Friday is here again and it has been another big week in the transfer window so far, with a number of dominoes falling into place. West Ham United's Declan Rice and Chelsea's Mason Mount are arguably the two biggest names from the past few weeks to be on the verge of donning new jerseys, but other European giants have been active too. The Gold Cup pushes on as well with the USMNT and Canada both in action this weekend. This is Jonathan Johnson with the Golazo Starting XI newsletter setting you up for the weekend.
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📺 Footy fix
All times U.S./Eastern
Friday, June 30
🇦🇷 Argentina: Platense vs. Lanus, 6 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🌎 Gold Cup: Martinique vs. Panama, 6:30 p.m. ➡️ FS1
🇦🇷 Argentina: Velez vs. Arsenal, 8:30 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🌎 Gold Cup: El Salvador vs. Costa Rica, 8:30 p.m. ➡️ FS1
Saturday, July 1
🌎 UEFA Under-21 Euros: Georgia vs. Israel, 12 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇦🇷 Argentina: Barracas vs. River Plate, 2 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇧🇷 Brasileirão: Sao Paulo vs. Fluminense, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🌎 UEFA Under-21 Euros: Spain vs. Switzerland, 3 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇺🇸 NWSL: OL Reign vs. Racing Louisville, 3:30 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🌎 Gold Cup: Guatemala vs. Canada, 9:30 p.m. ➡️ FS1
Sunday, July 2
🇧🇷 Brasileirão: Corinthians vs. RB Bragantino, 10 a.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🌎 UEFA Under-21 Euros: England vs. Portugal, 12 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇧🇷 Brasileirão: Botafogo vs. Vasco Da Gama, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🌎 UEFA Under-21 Euros: France vs. Ukraine, 3 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇺🇸 NWSL: NJ/NY Gotham vs. Angel City, 5:30 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🌎 Gold Cup: USMNT vs. Trinidad and Tobago, 7 p.m. ➡️ FS1
🇺🇸 MLS: Toronto vs. Real Salt Lake, 7:30 p.m. ➡️ AppleTV+
⚽ The Forward Line
Chelsea's summer of change picks up steam
Missing out on UEFA Champions league qualification and Europe altogether was always going to have far-reaching consequences for Chelsea and we have seen the Blues be the most active club so far this summer in terms of departures. With Mason Mount now set to join Manchester United and a raft of former players heading to Saudi Arabia, the Londoners are recouping as much of the massive amounts of money spent under Todd Boehly this past 12 months as they possibly can. Obviously, it does not fully replace the financial outlay in assembling this squad, but it does address the group's bloated nature ahead of Mauricio Pochettino getting to work.
N'Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy have gone to the Saudi Pro League while Hakim Ziyech could follow, depending on whether or not a deal can be found after issues with his medical, with such a flurry of deals prompting obvious questions about a potential agreement between Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Chelsea. Kai Havertz to Arsenal, Mateo Kovacic to Manchester City and Mount to United are arguably the most interesting aspects of this summer's business at Stamford Bridge, though. All three transfers arguably strengthen clubs that the Blues will feel are still their rivals despite coming off of an off year. While the sales do bring in significant funds, there is the possibility that it could also make Pochettino's job of reasserting Chelsea in the European conversation a bit harder.
That said, given Chelsea's interest in Moises Caicedo of Brighton and Hove Albion, perhaps the sale of Mount to United as he enters the final 12 months of his contract was strategic after all: "Mount, a 2021 UEFA Champions League winner, will cost the current EFL Cup champions around $69 million plus an additional $6 million or so in add-on fees," according to CBS Sports insider Fabrizio Romano. "United were never in for Brighton and Hove Albion's Moises Caicedo as an alternative and Mount has been Ten Hag's top target for the summer. It was a difficult 2022-23 season for Mount with three goals and three assists across all competitions as the Blues fell woefully short of expectations."
Don't miss CBS Sports Golazo Network's Morning Footy, now in podcast form! Our crew brings you all the news, views, highlights and laughs you need to follow the Beautiful Game in every corner of the globe, every Monday-Friday all year long.
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🔗 Midfield Link Play
The transfer window will get even crazier come July
Questions are being asked at present as to why June has been fairly quiet on the transfer front until now with only a handful of early deals and then mainly just speculation until a flurry of activity this past week or so. That is because we are entering into July when many clubs start their new budgets for the 2023-24 season, so new additions need to be factored into this rather than being added to the previous campaign's books which can cause Financial Fair Play complications. Clubs can, of course, line deals up to be active from July and most players are on holiday outside of international tournaments, but many unveilings and certainly the return to preseason training will take part in July.
In the case of certain clubs like Paris Saint-Germain, head coach compensation can take time to thrash out and star player uncertainty can also lead to an absence of major news as new strategies are put in place before finally being made to work. This results in the sort of situation we are seeing at present where we know that Luis Enrique is coming in to replace Christophe Galtier yet are made to wait for the official communications.
"In terms of Luis Enrique being named PSG's new head coach and Galtier moving on from Parc des Princes, the situation is similar to the one we saw last year," I wrote in our breakdown of PSG's quiet June. "The French tactician's arrival was known about months before it was actually confirmed due to the legal wrangles over dismissing predecessor Mauricio Pochettino and that is pretty much the same deal here. Galtier's compensation costs are significantly lower than the Argentine's but they are still sizeable and the Ligue 1 titleholders must have the 56-year-old taken care of before his Spanish replacement can be named officially as the new boss at Parc des Princes. Luis Enrique himself has needed to review the staff set up in Paris and assemble his new additions to be ready for preseason in the lead-up to that first game on July 21 against Le Havre. These things take time and it is just a question of being patient while the legalities are handled -- hence Galtier's inability to immediately rebound with one of the available Ligue 1 posts at present."
Now let's get to the rest of the links:
🔗 Francesco Porzio on Milan kicking off talks to sign USMNT stars Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah.
🔗 Chuck Booth on the difficulties of getting hands on Lionel Messi Inter Miami jerseys.
🔗 Booth also had Tata Martino's appointment as Miami boss covered.
🔗 Booth again with a look at when Messi might actually debut.
🔗 PSG's Galtier questioned in custody in relation to discrimination allegations from his time at Nice.
🔗 The Morning Footy crew react to the details of the Galtier's alleged comments.
🔗 Mike Lahoud breaks down a resurgent Mexico on Morning Footy.
🔗 An ex-Chelsea star is getting into ownership, with N'Golo Kante buying a Belgian side.
🔗 FC Cincinnati manager Pat Noonan joined the Morning Footy crew.
🔗 And, if you missed any of Morning Footy, it's a podcast now! Catch up with the entire crew at your convenience.
🔗 In Soccer We Trust: Keep up with all the Gold Cup action
🔗 Attacking Third: NWSL returns to action this weekend and the podcast has you covered.
💰 The Back Line
💵 Best bets
All odds courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook and all times U.S./Eastern. SportsLine has you covered with everything you need.
- Gold Cup: Guatemala vs. Canada, Saturday, 9:30 p.m.
💰 THE PICK: Canada to win and both to score (+250) -- Despite their recent struggles, Canada should still beat Guatemala after their slow Gold Cup start. However, all does not seem right with the Canucks at present and it could be that this is a less convincing victory you would expect looking at it on paper. - UEFA Under-21 Euros: England vs. Portugal, Sunday, 12 p.m.
💰 THE PICK: England to win and both to score (+300) -- Three Lions should get this one done and advance to the semifinals, but Portugal have the quality to keep it tight. Both sides scoring with the English going through at the end seems a reasonable bet and one that could return respectably.
