move, and
3:17
Speaker 2: that's what most of the segment's gonna be because in
3:20
Speaker 2: the summer, these are just a sample of the guys
3:22
Speaker 2: who did move, and a lot of these players really
3:24
Speaker 2: needed to move. Tim Waya, Johnny Cardoso, Giorana, Mark McKenzie,
3:29
Speaker 2: Eunice Musa, Malik Tillman, Matt Turner, Patrick Gajamo. All of
3:34
Speaker 2: those players moved in the summer, so obviously they're not
3:36
Speaker 2: moving in the winter. Since then, a couple of guys
3:39
Speaker 2: have signed new contracts Matt Freeze to stay at NSCFC,
3:42
Speaker 2: Miles Robinson e f C Cincinnati, Max Arsten Columbus Crew,
3:46
Speaker 2: Jack McGlenn Houston Dynamo. None of those guys are moving
3:49
Speaker 2: because they just signed new deals, and pretty much to
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Speaker 2: a man, I agree with all of those So for me,
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Speaker 2: tab it is the guys who might move this winter
3:59
Speaker 2: are not likely to any of the key players. It's
4:02
Speaker 2: more likely to be guys on the fringes or if
4:05
Speaker 2: they think that they need a move or special circumstances.
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Speaker 2: So so, tab how difficult would it be if, say,
4:11
Speaker 2: and we're gonna talk about Poolstic soon, but like if
4:13
Speaker 2: Christian Polisik were to move this this winter? How how
4:16
Speaker 2: big of a risk with that?
4:18
Speaker 1: Well, let me let me start by saying this. I've
4:20
Speaker 1: been lucky enough to speak with you quite a few
4:22
Speaker 1: mornings now. As we've been you know, doing this show
4:26
Speaker 1: together and and speaking with you about transfers and news,
4:30
Speaker 1: I almost feel like I'm going to the bakery and
4:32
Speaker 1: I'm getting that warm bread, you know, So I get that,
4:35
Speaker 1: I get that feeling. I really like it's that warm
4:38
Speaker 1: bread coming out of the oven type news. But yeah,
4:41
Speaker 1: I mean that. You know, when it comes to two transfers,
4:46
Speaker 1: you know, there's so much to consider because it starts
4:49
Speaker 1: really with the age of the player, right it started
4:51
Speaker 1: you know, where are you in your career? It starts
4:53
Speaker 1: with that, do you really want to make a move?
4:56
Speaker 1: Then it then you have to consider the competitiveness that
4:59
Speaker 1: you have going on in your position within your club.
5:02
Speaker 1: Are you in a good environment where you're playing all
5:04
Speaker 1: of the time, right, that's important. And if you move,
5:07
Speaker 1: do you go to an environment where you're gonna play
5:09
Speaker 1: more where that's going to be better for you? Again,
5:12
Speaker 1: depending on your age, are you growing in your career?
5:15
Speaker 2: Right?
5:15
Speaker 1: Then you go into your positional situation in your new club.
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Speaker 1: Are you walking right in and playing right away? Are
5:21
Speaker 1: you helping right away in that position? And the extension
5:24
Speaker 1: of your career? Are you moving into a club which
5:28
Speaker 1: will extend your career? Like example, if Christian politic who's
5:32
Speaker 1: by the way, in a great situation that personally I
5:33
Speaker 1: don't think he should move at all. But let's say
5:36
Speaker 1: he could go to Real Madrid next, right, So even
5:39
Speaker 1: if he didn't did what he didn't do well there,
5:42
Speaker 1: going to Real Madrid will obviously extend your career because
5:46
Speaker 1: you have another move from there. Right, That's something to consider.
5:49
Speaker 1: And then money, Let's not forget this is about the money.
5:54
Speaker 2: The lead there.
5:55
Speaker 1: This is about the money. If you get more money
5:57
Speaker 1: to go somewhere else and you're gonna make money for
5:59
Speaker 1: a period of time, then that's gonna be good for you.
6:02
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of things to consider that we
6:04
Speaker 1: can go into each individual case. And that applies to
6:08
Speaker 1: whether it's a middle of the year transfer or a
6:11
Speaker 1: middle of the summer transfer, let's.
6:13
Speaker 2: Say, right, and and that's that's good insight. But particularly
6:17
Speaker 2: for this January window, given how close it is to
6:19
Speaker 2: the World Cup, like there's not gonna be a ton
6:21
Speaker 2: of movement again, particularly for the key guys in the pool,
6:24
Speaker 2: because a lot of them are in good spots, and
6:26
Speaker 2: as I said, off the top, guys who who kind
6:28
Speaker 2: of either needed a move or are ready for a move,
6:31
Speaker 2: like Giorana at Simwaya, Johnny Cardoso, all for different reasons
6:34
Speaker 2: like Reno wasn't playing in Dortman, Cardoso was wanted by
6:37
Speaker 2: a bunch of clubs and he ends up going out
6:38
Speaker 2: Letical Matriid and sim Waya was unwanted by Juventus finds
6:41
Speaker 2: a really good spot in Marseille. So the summer was
6:43
Speaker 2: the time for oh man, like I need to change
6:45
Speaker 2: my outlook or okay, like if I'm ready to make
6:47
Speaker 2: the next step, as Johnny Cardoso was, all right, it's now,
6:50
Speaker 2: it's not January because there's just too much risk involved
6:53
Speaker 2: in a handful of months before the World Cup and
6:56
Speaker 2: going to a new team. These this example isn't like
7:00
Speaker 2: apples apples but well for Nanci struggling mightily at Celtic.
7:05
Speaker 2: He joins that team mid season as a coach. They're
7:08
Speaker 2: playing games every three days. You don't have any time
7:10
Speaker 2: on the training ground, and all of a sudden, it's
7:12
Speaker 2: it's looking like a complete disaster, and it's it's not
7:15
Speaker 2: quite the same for players. But hell, even Giorana when
7:18
Speaker 2: he went to Nottingham Forest on loan a couple of
7:20
Speaker 2: years ago, he didn't get up to speed with that
7:23
Speaker 2: team very quickly. He got a couple minutes off the bench,
7:25
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, he was He was
7:27
Speaker 2: not even he wasn't even a non US sub. He
7:29
Speaker 2: wasn't in the mass day squad. So making moves in
7:32
Speaker 2: January is never the easiest thing, but particularly this close
7:35
Speaker 2: to a World Cup, and I thought it was important
7:37
Speaker 2: for us to establish while we're gonna talk about again
7:40
Speaker 2: the next four players or next three players, sorry, in particular,
7:44
Speaker 2: who aren't gonna move. This is all why, this is
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Speaker 2: the backdrop to the general points for all these conversations.
7:49
Speaker 2: But to go into the Spacific specifics, let's talk about Poolisic.
7:53
Speaker 2: So he was rumored to be linked with Manchester United.
7:55
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't really believe it, Like maybe they're interested. Sure,
7:58
Speaker 2: they're probably interested in a billion plays everybody gets in
8:00
Speaker 2: to Manchester United. All that being said, his contract for
8:04
Speaker 2: Acing Milan expires in the summer of twenty twenty seven.
8:06
Speaker 2: He's in incredible form of AC Milan, particularly the last
8:09
Speaker 2: two seasons. There is if you're advising him, there is
8:12
Speaker 2: you would say, zero percent chance to move this winter,
8:15
Speaker 2: stay at a cy Milan. And then if you're Acing Milan,
8:18
Speaker 2: you don't want to sell him right now. One because
8:20
Speaker 2: you're in the Scudetto race and he's pretty much been
8:23
Speaker 2: your best player. And three, if he goes through a
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Speaker 2: World Cup and does well as I think we all
8:27
Speaker 2: expect him to do, that's gonna be more valuable of
8:30
Speaker 2: a transfer in the summer if he is to leave
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Speaker 2: Basey Milan.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, we can go into each
8:35
Speaker 1: one of those categories. I think you simplified it pretty
8:38
Speaker 1: well in terms of where he is sitting right now
8:40
Speaker 1: at AC Milan. Let's not forget Milan is a big,
8:44
Speaker 1: big club, right and although the SIRIEI is not what
8:47
Speaker 1: it used to be twenty years ago, it's a very
8:50
Speaker 1: competitive league in which he's doing amazingly well. I would say,
8:56
Speaker 1: you know, what Christian Polisic is doing a Milan is
8:59
Speaker 1: history in terms of what an American national team player
9:04
Speaker 1: potentially could do overseas. You know, it's overseas, that's it's
9:07
Speaker 1: not something that could be matched every day, regardless of
9:10
Speaker 1: the skill of the player. Now, a move to Manchester United,
9:14
Speaker 1: let's take that for example. So you know, when you
9:16
Speaker 1: think about moving to Manchester United, obviously it would be
9:19
Speaker 1: a big money move which works, So that would be
9:23
Speaker 1: that would be a check right. The next one would be,
9:27
Speaker 1: you know, would it work in terms of extending your career?
