August 21, 2022

The brief from today:

Kounde still unregistered by Barca

One of the many signings made by Barcelona this summer, despite their fragile financial state, was Jules Kounde from Sevilla who cost a hefty €49 million. With round one of La Liga taking place last weekend, the club were unable to register the defender due to their infringement of the league’s salary cap. Barca still need to clear some of their current payroll before Kounde can be registered for official matches, and now round two has arrived and he is still unregistered for today’s match against Real Sociedad. There has been talk of a loan for one of Barca’s other defenders, Samuel Umtiti, to Lecce, but they would still be paying his salary as part of the potential agreement so that won’t solve the Kounde issue. Then there is the situation revolving around Memphis Depay. The Dutch forward is said to be willing to leave Barca, but before he agrees to terminating his contract he wants to have an official agreement with a new side. That new team was meant to be Juventus, but despite early indications pointing to a done deal, there has now been a hitch as Depay is asking for a higher salary than the initial figure given to Juve. The other player Barca are hoping to clear from their books is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is said to be negotiating a move to Chelsea. In his case, however, it won’t be a contract termination so a transfer fee is required, but currently, Chelsea are not willing to meet Barca’s €30 million valuation for the 33-year-old. With that, the Spanish club now face a quandary with the Kounde situation because if they fail to register him within the next 10 days, then he can leave for free despite only recently joining, and Barca will still take the financial hit. The mystery of how Barcelona is still operating this way under such financial conditions continues for yet another summer.

Kounde (above) was unveiled three weeks ago, but is yet to be registered by Barca for official matches

AC Milan relaunch Milan Lab

AC Milan have made the decision to relaunch Milan Lab, the sports science branch of the club that helped the team keep their players in top shape during the 2000s. Milan Lab was unveiled in 2002, and was one of the premier sports medicine facilities in football. Belgian doctor, Jean-Pierre Meersseman, was chosen by then owner, Silvio Berlusconi, to head the research center and find ways to minimize player injuries. Players were put through a range of tests every two weeks, and the results were then analyzed for how preventative measures could be taken to keep them healthy. One of the unorthodox early success stories of Meersseman was Clarence Seedorf. The midfielder, who had just joined Milan, had been having constant issues with his groin limiting his availability. Following various examinations at Milan Lab, the decision was made to extract his wisdom tooth. Suddenly the groin issues were gone, and Seedorf would go on to play for Milan at the highest level for another decade. In addition to that successful case, another notable area that Milan Lab was credited for was the extension of careers. The two best examples of this were Milan legends, Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta playing injury free until they both retired at 41. With Milan Lab thriving, it wasn’t uncommon to see Milan sign players over the age of 30, as they did with Cafu, who was 32 when he joined from Roma. The Brazilian legend would go on to play at a high level for five seasons with Milan into his late 30s. Despite the success of Milan Lab, the club began to institute budget cuts around 2009, and by 2013 it was barely even functioning at the level it had been in prior years. Now, under the new ownership of RedBird Capital, Milan Lab is set to receive reinvestment. Stefano Mazzoni, who is in charge of Milan’s medical area, will be the overseer of the relaunch. In addition to Mazzoni, there will be Andrea Riboli, who will handle the development of high performance, and a further staff of 15, with the majority of them based at club’s training center: Milanello. It will be interesting to see if Milan Lab will be run as efficiently, and successfully, as the Meersseman era, and whether the team can reap the potential benefits in the future.

AC Milan decides to reinvest in Milan Lab and sports science