Watching Ricardo Pepi make his first Augsburg start on Sunday against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, I realized that either Pepi's performance was exactly the same as the debuts of Clint Dempsey with Fulham, Christian Pulisic with Borussia Dortmund and Tyler Adams with Leipzig or that I have a tendency to see exactly what I want to see when hugely talented Americans finally grace the field in Europe.
RIYADH - Athletic Bilbao substitute Nico Williams struck late in the second half to give the Spanish Super Cup holders a 2-1 come-from-behind win over LaLiga champions Atlético Madrid in Thursday's semifinal.
Bilbao set up a showpiece clash on Sunday against Real Madrid, who beat Barcelona 3-2 on Wednesday.
Oribe Peralta, El Hermoso, ha decidido dejar el fútbol.
Dos meses después de confirmar su salida de Chivas, el legendario delantero mexicano usó el día de su cumpleaños 38 y una extraña combinación numérica para comunicar la noticia, ya que el anuncio lo hizo público hoy 12 de enero, a las 12:12 del día, hora de México. ¿Afición a la numerología o un mensaje oculto a los Illuminati? Seguramente, nunca lo sabremos.
Tuesday marks MLS SuperDraft day, and while it's always fun to see who your team adds and to pore over their college bio page, you ultimately want your club moving in the direction of producing and signing more Homegrown Players through its academy. Real Salt Lake did just that Monday with the addition of 15-year-old midfielder Jude Wellings — who becomes the club's youngest-ever first-team signing.
I’ll be honest, I tuned into Manchester City’s third-round FA Cup match against fourth-tier Swindon Town mostly to see how American Zack Steffen performed in goal. I came away impressed with 19-year-old Cole Palmer, who scored a banger of a goal to go with an assist in City’s 4-1 win on Friday.
FC Dallas completed the transfer of striker Ricardo Pepi to FC Augsburg of the German Bundesliga on Monday.
Dallas received a reported $20 million fee, a club record that also makes the 18-year-old Pepi the most expensive outgoing homegrown player in MLS history.
Pepi, the 2021 MLS Young Player of the Year, signed a five-and-a-half-year contract at Augsburg that includes a club option to extend the deal until the summer of 2027.
On Saturday, West Bromwich Albion and Orlando City confirmed that 21-year-old striker Daryl Dike was headed to the Championship side on a four-and-a-half-year deal for a transfer fee of $9.5 million.
Dike again joins forces with French manager Valérien Ismaël, who was Barnsley's boss last campaign when Dike scored nine goals in 19 second division appearances while on loan. Orlando is also in line to receive performance-based bonuses and 20% of any future sale.
The emergence of 17-year-old Pablo Páez Gavi for both Barcelona and Spain during the 2021-22 season has been criminally under-appreciated in the English-speaking world. It's a serious offense because just putting the La Masia product through the 90-minute eye test is enough to reveal a footballer of supreme talent, which is exceptionally rare when considering all the nuance and subtlety that comes with the midfield position.
After being linked with Inter Milan, Sampdoria, Ajax and Wolves, it looks like one club has distinguished itself as the clear front-runner for signing Ricardo Pepi this January.
As reported by the only guy that now reports this sort of thing, Fabrizio Romano, the 18-year-old USMNT phenom is on the verge of moving to the Bundesliga from FC Dallas with Wolfsburg currently leading the race.
Wolfsburg is 13th in the table because of an attack that's generated only 17 goals in 17 matches. Lukas Nmecha and Wout Weghorst both have six goals and no other player has more than two.
NORWICH, England - Arsenal cruised to a 5-0 win at hapless bottom side Norwich City on Sunday, with Bukayo Saka's double helping them to secure the victory as they consolidated fourth place in the Premier League.
Saka opened the scoring early on before Kieran Tierney added another goal just before the break. The England forward got his brace midway through the second half, while Alexandre Lacazette, with a penalty, and Emile Smith Rowe wrapped up the victory.