9:30
Speaker 1: Is there another move after Manchester United? And that would
9:33
Speaker 1: be another check, right, because playing at a huge club
9:36
Speaker 1: like that, you're definitely not ending your career there. If
9:38
Speaker 1: things don't go well, there's somewhere else you can go.
9:42
Speaker 1: But now you've got to look at you know, Christian
9:44
Speaker 1: Polistic has already been in the Premier League. I you know,
9:48
Speaker 1: not that he didn't he didn't do poorly, he didn't
9:51
Speaker 1: excel the way he is in Syria. And because of that,
9:55
Speaker 1: I think he's at a good place. I think he's
9:57
Speaker 1: at a place where he's showing his best. And by
9:59
Speaker 1: the way, I still think he's getting better, you know,
10:03
Speaker 1: every time you watch him to play, So so I
10:05
Speaker 1: think he's in a good environment unless those two categories,
10:08
Speaker 1: the two first categories are are heavily on one side.
10:13
Speaker 1: I think Christian politic, like you said, the World Cup
10:16
Speaker 1: is coming up. I think he'll have a great World Cup,
10:19
Speaker 1: and at least we're hoping that he will. And I
10:22
Speaker 1: think he needs to stay where he is. I think
10:24
Speaker 1: he's at a great place right now.
10:26
Speaker 2: I agree, and honestly having like, let's pay it forward
10:30
Speaker 2: to the summer after the World Cup, whatever happens, if
10:33
Speaker 2: he re signed with ASA Milan, I kind of think
10:36
Speaker 2: football and wise, that's the best option. But we talk
10:40
Speaker 2: about finances. A mid table team in England at this
10:43
Speaker 2: point can outspend the top teams in Italy for the
10:45
Speaker 2: most part, and that's just kind of the reality of
10:47
Speaker 2: the TV money and the spend and everything else. So
10:49
Speaker 2: I understand the draws that might pull him back to England.
10:53
Speaker 2: I don't know if I don't really want to see
10:54
Speaker 2: him go back to the premire Like Tabuck he said,
10:56
Speaker 2: like I thought he was good at Chelsea, but he
10:58
Speaker 2: was he was misused. How many different positions did he play?
11:01
Speaker 2: And yes, like he got injured a few times, so
11:03
Speaker 2: he's in and out of lineup and that didn't help
11:05
Speaker 2: the situation either. But and Chelsea is a one off, right,
11:09
Speaker 2: if he went to Newcastle in the future, I think
11:11
Speaker 2: I'd be I'd be excited. But for me, if he's
11:14
Speaker 2: going to leave a c Milan, a club like Bayern
11:17
Speaker 2: Munich at the moment, they don't need him. They've got
11:19
Speaker 2: some wonderful world class wingers. But hypothetically speaking, if he
11:23
Speaker 2: were to go to another big club, that's the kind
11:24
Speaker 2: of team I'd rather see him go to than than
11:26
Speaker 2: say Manchester United or or somebody else in England.
11:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed. I mean because we didn't discuss also the
11:34
Speaker 1: positional situation, which is what we talked about him. You know,
11:37
Speaker 1: he's in a good situation at ACE Milan where he's
11:40
Speaker 1: playing all the time, he's playing a position he looks
11:42
Speaker 1: completely comfortable and that, by the way, we haven't found
11:45
Speaker 1: on the national team yet, right, So he's much more
11:49
Speaker 1: comfortable playing for a CE Milan than he is on
11:51
Speaker 1: the national team. And if you were to go to
11:54
Speaker 1: Manchester United, now you have all of that pressure on
11:57
Speaker 1: your shoulders. Right now, you come in as a big
11:59
Speaker 1: trendans for now you have the responsibility of bringing Manchester
12:04
Speaker 1: United back to the Champions League and potentially to win
12:07
Speaker 1: the title, right because that's what Manchester United is about.
12:09
Speaker 1: They want to you know, every year.
12:11
Speaker 2: They chuse or don't get relegated.
12:12
Speaker 1: Well last year it was close enough, right, But but
12:16
Speaker 1: it would be a big responsibility. It would be weak
12:18
Speaker 1: to week in terms of like this guy's doing great,
12:21
Speaker 1: this guy's doing terrible, and I just don't think he
12:24
Speaker 1: needs that amount of pressure around himself at this point.
12:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, and I would look at the track
12:32
Speaker 2: record of recent big signings for Manchester United over the
12:35
Speaker 2: last genuinely decade. I don't think that that we need
12:39
Speaker 2: US Man national team stars at that club at the moment.
12:42
Speaker 2: On to another person who has been linked with Manchester United,
12:45
Speaker 2: and again maybe you and I have been as well.
12:46
Speaker 2: They're gonna be rumored two about a billion people. But
12:49
Speaker 2: Tyler Adams, and this isn't new because he's been linked
12:53
Speaker 2: with Liverpool and some other big clubs, like he's been
12:56
Speaker 2: one of the better defensive midfielders in England over the
12:58
Speaker 2: last twelve months. In particular since he's over the last
13:01
Speaker 2: two years really after those injury issues, but even before
13:04
Speaker 2: the injury, which the injury clouds everything for Genuary, even
13:07
Speaker 2: before the injury. This would be a mirror of the
13:10
Speaker 2: Christian poolsit conversation of do not leave a great situation
13:14
Speaker 2: six months before the World Cup if you're.
13:15
Speaker 1: Tolerated, And I would add something to that, and you're right,
13:19
Speaker 1: he's in a great situation. He's playing all the time,
13:22
Speaker 1: his coach loves him right, and he you know, and
13:24
Speaker 1: he's playing in the EPL in the middle of the
13:27
Speaker 1: tape of a table team which has done well for
13:30
Speaker 1: the last couple of years. I mean, it's going to
13:32
Speaker 1: be difficult for him to find that situation. But now
13:36
Speaker 1: there's another issue I think that comes up. And you
13:38
Speaker 1: and I discussed this last show, which was you know,
13:41
Speaker 1: he's been playing more minutes. He's almost played the same
13:44
Speaker 1: amount of minutes this year as he has in all
13:45
Speaker 1: of the years in the past. So the injuries. The
13:48
Speaker 1: injuries are a big deal because now it's becoming almost
13:51
Speaker 1: every year that there's an injury. And I think when
13:54
Speaker 1: you go into a big transfer to big club, they
13:57
Speaker 1: want that durability of being able to play two games
14:00
Speaker 1: a week and at this point, you know, given the
14:04
Speaker 1: history of the injuries that have come along, I think
14:08
Speaker 1: Tyler Adams is at a good place and shouldn't be
14:10
Speaker 1: considering a move.
14:12
Speaker 2: I agree, and moving forward to talking about like, let's say,
14:16
Speaker 2: hopefully things are gonna be okay and he's back on
14:18
Speaker 2: track it and good for the World Cup on all
14:20
Speaker 2: of that, looking at the summer because Borne mythory club
14:23
Speaker 2: that sells right and they have been a springboard for
14:26
Speaker 2: a lot of players, and I think that he's in
14:28
Speaker 2: a really, really good situation. But when you perform very
14:30
Speaker 2: well at Bourne, myuth bids come in. That's that's how
14:33
Speaker 2: it goes. I don't really have like a dream destination
14:38
Speaker 2: off the top of my head for Tyler. When we're
14:40
Speaker 2: talking about hypotheticals. He's been in Germany. I don't know
14:45
Speaker 2: exactly how well he might fit in Spain, but that
14:48
Speaker 2: could be interesting as somebody who like his His play
14:51
Speaker 2: style makes a ton of sense in England, makes a
14:53
Speaker 2: ton of sense in Germany maybe, like he'd be a
14:56
Speaker 2: fun destroyer for one of the big Spanish clubs. But
14:59
Speaker 2: I don't know, because you even look up the table
15:01
Speaker 2: in England, which would probably be more likely like a
15:04
Speaker 2: club like Liverpool. Don't know if he totally fits Again,
15:07
Speaker 2: we just talked about Manchester United. I don't know how
15:09
Speaker 2: much co signing I would do for any player going
15:11
Speaker 2: to that club, just given how difficult it is in
15:13
Speaker 2: the turmoil that seems to constantly surround them. So there
15:16
Speaker 2: isn't really like an obvious next big step for Tyler Adams,
15:20
Speaker 2: though there are plenty of options because of his quality
15:22
Speaker 2: in form.
15:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and I agree with the Germany part right,
15:28
Speaker 1: So I can see sort of a big move for
15:31
Speaker 1: Tyler Adams would be maybe going to a Frankfurt or
15:34
Speaker 1: going to a Dortmund or maybe a laver Cuzin even right,
15:38
Speaker 1: so he could plan one of those big German clubs,
15:40
Speaker 1: not necessarily probably Byron, right, because Byron is gonna just
15:44
Speaker 1: pick the best of the best at this point. But
15:46
Speaker 1: if you look at all those other clubs, is that
15:48
Speaker 1: really an upboards move for him to go to Frankfurt
15:52
Speaker 1: or Labor Kuzen or Dortmund. From where he is now,
15:57
Speaker 1: I think he's in a great place. I'd like to
15:59
Speaker 1: see him stay there and play there a couple more
16:01
Speaker 1: seasons before he makes a move.
