View this email in your browser

Welcome to the Nutmeg, each week, you can expect: Exclusive previews of major football events – Spotlight features on top football creators – In-depth analysis of trending football culture.Delivered as consistently as Beckham’s crosses.

A soccer newsletter brought to you by Socceroof and FootyTutor

Good morning, squad. Man City teammates are tired of Erling Haaland scoring so many hat tricks and winning the match balls. So much so that he took a picture with the ball after they beat Ipswich Town 4-1, and two of his teammates literally wrote, “I’m sick of writing on these match ball” and “Again you Norwegian.”

We hope that you find success so often that your teammates and friends see it as a given.

Let’s get into it.

DONE WITH DRAFTING

It’s not the metric system, but America is taking systems advice from outside of its borders. The NWSL has reached a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that makes huge strides towards the soccer that we all want to see in the US.

There were many positive things coming from the CBA; however, the most notable point was that the draft is going to be no more and the league would embrace the free agency model. This is a significant shift away from the American model. Every major professional league has a once-a-year, centralized draft. The biggest drawback of this model is that the worst teams, with little room for contract negotiations, punish the most talented players. We've seen many cases where this has an impact on player happiness. Under the free agency model, players are free to talk to teams they’re interested in and negotiate their own contracts. It’s almost like world soccer knew this worked better. But yanks will be yanks.

The NWSL is arguably the best women’s soccer league in the world, and it’s important to keep pushing towards being the pinnacle. “We want to be a league that is a destination for those best players, regardless of where they come from,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said. This CBA raises the minimum salary and increases revenue sharing, incentivizing players from all over to take part in making the league even stronger.

This is undoubtedly the right move, with a massive spike in finances entering women's sports.Deloitte predicts that elite women’s sports will pull global revenues of $1.24 billion–300% higher than valuations just three years ago. This piggyback comes on top of the fact that Disney's CEO recently purchased Angel City FC for $250 million just a few months ago.

WONDER KID PONDERS FUTURE

After joining Real Madrid just a few weeks ago, Brazilian forward Endrick isn’t sure what is to come. With the likes of Mbappe, Vini, Güler, and Rodrygo, there are very few gaps for the 18-year-old to sneak into to make an appearance. He was finally able to step onto the pitch for Los Blancos on Sunday, entering the game in the 86th minute and tacking on a goal. With that, he became the youngest foreign player to score for Real Madrid.

Ancelotti commented, "He's doing very well, like the others. He's adapting very well. He has impressive qualities, and he'll get the minutes he deserves, taking into account the competition there is in this team." Endrick knew that he wasn’t going to be a starter from the get-go but was obviously hoping to get more minutes than he’s seen so far.

Even with a strong first showing and scoring after only 10 minutes on the field, doubts have prompted thoughts of a Plan B. There have been rumors of the Brazilian finding a team to join on loan for a year to get more experience under his belt. HITC reports that two clubs have inquired about having Endrick join them for their 2024–25 campaign, suggesting that he could be heading to the Premier League. We could only imagine sending him to a few clubs, where he'd be a shoe-in for minutes. But we doubt Real Madrid would want him somewhere where he isn’t playing in the Champions League. Could he be the last piece Arsenal needs for a title-winning year?

CATALAN CRASH AND BURN

It’s not new news that Barcelona has had some big financial struggles over the past couple of years. Although it’s now really catching up. After signing Dani Olmo for €51 million and being two matches into the new season, Barça has been unable to register the La Masia graduate, making him ineligible to make his debut.

The holdup is allegedly caused by having to play around their La Liga salary cap. Unfortunately, freeing up salary space meant the end for a fan favorite, Ilkay Gundogan. In a tweet, the German midfielder said a disappointing goodbye to the fans of Camp Nou. He was able to land nicely on his feet at his previous club, Manchester City.

Many of the reactions are the same. “Why would Olmo sign for a club he wouldn’t be able to play at?” “Gundo deserves better.” “Everyone’s dream is to play for Barça... until they get here.” Barcelona is one of the world's most historic clubs. You’d think they’d have something figured out by now, right?

Other news you shouldn’t let slip through your legs:

😳Apparently Wolverhampton is boring. Before their match vs Wolverhampton on Sunday, Chelsea’s Noni Madueke decided to stir the pot. He posted an Instagram story saying, “Everything about this place is sh*t” and added a location tag of Wolverhampton. It was soon deleted, just like Wolves chances of winning as Chelsea won 6-2, supported by Madueke’s hattrick.

🧢 We’ve gotten a second longevity expert. With his appearance this weekend, Thomas Muller has now played 709 competitive matches for Bayern Munich, tying Sepp Maier. But Muller passed him in Bundesliga matches for the club at 474. That’s more matches than nearly any player could imagine of playing, let alone at one club.

❄️Yes, he actually is pretty cold. After Chelsea’s stomping of Wolverhampton, Cole Palmer has added 4 more goal involvements to his tally, a hat trick of assists and a goal. Since the start of last season, he’s scored or assisted 37 goals in just 34 matches.

Leading 5-a-side soccer facilities in North America 🇺🇸 🇨🇦

Teaching you the beautiful game Training Tips + Authority Insights

This e-mail was sent to you by The Nutmeg Newsletter. To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add our e-mail address, [email protected], to your address book.

manage your newsletter subscriptions