Analysis

Wednesday night, Minnesota United welcomed Everton for a friendly match at Allianz Field in St. Paul. The English side was getting ready to begin its season while taking on a Minnesota team halfway through its MLS campaign. 

Jordan Pickford, Dominick Calvert-Lewin and Tom Davies featured for Everton along with a host of other traditional starters. Minnesota only made one change from its weekend lineup against DC United — signalling an attempt to make a statement as they took on a side that finished just four points from relegation last year. 

FC Barcelona’s money issues are no secret. The Spanish giant famously had to let Lionel Messi leave for PSG after a violation of LaLiga’s financial fair play rules. In March 2021, the club was technically bankrupt. Prior to the 2021-22 season, La Blaugrana were not able to register the salaries of Memphis Depay and Eric García until several players accepted wage deferments. All the while, Barcelona debt reached a reported $1.32 billion. 

Seven seasons after joining the club, Paulo Dybala has completed his move away from Juventus. He will be playing for AS Roma following months of speculation and near guarantees that he would be moving to Inter Milan. But what happened? How did this beautiful marriage fall apart and crumble so quickly and so catastrophically?

Manchester United's impressive preseason form continued Tuesday with a 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. United's front three of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho scored the goals, but captain Harry Maguire was constantly jeered and booed by sections of the 76,000-strong crowd. 

The Netherlands, after playing with fire and group stage elimination at Euro 2022, reeled off three goals in the final minutes to turn a precarious 1-1 scoreline against Switzerland into an emphatic victory on Sunday, although the reward of passage to the quarterfinals is sobered by the fact that it's France lying in wait.

Playing again without star striker Vivianne Miedema — who was still experiencing Covid symptoms — the Dutch looked much less than the sum of their parts against a stubborn Swiss defense that threatened on the attack through the dazzling feet of Ramona Bachmann.

Leeds United continued its preseason tour this week with a trip down under to face the Brisbane Roar. Former Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Brenden Aaronson was named as a starter and almost kicked off his debut in spectacular fashion. 

Aaronson put the ball in the back of the net just ~10 seconds into his Leeds debut, but was (rightly) ruled offsidepic.twitter.com/Su5vVgMash

At present, the European football transfer revolving door is in full swing. Players are looking for new clubs and clubs are looking for new players with massive transfer fees flowing in the opposite direction. With many new confirmed transfers emerging in recent days, it seems that a move for Champions League winner Christian Pulisic could be on the cards.