16:04
Speaker 2: I agree, and again financially too. I'm I don't know
16:08
Speaker 2: this for a fact, but I'm assuming that Bournemouth can outbid,
16:11
Speaker 2: you know, a club like Frankfort on a contract just
16:14
Speaker 2: because of all the money in England. One more player
16:17
Speaker 2: that we want to talk about here is Western McKinney.
16:19
Speaker 2: So Weston McKinney is out of contract in the summer
16:23
Speaker 2: with Juventus. Sources have told me Juventus have not approached
16:26
Speaker 2: him about extending that contract yet, so starting January one
16:29
Speaker 2: he can start officially having conversations with clubs abroad about
16:33
Speaker 2: signing for free in the summer. So that is something
16:35
Speaker 2: to watch. Aston Villa wanted him a couple of years
16:38
Speaker 2: ago when when Douglas Louise went from aston Villa to Juventus,
16:42
Speaker 2: Juventus almost sent McKenny back to aston Villa as part
16:45
Speaker 2: of that deal. He couldn't agree personal terms. He's obviously
16:48
Speaker 2: been at Leeds, He's been in England in the past.
16:50
Speaker 2: F C. Cincinnati came very very close to signing him
16:53
Speaker 2: a couple of years a couple of summers ago as well.
16:55
Speaker 2: There's gonna be plenty of interests in Europe. There's always
16:57
Speaker 2: gonna be some interest in MLS in the summer. So
16:59
Speaker 2: West McKinney again, not a guy that's gonna move in
17:02
Speaker 2: the winter, but as a free a potential free transfer
17:05
Speaker 2: in the summer, he's gonna be interesting to a lot
17:08
Speaker 2: of clubs.
17:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I hope he has an opportunity to go
17:11
Speaker 1: back to the EPL. You know. I think he would
17:13
Speaker 1: do well with the middle of the table team or
17:15
Speaker 1: even an upper upper middle of the table team, like
17:18
Speaker 1: a like a Crystal Palace for example, a team that's
17:20
Speaker 1: competitive to win things. And I think because of his personality,
17:25
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's sort of been figured out
17:27
Speaker 1: in Italy, don't we talk about every summer going into
17:30
Speaker 1: the season, we're talking about where is McKinny going, Because
17:34
Speaker 1: somehow they're getting rid of him and there's no position
17:36
Speaker 1: for him. But somehow he fights through it, and he
17:40
Speaker 1: fights through it because he's that good. Western McKinney is
17:43
Speaker 1: that good. I think he can pretty much play on
17:45
Speaker 1: every team. But it seems to me like people have
17:48
Speaker 1: figured out that that Western McKinny needs to be under
17:52
Speaker 1: constant pressure to perform at his best. And because of that,
17:57
Speaker 1: I really hope that uh he does not returned to
18:01
Speaker 1: MLS yet, because you know, as you mentioned Cincinnati being
18:04
Speaker 1: one of the teams, you know, this is one of
18:06
Speaker 1: the things where MLS in Europe are a little bit different.
18:09
Speaker 1: And I think that's the competitiveness of the day to
18:13
Speaker 1: day training to fight for a position on the weekend,
18:16
Speaker 1: that that doesn't exist as much in MLS as it
18:19
Speaker 1: does overseas, and I think that benefits a player like
18:23
Speaker 1: Weston McKinney, and I hope he can stay in that environment.
18:26
Speaker 1: But I think he does have an upboards move and
18:29
Speaker 1: I hope that you know, this summer coming up, he
18:32
Speaker 1: can find a team in the EPL because I really
18:34
Speaker 1: do think he can succeed there.
18:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think his play style lends to it. He
18:38
Speaker 2: didn't do great leads. That was a really difficult situation
18:42
Speaker 2: for pretty much everybody but Tyler Adams, not just the
18:45
Speaker 2: American players, right, Like you look across that squad, there
18:47
Speaker 2: are a lot of players that struggled within that team.
18:50
Speaker 2: So I don't think you can hang that on him.
18:51
Speaker 2: When Yes and Villa, when I was reporting that out,
18:54
Speaker 2: I was like, this just makes a ton of sense.
18:56
Speaker 2: And that's a team that you named or a Crystal
18:58
Speaker 2: Palace or I think again even in Newcastle, think he
19:01
Speaker 2: could fit within that team Fulham. I think Newcastle are
19:04
Speaker 2: the highest of all those teams, given you know, the
19:06
Speaker 2: championship right now and the money that they've got coming in.
19:09
Speaker 2: But just something like that rather than say the traditional
19:11
Speaker 2: top four, because it would be a similar situation for
19:14
Speaker 2: him at Juventus where like he's earned playing time events,
19:17
Speaker 2: which is extremely impressive, but as we've said, every week,
19:21
Speaker 2: he's playing at a ton of different positions and he's
19:23
Speaker 2: more of a utility guy than like, I don't know
19:25
Speaker 2: if you went to Fulham, would you just be the
19:27
Speaker 2: starting number eight for you know, eighty percent of the games, right? Like,
19:30
Speaker 2: So I think that would be important for him too.
19:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed. You know, I think we're we're sort of
19:37
Speaker 1: you know, putting McKinney right, we're defining him as exactly
19:42
Speaker 1: as he is. And I think you're right. And you mentioned,
19:44
Speaker 1: you know, you mentioned Leeds United. You know, it's difficult
19:47
Speaker 1: for any player to go to a club that's struggling
19:50
Speaker 1: to stay to fight relegation, right And I think and
19:53
Speaker 1: I think that's that's where they were, and that's that's
19:56
Speaker 1: a difficult position for any player. I'm sure, we'll get
19:58
Speaker 1: into Josh Sargent later, but you know, when you get
20:01
Speaker 1: into these clubs, you're at the bottom of the table.
20:03
Speaker 1: It's about so much more than just playing.
20:06
Speaker 2: And I agree with you, I don't think that westn
20:07
Speaker 2: McKinney is a guy who makes sense to come to
20:09
Speaker 2: MLS this summer. Though again, like Cincinnati put a very
20:14
Speaker 2: strong off front of the table. I think that that
20:16
Speaker 2: I know, I know that would have been more than
20:17
Speaker 2: even if he went to aston Villa. So that is
20:19
Speaker 2: going to be the poll that that is part of
20:21
Speaker 2: the motivations. On the pressure side of things, there is
20:24
Speaker 2: something to be said of like right, like if he
20:27
Speaker 2: comes back to MLS, like there's you're not fighting for
20:30
Speaker 2: a spot on the field, right, you know you're gonna
20:31
Speaker 2: start unless it's a disaster. But the other responsibility is
20:35
Speaker 2: if you think the team isn't gonna win. And I
20:38
Speaker 2: think that there's another part of the pressure. While still
20:40
Speaker 2: agreeing with you that that it's better for him stay
20:42
Speaker 2: in Europe at the moment, really quickly A couple other
20:45
Speaker 2: guys that I would put in the don't expect him
20:48
Speaker 2: to move, though maybe there there is some interest in
20:50
Speaker 2: rumors Diego Luna, Ricardo Peppy, Brian White, Diego Luna, there's
20:55
Speaker 2: always interest in him. Think that would be a big
20:57
Speaker 2: risk for him to leave right now, and Real Lake
20:59
Speaker 2: obviously don't want to lose him. They are open to
21:01
Speaker 2: selling him after the World Cup. They want him to
21:03
Speaker 2: be a real AsSalt led player going to the World Cup.
21:06
Speaker 2: Ricardo Petby, I think he's in a good spot with PSV.
21:08
Speaker 2: But that's another guy where if you're if you're West Ham,
21:12
Speaker 2: if you're full of it, if you're a lower table
21:15
Speaker 2: team in the Premier leagu right now, this is a
21:17
Speaker 2: guy that you might target to Okay, like we need
21:20
Speaker 2: a forward, all right, let's go try to get RICARDA. Petby.
21:22
Speaker 2: So it's not a zero percent chance for him. I
21:25
Speaker 2: just I think i'd be surprised. And then Brian White
21:27
Speaker 2: for different reasons. If there's a move for him. There's
21:30
Speaker 2: been interest in the Championship before. I think it's much
21:32
Speaker 2: more likely if he were to move it would be
21:33
Speaker 2: within MLS. All of that being said, I think he
21:35
Speaker 2: just signs a new contract with Vancouver and stays there.
21:38
Speaker 2: But those are three guys that there could be some
21:41
Speaker 2: real interest in and real possibilities, but I wouldn't expect
21:44
Speaker 2: them to leave. We're gonna be right back with a
21:46
Speaker 2: quick break. After that, we're gonna talk about some of
21:48
Speaker 2: the guys who I think that actually might leave or
21:50
Speaker 2: has real possibilities, and the latest information I have on them.
21:54
Speaker 2: So stay tuned for that. We'll be right back. Please rate, review,
21:57
Speaker 2: subscribe Inside American Soccer with Tom Over and Tom around
22:00
Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcast. All right, welcome back. We
22:14
Speaker 2: just spent the whole first segment telling you all the
22:15
Speaker 2: guys who won't move, which is not the most fun
22:18
Speaker 2: way to do a January Transfer window special. So here
22:20
Speaker 2: we are with some of the guys who we think
22:22
Speaker 2: that actually could move from the latest that I'm hearing.
22:24
Speaker 2: The difference is, again for everything we said in the
22:26
Speaker 2: first segment, is these aren't your pool six Adams mckennie's
22:30
Speaker 2: Chris Richards of the world. These are going to be
22:32
Speaker 2: a little bit further down the pool. But for each
22:35
Speaker 2: individual case, it's a possibility for this winter. So let's
22:38
Speaker 2: start with Orlando City wing back Alex Freeman. He will
22:42
Speaker 2: move within the next twelve months. It just depends on
22:45
Speaker 2: if it's now the summer or next winter. He's got
22:49
Speaker 2: a year left on his contract. Sources have told me
22:51
Speaker 2: Orlando are still trying very very hard to change his
22:53
Speaker 2: mind and to stay. I don't think that there's really
22:56
Speaker 2: anything that they could do to convince him at this stage.
22:58
Speaker 2: That that's been what I've been told from sort since
23:00
Speaker 2: the summer. Villareal are still in the absolute pole position
23:04
Speaker 2: driver's seat. There was a little bit of interest from Bournemouth,
23:06
Speaker 2: but it was from what I understand is the feeling
23:10
Speaker 2: is Villareal, unless that they fumble this, they're gonna have.
23:14
Speaker 2: They're gonna have the inside track at signing Olex Freeman.
23:17
Speaker 2: So the question becomes do you do this now? And
23:21
Speaker 2: from what I've been told, the player himself wants to
23:23
Speaker 2: stay with Orlando through the World Cup, both for the
23:25
Speaker 2: club and for himself. He's the no question starter with
23:29
Speaker 2: this team. He has developed very well within Orlando and
23:32
Speaker 2: that has helped launch him into the national team pool.
23:34
Speaker 2: And when he got there, when he got his chances
23:36
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five, he took it with both hands.
23:38
Speaker 2: And he's a guy Toad that we both feel really
23:40
Speaker 2: strongly that is going to be on the World Cup squad,
23:43
Speaker 2: which is not something that we would have even had
23:44
Speaker 2: on our radar this time last year. So credits to
23:46
Speaker 2: Alex screaming for that. He's in a great spot. He
23:48
Speaker 2: wants Orlando to get someoney. He doesn't want to leave
23:50
Speaker 2: for free, but if he has to, that's a strong possibility.
23:55
Speaker 2: So I think the most rational outcome here is Orlando
24:00
Speaker 2: and Villareal agree some sort of feet, some sort of compensation,
24:04
Speaker 2: and Alex Stringman stays with Orlando through the World Cup
24:06
Speaker 2: and then joins Villa Reale in the summer. But tap
24:09
Speaker 2: that that's a situation right now for me.
24:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, let's start with a move mid season.
24:17
Speaker 1: Let's say he were to move in a few weeks
24:19
Speaker 1: and went to Viereel. First of all, vi Areel they
24:21
Speaker 1: have Aaron Buru playing as the right back. He played
24:24
Speaker 1: I think the first ten or twelve games. But they've
24:27
Speaker 1: had Mourinho play there, They've had Navarro play there. They
24:30
Speaker 1: are having difficulties on that right side of the field
24:33
Speaker 1: getting someone to be steady, right, So there's the possibility
24:36
Speaker 1: that he plays. But this is a big risk, right
24:41
Speaker 1: you know, Alex Freeman is in a good moment. I
24:43
Speaker 1: think we both had him in our top five in
24:45
Speaker 1: terms of like best players. This year, he's he's on
24:49
Speaker 1: the national team, not only going to the World Cup,
24:52
Speaker 1: he's fighting for a starting role at the World Cup.
24:56
Speaker 1: You know, there's a possibility you moved to Vireal in
24:58
Speaker 1: the winter and you don't play, and now you don't
25:01
Speaker 1: play for the next two three months. That can happen
25:04
Speaker 1: and that could drop you from the national team. That's
25:06
Speaker 1: a big, big risk, and I don't think one that
25:09
Speaker 1: he should take.
25:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's definitely something with him in his camp
25:14
Speaker 2: are very conscious of, which is why I would be
25:16
Speaker 2: absolutely shocked if he left Orlando this winter because of that.
25:19
Speaker 2: Whether or not there's a deal agreed with Hillarriale and
25:21
Speaker 2: either a loan back or the deal it goes into
25:24
Speaker 2: effect on July first, or whatever the date would be,
25:27
Speaker 2: I feel very safe that he's going to be with
25:29
Speaker 2: Orlando for the next two months. Another very high performing
25:31
Speaker 2: player Hajji Wright. He's the forward for Coventry City. Coventry
25:35
Speaker 2: are flying right now in the Championship. Hajji started the
25:38
Speaker 2: season incredibly. He's cooled off a little bit, but still
25:41
Speaker 2: a guy with his goals, with his physical traits, obviously
25:45
Speaker 2: his technical ability, but when if you're a west Ham
25:49
Speaker 2: and you're desperate to sign a forward, Hajji Wright has
25:52
Speaker 2: to be on your list. Whether he's their first choice
25:53
Speaker 2: verse seventh, right that I think that's immaterial, But I
25:57
Speaker 2: think that there's like a possibility, right, Like there's gonna
26:01
Speaker 2: be interest. I'm not sure that he moves this winter,
26:04
Speaker 2: but anytime you look at the Championship leading scorers January
26:08
Speaker 2: is always a possibility for to go to the Premier
26:09
Speaker 2: League Worhills.
26:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it might be a good, good possibility for Hosie, right,
26:14
Speaker 1: And if he gets that opportunity, he should definitely go
26:16
Speaker 1: for it. You know, first of all, you know, teams
26:20
Speaker 1: like these kind of players that are that are tall, big,
26:23
Speaker 1: strong and look good getting off the bus. You know,
26:26
Speaker 1: it just makes the team look good. On top of it,
26:30
Speaker 1: he is he has been a proven scorer in the Championship,
26:33
Speaker 1: right and and of course his natural next move would
26:36
Speaker 1: be to try to be in the EPL. So it's
26:39
Speaker 1: normal that a team that's lacking scoring would be looking
26:42
Speaker 1: for someone like him, And I think if he gets
26:45
Speaker 1: that opportunity, I think he's one of the guys that
26:48
Speaker 1: I think, even if it's midyear unless it's a bottom
26:51
Speaker 1: of the table relegation team. Let's say like a Wolf
26:54
Speaker 1: set this point or a team like that. I think
26:58
Speaker 1: you should take that opportunity to move on.
27:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like it'd be funny to be like, oh, I
27:03
Speaker 2: want to get to the Premier League and you leave
27:05
Speaker 2: the team that's in first place in the championship for
27:07
Speaker 2: the distant last place in the Premier League, and then
27:09
Speaker 2: in six months those two teams are very very likely
27:12
Speaker 2: to swap. So I would agree advise against Wolves. I
27:14
Speaker 2: don't again, I don't know if that's an interest or
27:16
Speaker 2: not doen or anything else. And we're probably saying things
27:18
Speaker 2: that are obvious to him and in people in his camp.
27:21
Speaker 2: But when you're performing the way that he is and
27:23
Speaker 2: the way that he has, that's always going to be
27:26
Speaker 2: kind of top of mind. Tap is this a player,
27:30
Speaker 2: I believe the timelines would have aligned, Like was he
27:32
Speaker 2: somebody that you worked with with the USU national?
27:36
Speaker 1: I did a little bit, and you know, Haji's a
27:38
Speaker 1: great human being, hard worker, He has all of the
27:42
Speaker 1: qualities off the field that you would want in a player.
27:45
Speaker 1: You know, he's a little bit quiet, but you know
27:47
Speaker 1: he he he'll do anything for you. So he's a
27:50
Speaker 1: very coachable player and I think he'll fit into any system.
27:53
Speaker 1: But obviously, you know, when you're a goal scorer, the
27:56
Speaker 1: only thing that matters at the end of the day
27:58
Speaker 1: is how many goals you're scoring, and if you're not scoring,
28:01
Speaker 1: the rest of it really doesn't.
28:02
Speaker 2: Matter, especially in England and especially if you make a
28:05
Speaker 2: January move. But he's in a really good spot with
28:07
Speaker 2: Coventry City, so there's only only good possibilities here for Hajji, right.
28:12
Speaker 2: I'm not again, I'm not sure if I would expect
28:14
Speaker 2: him to move, but he's somebody that should absolutely be
28:16
Speaker 2: spoken about, just because of all of those circumstances. I
28:19
Speaker 2: know they got to talk about Subatian Burhalter, so I
28:22
Speaker 2: cautioned all of this to say I would be surprised
28:24
Speaker 2: if he leaves the Vancouver white Caps, but he's out
28:28
Speaker 2: of contract in a year. He is not playing for
28:30
Speaker 2: the Vancouver white Caps on its current deal. He has
28:33
Speaker 2: significantly outperformed that He just came off of his career
28:37
Speaker 2: best season, was his named best eleven in MLS, breaks
28:39
Speaker 2: into the US national team, was one of the best
28:41
Speaker 2: players in the Concap Champions Cup for Vancouver. If Vancouver
28:45
Speaker 2: mess around on the contract, there are gonna be plenty
28:49
Speaker 2: of offers in MLS. I know from sources that teams
28:52
Speaker 2: have called asking Vancouver, hey, what's the situation. You know,
28:55
Speaker 2: as long as he hasn't signed a new contract, teams
28:57
Speaker 2: are gonna call, Teams are gonna try. This makes too
29:01
Speaker 2: much sense for these two parties to not come to
29:04
Speaker 2: a new deal. And the last I heard on the negotiations,
29:07
Speaker 2: per sources, is they weren't that far off, and from
29:10
Speaker 2: my understanding, the salary expectations, or at least initial ass
29:15
Speaker 2: from Burhalter, is not unreasonable. The only issue is for
29:19
Speaker 2: Vancouver to create room to give him the contract, they're
29:23
Speaker 2: gonna need to move players out. So that's gonna take
29:25
Speaker 2: a little bit of time and probably speaks to why
29:28
Speaker 2: this hasn't happened yet. But the longer it goes, the
29:31
Speaker 2: more teams are gonna call. And I would have said so.
29:35
Speaker 2: Dane Saint Clair, I reported this week, is about to
29:38
Speaker 2: sign with into Miami. He was a free agent from
29:40
Speaker 2: Minnesota United. They have been in contract talks for months.
29:44
Speaker 2: I use him as an example because if you ask
29:46
Speaker 2: me in November, I would have said, man, there's like
29:48
Speaker 2: one percent chance that he leaves Minnesota. It just makes
29:50
Speaker 2: too much sense. They have the money, the player loves
29:53
Speaker 2: the team, the team loves the player. It's gonna happen. Well.
29:57
Speaker 2: Sometimes teams get a little bit too cute in these negotiations.
30:00
Speaker 2: Teams try to shave money or try to win a negotiation.
30:03
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, Dan Saint Clair gets a pree
30:04
Speaker 2: agency and he leaves Sebastin Burholter. I would be surprised
30:08
Speaker 2: if he leaves, but until he signs a new contract,
30:11
Speaker 2: it is a possibility.
30:14
Speaker 1: Would I would like to see Burholter move overseas. I
30:19
Speaker 1: think I'd like to see him go the Aiden Morris route,
30:22
Speaker 1: and even if it is a championship team overseas. And
30:25
Speaker 1: this is the reason I'm gonna tell you this. You know,
30:27
Speaker 1: Burholter is a very good player. He's a good person.
30:32
Speaker 1: I know him, a little bit hard obviously hard worker.
30:36
Speaker 1: This is the reason he made, you know, one of
30:39
Speaker 1: the reasons he made the the MLS Best eleven. But
30:43
Speaker 1: once you make the best of eleven as a young player,
30:45
Speaker 1: what else is there in MLS for you? I think
30:48
Speaker 1: it's time to try something else. I think with the
30:50
Speaker 1: progress that he made this year. I think it would
30:53
Speaker 1: be important for him to try himself at a different
30:57
Speaker 1: environment where he has potential to go to go to
31:01
Speaker 1: the limit. And I think it would be great if
31:04
Speaker 1: he could find a move overseas somewhere, because I do
31:07
Speaker 1: think that he will continue to grow and he will
31:09
Speaker 1: do better overseas. At the same time, he's a marginal
31:13
Speaker 1: roster national team guy, whether he's in, whether he's out,
31:17
Speaker 1: you know, and I think going overseas and doing well
31:20
Speaker 1: could really help him to not only be on the team,
31:23
Speaker 1: but potentially fight for a starting position on the team.
31:27
Speaker 2: Devil's advocate on that one is Pochatino has shown that
31:31
Speaker 2: if you're playing well and playing in MLS, that's cool,
31:34
Speaker 2: Like it's not going to be looked down upon. What's
31:36
Speaker 2: most important is that you're playing and playing well and
31:39
Speaker 2: moving in January, you risk not playing and not playing
31:43
Speaker 2: well for whatever new club you get to. Also, the
31:45
Speaker 2: financial side of things, he's going to make more money
31:48
Speaker 2: in MLS than any other league, right, I think that
31:51
Speaker 2: that's just realistic. He's more valuable to the Vancouver white
31:54
Speaker 2: Caps than he would be to say, Middlesbrough or insert
31:57
Speaker 2: a championship team, though they do have money. This mirror
32:01
Speaker 2: is a little bit Max Arsten. And also for the
32:04
Speaker 2: club situation, Middlesbrough really wanted Max Arsten. I don't know
32:08
Speaker 2: what they would have paid in the contract. Maybe it
32:10
Speaker 2: would have been similar to the Columbus crew, but they
32:15
Speaker 2: liked him, but they weren't willing to pay more than
32:17
Speaker 2: like two or three million. And if you're Columbus, if
32:19
Speaker 2: you're Vancouver, what's more valuable two million dollars in a
32:22
Speaker 2: transfer fee which is really negligible, or having a best
32:26
Speaker 2: eleven quality player in your team. So this is one
32:29
Speaker 2: of those difficult quadrants of he's really good and really
32:33
Speaker 2: valuable to an MLS team, and he would be good
32:36
Speaker 2: and valuable to a European team, but he's twenty four
32:38
Speaker 2: or whatever, so the European teams aren't spending the fee
32:42
Speaker 2: would that would be necessary to get him out of
32:44
Speaker 2: his club. So you're kind of not stuck. But you
32:48
Speaker 2: understand why Vancouver and Columbus for Arson, would reject a
32:51
Speaker 2: small bid, and also you understand why the players would
32:55
Speaker 2: then sign a new contract. So this happened ere long
32:57
Speaker 2: a few years ago as well. He was much more
33:00
Speaker 2: valuable to the new York Red Bulls at the time.
33:02
Speaker 2: Then he would then then like Southampton or insert FC
33:07
Speaker 2: nunts would be paying in a transferty because of his
33:09
Speaker 2: age and his profile. So it's a little bit of
33:11
Speaker 2: if an awkward situation for a player of his quality
33:14
Speaker 2: and age.
33:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. I mean we've seen another player is
33:17
Speaker 1: Miles Robinson being another one right where he's had some
33:20
Speaker 1: opportunities the money was not good enough in Holland or
33:23
Speaker 1: wherever else he was going to go and decided, hey,
33:25
Speaker 1: I'm going to stay here. The problem with that is
33:28
Speaker 1: when you stay here long enough, and by the way,
33:30
Speaker 1: it's all good and and and when you talk about
33:32
Speaker 1: how valuable these players are, whether it's you know, Burholter
33:36
Speaker 1: at at Vancouver and Arston at Columbus, there's no doubt
33:40
Speaker 1: the value for the club. But the player has to
33:44
Speaker 1: think about his career, right, not about the value for
33:46
Speaker 1: the club. And I think in terms of a career,
33:49
Speaker 1: you wait a couple more years, maybe that window closest
33:52
Speaker 1: of having an opportunity to go and potentially play in
33:55
Speaker 1: some of the best clubs in the world, because you know,
33:57
Speaker 1: if you go overseas now that opens the window to
34:00
Speaker 1: everything and staying at home. You kind of know that
34:03
Speaker 1: if you sign a three four year contract at home,
34:06
Speaker 1: that the rest of your career is likely going to
34:08
Speaker 1: be at home. And that, by the way, that's okay,
34:10
Speaker 1: and that's okay because MLS is at a great level,
34:13
Speaker 1: and that's okay because you're playing great soccer. But that's
34:16
Speaker 1: something to think about and that.
34:19
Speaker 2: Is a very good point tap too, as well as
34:21
Speaker 2: his age as right twenty four out of contract in
34:23
Speaker 2: the year. Same thing with Miles Robinson when he ended
34:25
Speaker 2: up signing with with FC Cincinnati free agency. If it's
34:28
Speaker 2: not now, it's probably not going to happen, because when
34:31
Speaker 2: are you going to have more options than when you're
34:33
Speaker 2: either free or twelve months left in your contract. And
34:36
Speaker 2: then when you sign that new deal, like again, let's
34:40
Speaker 2: say Buralter, let's just hypothetically same number, one point five
34:42
Speaker 2: million per year. That's more than what he would get
34:45
Speaker 2: in Europe. And also like then, when you sign the contract,
34:47
Speaker 2: you can't ask Vancouver to consider offers. It was starting
34:51
Speaker 2: to keep on bringing Arson, but I think that these
34:53
Speaker 2: two players are similar both in profile quality aige situations.
34:57
Speaker 2: Arson signed a new deal in the summer when bid
35:00
Speaker 2: was rejected by for Middlesbrough and then this winter it's like, hey,
35:04
Speaker 2: I kind of want to move to Europe. The Columbus
35:06
Speaker 2: Crew have every right to be like you just signed
35:08
Speaker 2: a new contract. No, like there's or if all right, kay,
35:11
Speaker 2: like we valued you really highly on the contract. Thus
35:13
Speaker 2: our asking price is going to go up as well.
35:15
Speaker 2: So that is the situation for Bolton, and I'm glad
35:18
Speaker 2: that they pointed that out of Hey, like it's it's
35:21
Speaker 2: kind of like now it is the time and same
35:23
Speaker 2: thing at Miles Robinson was another good example. He stayed
35:26
Speaker 2: in him last and now he's gonna be a DP
35:28
Speaker 2: center back on a second contract for Cincinnati. He's he
35:30
Speaker 2: got one point five million per year his first two
35:33
Speaker 2: years at the club. That is, I know for a
35:35
Speaker 2: fact that is more than you all for someone on
35:36
Speaker 2: the table in Europe. And now he's getting like three
35:38
Speaker 2: million or something in that ballpark. That like that's double
35:42
Speaker 2: triple than what he might have gotten at you know,
35:44
Speaker 2: a Dutch club or a Beltian club or whatever. Right
35:46
Speaker 2: like so in a vacuum, I get it. I understand
35:50
Speaker 2: the yeah, man, like you go to PSV or whatever
35:54
Speaker 2: the next level of club might be in Holland and
35:56
Speaker 2: then you make the move to the championship or lower
35:58
Speaker 2: Premier league team. But we all need to challenge ourselves
36:02
Speaker 2: better fans had on this one, what would you do right?
36:07
Speaker 2: Like you've got you've got an offer that's that's three
36:09
Speaker 2: x anything else on the table. It's easy to say
36:12
Speaker 2: that when it's not your money. It's easy to say, go,
36:13
Speaker 2: try to do the harder thing, Go, try to go
36:15
Speaker 2: to the different compan It's easy when it's your money.
36:17
Speaker 2: When that's sitting in front of you, When you've got
36:19
Speaker 2: you've got one career and you've got one prime.
36:21
Speaker 1: It's really hard to turn that down without a doubt
36:23
Speaker 1: that you know you. I would never blame a player
36:27
Speaker 1: for taking the money. You have to take the money.
36:29
Speaker 1: Your career is very short. I know sometimes fans don't
36:32
Speaker 1: want to hear that. But at the end of the day,
36:34
Speaker 1: this becomes a job like every other job. You know,
36:37
Speaker 1: you're throwing your body in there every day. You know,
36:40
Speaker 1: you don't know how long your career is going to be.
36:41
Speaker 1: The more money you can make, the better. But what
36:44
Speaker 1: I also do know is that you can get to
36:47
Speaker 1: the end of the career wondering what if, right, what
36:50
Speaker 1: if I went to play, and that's something that you
36:52
Speaker 1: have to live with and there's no price for that.
36:55
Speaker 1: That has nothing to do with money. That has to
36:57
Speaker 1: do with did I put myself in position to be
37:00
Speaker 1: the best that I could be and reach the highest
37:03
Speaker 1: level that I could reach, And that's a question that
37:05
Speaker 1: you ask yourself at one point.
37:08
Speaker 2: It's always trade offs, and these are like you're allowed
37:12
Speaker 2: to criticize it, right fans, Like I'm not saying earlier
37:14
Speaker 2: than now, but just it needs to be considered and
37:17
Speaker 2: if you take the money, then you're gonna get some
37:19
Speaker 2: criticisms of well, what if he could have done that?
37:21
Speaker 2: But it's it's not always a be all end all
37:25
Speaker 2: as well, because sometimes guys go to Europe and it
37:26
Speaker 2: doesn't quite work out, Like justin Jay much much lower
37:29
Speaker 2: level than the guys that we're talking about right now.
37:31
Speaker 2: But he played for Dallas like fifteen games when he
37:34
Speaker 2: was like seventeen, sixteen or seventeen, and in the next
37:37
Speaker 2: four years, I think he's played a total of like
37:41
Speaker 2: fifteen first team games in Europe. He's only played for
37:43
Speaker 2: second teams. And I don't blame him for taking the chance.
37:47
Speaker 2: I respect him for taking the chance. But maybe his
37:49
Speaker 2: career is a little bit different and he just come
37:50
Speaker 2: back to the Red Bulls and hope we can get
37:52
Speaker 2: it back on the track. But I also think it's
37:54
Speaker 2: important to point out the points where it's not this
37:57
Speaker 2: magic elixir that just go to Europe and bang, all
38:00
Speaker 2: your dreams come through, right. Sometimes it doesn't work out.
38:03
Speaker 2: Beyond that, a couple more that are not quite I
38:07
Speaker 2: think I'd be surprised at both of these players. Either
38:09
Speaker 2: of these players makes the World Cup squad, but they're
38:10
Speaker 2: still in the pool. So let's talk about him. Josh Sargent.
38:13
Speaker 2: Norwich City are struggling. They're doing wallful. Josh Sargent has
38:17
Speaker 2: been one of their bright spots and at with that,
38:21
Speaker 2: there's definitely a possibility he moves in January. He's good
38:24
Speaker 2: and Norich stink. It's pretty much that simple. Sources that
38:27
Speaker 2: I've spoke to around this expect Norich are not going
38:31
Speaker 2: to be asking for the same number that they were asking.
38:34
Speaker 2: They quoted FC Cincinnati like thirty million dollars US. That
38:37
Speaker 2: was eighteen months ago. This winter, this summer, he was
38:41
Speaker 2: very close to a move to Wolfsburg in the Bundesligam
38:44
Speaker 2: That was like twenty eight million dollars US sergeant traveled
38:47
Speaker 2: to Germany. Ultimately, he and his family decided, you know,
38:50
Speaker 2: and actually we don't want to think this what we
38:51
Speaker 2: want to stay at Norwich. That's not going to be
38:54
Speaker 2: the asking price this winter from what I understand, which
38:56
Speaker 2: makes it more and more possible that he does move.
38:59
Speaker 2: This is a guy that it's not for me from
39:02
Speaker 2: what I understand, I think it's it's not if, but
39:05
Speaker 2: when he comes back to MLS, and I don't know
39:07
Speaker 2: if that would be this winter or not. But he's
39:09
Speaker 2: a guy that I think makes sense. I think Cincinnati
39:12
Speaker 2: would have paid at least twenty million four and they
39:14
Speaker 2: would have set a new league record. So that's the
39:16
Speaker 2: kind of guy that I think would make sense in
39:18
Speaker 2: MLS two. But he's just somebody to look at this
39:20
Speaker 2: this winter and then another players Tristan Blackman, Vancouver white Caps.
39:24
Speaker 2: I hope that this in photo doesn't become stale. But
39:27
Speaker 2: in the next few days MS Vendor of the Year.
39:30
Speaker 2: He's due a new contract because you and defender of
39:32
Speaker 2: the Year, you asked for a new contract. That's how
39:33
Speaker 2: it goes in the world. I'm assuming he stays in Vancouver,
39:36
Speaker 2: but if a new contract doesn't come, that opens the
39:38
Speaker 2: possibility that he either moves within MLS or somewhere else.
39:40
Speaker 2: So any anything to add there on Sergeant of Blackman.
39:43
Speaker 1: I'll start with black Men because I think it's a
39:45
Speaker 1: little bit of an easier one. You're defender of the year.
39:47
Speaker 1: You need to get defender of the year money, whoever's
39:51
Speaker 1: gonna give it to you. That's where you're gonna go,
39:52
Speaker 1: and whether it's your club or another club, And that's
39:55
Speaker 1: what should happen with black Men, who, by the way,
39:57
Speaker 1: I think is a great defender. I love the way
40:00
Speaker 1: he plays. I've always been a fan of the way
40:02
Speaker 1: he plays, in his intensity, with the way he does.
40:05
Speaker 1: Think so big fan of that. In terms of Sergeant,
40:11
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna tell you a little bit of
40:12
Speaker 1: the future on Sergeant. I think I think Sergeant I'd
40:16
Speaker 1: like to see Sergeant go back to Germany play for
40:19
Speaker 1: one of the top of the table clubs if possible.
40:23
Speaker 1: You know again, I'm gonna name clubs like Frankfurt. I'm
40:26
Speaker 1: gonna name clubs like, you know, like labor Cuz in
40:29
Speaker 1: one of these clubs. I hope that he can get
40:31
Speaker 1: a move move like that and then I'd love to
40:35
Speaker 1: see him finish in Saint Louis. That's where I'd like
40:38
Speaker 1: to see Sergeant go after that. You know, I forget Cincinnati.
40:41
Speaker 1: I'd like to see him go back to Saint Louis.
40:44
Speaker 2: They like him. Ownership doesn't want to pay up for
40:46
Speaker 2: what it would cost to get him now, so maybe
40:48
Speaker 2: one time in the future, but again, a local Saint
40:50
Speaker 2: Louis kid, that would be pretty pretty cool. That's it
40:53
Speaker 2: for the big kind of transfer discussions we've got, but
40:56
Speaker 2: we're not done with the show. We're gonna take a
40:57
Speaker 2: quick break, and speaking of transfers, we're gonna listen to
41:00
Speaker 2: some stories about from Tab about his playing career. In
41:02
Speaker 2: some of those moves we're not gonna talk about. I
41:04
Speaker 2: don't think the Brooklyn Italians, but I will take a
41:06
Speaker 2: transfer story on that if you've got a tab. But
41:08
Speaker 2: we'll be right back. Thank you for listening, Please rate, review,
41:10
Speaker 2: and subscribe to Inside Americas. Welcome back to Inside American Soccer,
41:27
Speaker 2: and for this segment, we go inside the locker room
41:29
Speaker 2: and Tab, You've made a couple of really big transfers
41:32
Speaker 2: in your career. You know, you know, you like to
41:34
Speaker 2: downplay things, but uh, you had, you had some big
41:36
Speaker 2: blockbuster moves in your day, particularly trailblazing for an American
41:40
Speaker 2: soccer players. So I'm gonna give you the floor. Which
41:42
Speaker 2: one which of your transfers do you want to talk
41:44
Speaker 2: about first?
41:45
Speaker 1: Well, I mean there, I'm gonna speak about two because
41:48
Speaker 1: I think they're they're quite different one from the other.
41:51
Speaker 1: And uh, I don't know that i'd call him blockbuster
41:53
Speaker 1: moves that were back in the newspaper days and black
41:56
Speaker 1: and white TV, I think, but uh, but no. But
42:01
Speaker 1: you know, when we qualified for the World Cup in
42:04
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety, you know, that was the days in which
42:07
Speaker 1: with our national team, not every game we played, you know,
42:11
Speaker 1: was an international games. Sometimes we played club teams. So
42:14
Speaker 1: I remember we played against IAX in Washington, d C.
42:17
Speaker 1: And after playing i X in Washington, d C. I
42:20
Speaker 1: was able to get an offer from Rhoda from Holland
42:23
Speaker 1: to go and play in Holland and decided not. I
42:28
Speaker 1: had the offer on the table for a three year contract,
42:30
Speaker 1: decided not to accept the offer because we were getting
42:33
Speaker 1: ready to go to the World Cup, and I decided
42:36
Speaker 1: to wait it out until after the World Cup. So
42:38
Speaker 1: right after the World Cup, I received an offer from
42:40
Speaker 1: Spain to go play in second division in Spain with
42:42
Speaker 1: a small club, Figueras. But it was a time for
42:45
Speaker 1: me to make a decision. Do I go into first
42:47
Speaker 1: division in Holland or do I go into second division
42:50
Speaker 1: in Spain? And I thought, for my style of play
42:52
Speaker 1: and my goals, which one of my goals was to
42:56
Speaker 1: play in La Liga, I thought that going to Spain
42:59
Speaker 1: on a one year contract, taking a chance, there was
43:01
Speaker 1: a better move for me. So it was it was
43:04
Speaker 1: a big It was a big chance I took at
43:06
Speaker 1: the time, you know, turning down a three year contract
43:08
Speaker 1: for a one year contract. But that's what I decided
43:12
Speaker 1: to do that that's what was good for me at
43:14
Speaker 1: the time. So sometimes you have to make those decisions.
43:18
Speaker 1: And again I'll go back to what I said at
43:19
Speaker 1: the beginning of the show, which is about sometimes considering
43:22
Speaker 1: your age, considering position, considering the coach you're going to have,
43:25
Speaker 1: style of play, of the team you're going to go into.
43:28
Speaker 1: Those are all considerations, and because of that, I decided
43:31
Speaker 1: to go to Spain.
43:32
Speaker 2: What was it like when you arrived in Spain? What
43:34
Speaker 2: was the what was the reaction I guess from the
43:37
Speaker 2: locker room because particularly in those days, like there's still
43:39
Speaker 2: some some anti American like, oh, he's an American, you can't play.
43:41
Speaker 2: Were you really playing up your your Uruguayan in heritage
43:44
Speaker 2: when you got in the locker room or or what
43:45
Speaker 2: was that like being received from.
43:46
Speaker 1: Your Yeah, it was unusual. It was unusual obviously to
43:49
Speaker 1: sign an American player. So you know, later on that season,
43:53
Speaker 1: whenever I played well, they would say the Uruguayan player,
43:56
Speaker 1: and if I had a bad game, they would say
43:58
Speaker 1: the American. That's sort of how that worked, which is
44:03
Speaker 1: I couldn't help but read that every time, like every
44:06
Speaker 1: great game I was from Uruguay, every bad game I
44:08
Speaker 1: was the American player. Yeah, but in the locker room, listen,
44:14
Speaker 1: I got I you know, as soon as I got
44:16
Speaker 1: to Spain, I you know, the coach that I had
44:19
Speaker 1: automatically just brought me into a room and said this
44:23
Speaker 1: is where you're gonna play. You need to do this.
44:25
Speaker 1: Can you do it? If you can't do it, I'll
44:26
Speaker 1: find somebody else who can do it. That's that's as
44:29
Speaker 1: quickly as that went. And I said, coach, yeah, I
44:31
Speaker 1: can do what you need, you know. So it was
44:34
Speaker 1: it was a tough environment. I went to for a
44:37
Speaker 1: great coach who I learned a lot from. And then
44:39
Speaker 1: and then my next move from there, obviously I went
44:42
Speaker 1: to Betty's. You know, Betty's, I had a after the
44:46
Speaker 1: one year in Spain, they renewed me that year, bought
44:49
Speaker 1: me from US Soccer. At the time, US Soccer owned
44:52
Speaker 1: our contracts. Although we owned we owned eighty percent, the
44:56
Speaker 1: players owned eighty percent of the transfer. US Soccer owned
44:58
Speaker 1: twenty percent.
44:59
Speaker 2: So I so you got eighty percent of I got
45:02
Speaker 2: eighty percent.
45:02
Speaker 1: Of the transfer fee. Ye, So that was that was
45:04
Speaker 1: pretty good at the time. And then and then and
45:08
Speaker 1: then once that happened, they signed me to a new
45:11
Speaker 1: four year contract at Figueras. But after my second year,
45:14
Speaker 1: Betty's came in and bought me and I went to Seville,
45:17
Speaker 1: which obviously that's a huge club in Spain. But I
45:21
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about the middle of the season transfer
45:23
Speaker 1: because you know, I started at Betty's, played a year
45:27
Speaker 1: and a half. Uh no played played the first two years,
45:30
Speaker 1: and then we went to World Cup ninety four and
45:32
Speaker 1: it woked up ninety four I had the injury, the
45:35
Speaker 1: skull injury, so because my skull was broken, I was
45:38
Speaker 1: out for about four and a half months and as
45:41
Speaker 1: I recovered my team. We were in La Liga at
45:43
Speaker 1: this point in first division, and so December of that
45:47
Speaker 1: year I went and talked to the coach and said, coach,
45:48
Speaker 1: I see you know you've made your roster. You know Betty's.
45:51
Speaker 1: We were already in the top five in La Liga
45:53
Speaker 1: at the time, so he had his roster set. So
45:56
Speaker 1: it was a time. The reason I'm saying this is
45:58
Speaker 1: because it was a time for me to make it decision.
46:00
Speaker 1: Do I want to be a sub at Betty's for
46:03
Speaker 1: the rest of the year in La Liga or do
46:05
Speaker 1: I want to move, especially considering that MLS is a
46:09
Speaker 1: league that's going to start and they want me to
46:11
Speaker 1: go back home. So I received two offers, one to
46:15
Speaker 1: go to well new Chtel in Switzerland and the other
46:22
Speaker 1: one was to go to Tigris in Mexico. And at
46:25
Speaker 1: the time we thought, okay, if I'm going to go
46:27
Speaker 1: back to play an MLS, it's probably better for me
46:29
Speaker 1: to be closer to home. So I decided to go
46:31
Speaker 1: to Tigris the middle of the season, and by the way,
46:33
Speaker 1: it ended up being a great move because Tigers is
46:36
Speaker 1: a great club and I truly enjoyed playing there, but
46:40
Speaker 1: this is one of the downsides of moving mid season.
46:43
Speaker 1: So I went to Tigris obviously because I was coming
46:45
Speaker 1: from Betty's. I started every game, right, I had to
46:48
Speaker 1: earn it, but I started every game, of course. But
46:50
Speaker 1: here's the situation. The coach that brought me in, a
46:53
Speaker 1: Brazilian coach, got fired before we even played one game,
46:57
Speaker 1: before I played one game year. As soon as I
47:01
Speaker 1: got to Mexico, that coach got fired. They brought in
47:04
Speaker 1: a new coach, and by the end of that season,
47:07
Speaker 1: that coach also got fired, so by that summer, So
47:12
Speaker 1: by that summer, I already had two coaches at Tigris
47:15
Speaker 1: and had to go into our third coach, which was
47:18
Speaker 1: Manuel Vusstich, who's a great coach and I played my
47:21
Speaker 1: whole other two years with him there. But these are
47:24
Speaker 1: the dangers of moving mid season that you're inevitably moving
47:29
Speaker 1: into a bad situation when this happens, and that situation
47:32
Speaker 1: could go from bad to worse. In my case, it
47:34
Speaker 1: went from bad to worse. But since I did well,
47:37
Speaker 1: I was able to stay with the club and things
47:39
Speaker 1: got better. But that's the danger of movement mid season.
47:43
Speaker 2: What were the pressures again Tea Grace. I know that
47:46
Speaker 2: there's a ton of pressure all the time, always, but
47:48
Speaker 2: in the nineties, what was it like signing for that club,
47:51
Speaker 2: debuting for that club, and again with all the turmoil,
47:54
Speaker 2: playing for three coaches nine Well, you know.
47:56
Speaker 1: The good party is. I was coming from a big
47:59
Speaker 1: club with big fan you know, Betty's is considered likely
48:03
Speaker 1: the fourth biggest club in Spain in terms of fans.
48:05
Speaker 1: Like everywhere you go, the fans travel at home, you
48:10
Speaker 1: come out for warm ups, even in second division, you
48:13
Speaker 1: come out for warm ups, the thirty five thousand people
48:16
Speaker 1: already in the stands. It's it's a big, big club.
48:20
Speaker 1: And so going to Tea Grace, which by the way,
48:23
Speaker 1: is similar in that respect. You know, the Tea Grace
48:25
Speaker 1: is always passed. The stadium is you have whatever, forty
48:28
Speaker 1: eight thousand, but they're there at every game, and so
48:31
Speaker 1: it wasn't new for me. I adapted to that quite quickly.
48:36
Speaker 2: That's fantastic. And again this timeline too, and you kind
48:39
Speaker 2: of noted a little bit about MLS and they wanted
48:41
Speaker 2: you to come back. You were the first player to
48:43
Speaker 2: sign in Major League Zaga. What was all that like?
48:46
Speaker 2: Those discussions and what they were, what the even they
48:49
Speaker 2: were offering or what they were trying to sell to
48:52
Speaker 2: you to become again literally the league's first ever signed.
48:55
Speaker 1: Yes, So what they said to me is they got
48:57
Speaker 1: in the middle of my transfer from Betty's to Tea
49:00
Speaker 1: and they sort of bought my transfer and loaned me
49:04
Speaker 1: to Tigris for the next year and a half until
49:07
Speaker 1: the league was kicking off. So I i in effect
49:11
Speaker 1: from Betty's. I didn't directly sign with t Gris. I
49:14
Speaker 1: signed with MLS, which was a league that didn't exist
49:18
Speaker 1: nor did it have any teams. So I was now
49:21
Speaker 1: owned by a league that didn't exist, and I was
49:23
Speaker 1: and I was loaned by by a league to Tigris
49:27
Speaker 1: so that then I could come back and play for
49:30
Speaker 1: what I was hoping would be a New York team
49:32
Speaker 1: or a Washington, DC team, which is what I what
49:35
Speaker 1: I told the league I wanted to do, which had
49:37
Speaker 1: no names. There was no names to the team. Yeah.
49:41
Speaker 2: Well, again, as as the first ever signing, I think
49:44
Speaker 2: that you were in a position to call your shots there,
49:46
Speaker 2: So I'm glad. I'm glad that that works out, But like,
49:49
Speaker 2: how was it how important was it for you to
49:50
Speaker 2: like again, we've in this segment alone, we've talked about
49:55
Speaker 2: as you're preparing for a Worke Cup, you're playing for
49:57
Speaker 2: the Brooklyn Italians, or even ten minutes ago you were like, yeah,
50:01
Speaker 2: well the contract was owned by US Soccer because there
50:04
Speaker 2: wasn't a league and I was waiting to go to
50:06
Speaker 2: Europe to figure out what I want to do. As
50:08
Speaker 2: somebody who was trailblazing and doing all that, how important
50:11
Speaker 2: was it for you to be like, all right, I'm
50:13
Speaker 2: going to come back and be the face of this
50:14
Speaker 2: new league to help make sure it succeeds.
50:17
Speaker 1: Well, you know, Tom, I have to say, and you know,
50:20
Speaker 1: some of the players from my generation, and particularly the
50:22
Speaker 1: ones that started earlier at the ninety World Cup, because
50:26
Speaker 1: ninety four was already a little bit different. But it's
50:29
Speaker 1: a generation of players who have been for a long
50:33
Speaker 1: time living a life of selling the game, and we
50:38
Speaker 1: knew how important it was for us to continue to
50:41
Speaker 1: grow the game. And I think that was an effort
50:43
Speaker 1: to be made because think about it, I was transferring
50:46
Speaker 1: from a big club ral Betti's to a big club Tigris,
50:50
Speaker 1: and yet I gave really I gave up my career
50:52
Speaker 1: to a league that didn't even start yet, and I
50:55
Speaker 1: felt like that was part of my duty as an
50:57
Speaker 1: American player to help grow the game. It was sort
51:01
Speaker 1: of given myself to a league that didn't start yet
51:03
Speaker 1: because I would likely convince other players to do the same.
51:08
Speaker 2: That's fantastic. And how much how much of the selling
51:12
Speaker 2: the game were you having to do in those couple
51:14
Speaker 2: of years and MLS by the way, like the idea
51:16
Speaker 2: was for it to start in ninety five and then
51:18
Speaker 2: it didn't, which then you stayed at Tea Grace for
51:20
Speaker 2: another year. That's that's a lot. That's really difficult for
51:22
Speaker 2: a part, particularly in your case where you're you're coming
51:25
Speaker 2: as one of the if not the Marquis signing and okay,
51:28
Speaker 2: these are all of our promises and okay, well the
51:31
Speaker 2: first promise of when does the league start is already
51:34
Speaker 2: being broken. So like what was those kind of two
51:36
Speaker 2: years ago?
51:37
Speaker 1: Well, we were we were used to disappointment. Don't forget
51:40
Speaker 1: you know, we we we you know, Tom, When I
51:43
Speaker 1: when I graduated high school, when I graduated high school
51:46
Speaker 1: out of Saint Benedicts, I got drafted in the NASL
51:49
Speaker 1: draft by the New York Cosmos. So I was like,
51:52
Speaker 1: oh my god, this is still going on. Yeah. So
51:54
Speaker 1: and the league folded six months later after I got drafted,
51:59
Speaker 1: So so there you go. So that's that's sort of
52:02
Speaker 1: what we were used to at the time.
52:04
Speaker 2: Speaking of high school to drap to college. Your NC
52:06
Speaker 2: State made it to the College Cup last week, so
52:09
Speaker 2: that's where you following that.
52:11
Speaker 1: I was following a little bit. I didn't get an
52:13
Speaker 1: opportunity to watch the final, but I did follow a
52:16
Speaker 1: little bit. I can tell you this. There was a
52:18
Speaker 1: point this year, which was about a month ago, when
52:22
Speaker 1: NC State was ranked number one in the country and
52:25
Speaker 1: Saint Benedict's was number one in the country high school.
52:27
Speaker 1: So I had both my high school and my college
52:30
Speaker 1: be number one for the period of one week at
52:32
Speaker 1: the same time.
52:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then and Benedex ended up winning the state
52:36
Speaker 2: title undefeated season. All that. That's some good pedigry there,
52:40
Speaker 2: And all you're missing is Metro source and Red Bulls here.
52:45
Speaker 1: And by the way, I'll say this, I'll say this
52:47
Speaker 1: so I don't take credit for anything. We were not
52:50
Speaker 1: number one in the country at either one when I
52:52
Speaker 1: was at either one of those. So let's just say that.
52:59
Speaker 2: I thoroughly encourage you guys, if you're listening to Google
53:02
Speaker 2: and look up tab Ramis's gold record at Benedict's and
53:05
Speaker 2: and NC state it is, it's video game numbers, and
53:09
Speaker 2: this is a it's it's it's a piece of trivia.
53:12
Speaker 1: Think I think I still hold that record. I don't
53:14
Speaker 1: think it's been broken yet. The high school record.
53:16
Speaker 2: It's unbelievable. Like the first time I read it, I
53:19
Speaker 2: was like, this is like somebody's like messing with me, right,
53:21
Speaker 2: I was like, how is it physically possible to score
53:23
Speaker 2: what forty goals the season essentially four years?
53:26
Speaker 1: Ridiculous, different times, different times.
53:30
Speaker 2: Hey man, they're still pretty good right now. And that's
53:32
Speaker 2: that's untouchable. I can ask about a billion follow ups,
53:35
Speaker 2: but I'm gonna let you go here. It's it's, it's Chris.
53:37
Speaker 2: Some of the listeners. Let's let everybody get back to
53:40
Speaker 2: their families. Or if you're avoiding your families, then go
53:42
Speaker 2: to it, go to the next podcast, but please listen, rate, review, Subscribe,
53:47
Speaker 2: Inside American Soccer, Tom Wogan and tab Ramis. This was
53:49
Speaker 2: a wonderful episode. Tap Happy holidays. I'll talk again for
53:53
Speaker 2: ever