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BREAKING: Georgi Minoungou Traded to Colorado Rapids | Seattle Sounders Transfer News
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The Seattle Sounders have traded midfielder Georgi Minoungou to the Colorado Rapids. In this video, we break down the full details of the deal — including the GAM and players involved — what Minoungou brought to Seattle, what this means for the Sounders roster going forward, and why Colorado made this move.Georgi Minoungou came up through Tacoma Defiance and developed into one of the most exciting dribblers in MLS. The 23-year-old Burkina Faso international tallied 2 goals and 4 assists across 32 appearances for Seattle in 2025, won the Leagues Cup, and earned 9 caps for Les Étalons — including a goal at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. We dig into the stats, the context, and what comes next for both clubs.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Context
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
Georgie Manungu Trade Announcement
00:00:44
Speaker
What is up everybody and welcome to an emergency stream. It is 3.50 p.m. on a Thursday, not usually a time where we would be going live, but we are going live because we have breaking news, a bombshell report. I'm sure most of you who are here have already seen it, but Georgie Manungu has been traded.
00:01:03
Speaker
to the Colorado Rapids, our own Nico Moreno, first on the scoop. So great job by Nico. And then confirmed later by Tom Bogert, who gave gave the number $2 million dollars of GAM.
00:01:15
Speaker
So Georgie Manungu off to the Colorado Rapids. So guys, let's just give our rapid reactions to this trade. And, uh, where we think the team goes from here. And we got Jeremiah Oshan and we got Noah here with us. So ah who wants to start? Jeremiah, why don't we get your take on this to start it off? What was your first reaction when you heard that Georgie was going to Colorado for $2 million dollars in game?
00:01:41
Speaker
I mean, I was shocked, I think was the first thing. I definitely did not, you know, I had i had talked to someone with the Sounders, a few hours ago, couple hours ago. And I just said, are we expecting any moves today?
00:01:54
Speaker
And he said, I don't think so. And, uh, and then, and then I get a call from Nico saying, Hey, this is what I'm hearing. And I was, I was shocked. Uh, you know, we were, he and I were throwing around numbers, what we thought he could potentially fetch. And I will be honest, $2 million dollars is more than we thought the Sounders would get.
00:02:14
Speaker
we were a little bit less optimistic. I mean, honestly, at $2 million dollars though, that's one of those, you know, you you almost can't say no for, you know, because that's that's a ton of money. It doesn't, you know, that's money that doesn't cap count against your cap ah for the amount of GAN that you can bring in.
Implications of the Trade on Sounders
00:02:34
Speaker
I mean, it it is a significant amount of money and allows the Sounders a lot of flexibility going into the summer. What were you guys guessing? What did you think the ballpark was? mean, Nico originally said like $500,000, and I was like, there's no way it's that little.
00:02:45
Speaker
I was like, it's guys. Because Amberby was around a million. Yeah, exactly. So it would have to be more than that. Over a million, because that's what Amberby was supposedly offering. And the Sounders paid $500,000 for him when they brought him in in the first place. So I figured it had to be over a million. But that it's $2 million, that gets it into, okay, I can see why they made this move kind of territory. Yeah.
00:03:07
Speaker
That's Reed Baker Whiting numbers. i mean, it's double Reed Baker Whiting. Which is insane. Reed Baker Whiting was a very proven, much more proven long-term entity than Georgie Monongu has been.
00:03:19
Speaker
i feel Yeah, the reality is that Georgie's a really, really exciting player with a... you know, very high ceiling, but also as someone that we just, i mean, we just saw him play against Minnesota.
00:03:30
Speaker
He was okay, but you can also see how there's still rawness in his game. There's still a lot of growth to be had. I'm bummed to miss him because I really like him. I think he has the potential to be a very, you know, an exceptionally good player. I think he has potential to be, ah you know, someone who gets sold for a bunch of money in Europe.
00:03:49
Speaker
If you were in the right situation, know, And, you know, and I would imagine the Sounders still have a pretty significant sell on clause. So from all that, I don't think that this is a short term, like, I don't think the short term cost of this is that high.
00:04:02
Speaker
I have a question for you, Jeremiah, because I've been seeing this floating around our comment section. Our comment section is blowing up on Instagram right now. and The number one thing that I'm hearing from people, which I don't know if there's any baseline to this, is did George really want to leave? is even Has he been looking for an exit off the Sounders? Is that something that has actually been the case?
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah, so I did a little bit of digging into this and best I can tell, it's not that he wanted, like I actually heard that he was getting ready to buy a house. So the idea that he was sort of itching to get out of here, I don't think is accurate.
00:04:36
Speaker
I do think there was some frustration from him about playing time. And I think the Sounders were, you know, sort of looking, they were giving him some some of these starts early on for him to sort of show what he could do.
00:04:50
Speaker
And I do think that his inability to maximize on those two starts probably played some role in their willingness to trade him. i think there was probably a growing sense that he was getting a little fidgety about his playing time.
00:05:04
Speaker
And I think the Sounders probably look at the landscape. They see Paul Rothrock, Paul Areola, Jesus Ferreira, and po potentially Pedro De La Vega coming in here. And I think they're like, look, if you're you got to be better than these guys.
00:05:18
Speaker
And right now, I don't know that Georgie is.
Colorado Rapids Strategy
00:05:22
Speaker
I think it's a ah demonstration of further ball knowledge on the part of the Colorado Rapids, in my opinion, because this is the same team that got Danny Leyva on loan from the Sounders that traded for Josh Atencio from the Sounders. And now they're picking up Georgie Manungu from the Sounders. So they're really they're really into the Seattle developmental pipeline. But honestly, it's a good deal. But you can't kill S2.
00:05:46
Speaker
good It's a good strategy, honestly, though. Just, you know, all the Defiance guys that are coming up but not quite breaking through with Seattle's first team. You just take those guys. A lot of the developmental work has already been done. You just plug them in. And so I think it's a good move for the Rapids. Although, I guess, let's talk about our reaction to the haul.
00:06:05
Speaker
first Seattle because $2 million, dollars you know, I found out about this trade before I knew the hall and I was kind of in the same boat as Nico and Jeremiah. I was like, it's probably like slightly over a million was my guess because I figured it would be more than what Hammerby was offering. But I didn't I wasn't really guessing up towards two mil. And then I saw Tom Bogues tweet out two mil. And i kind of came to the same reaction that Jeremiah did of like, you kind of have to take that. Like you could keep them in the hopes of maybe getting a better number from that later on down the line or him continuing to develop, but it is, it's just a, it's a good bag. Noah, what do you think of the bag?
00:06:42
Speaker
I mean, that's as big of a bag as you could ask for in, in terms of MLS to MLS transfer. I mean, I, I, if I was a GM, I wouldn't pay that much for him. I, you, you're essentially getting a depth piece um I'm interested to know if there's a sell-on. I'm interested to know if this was all cash and they're hedging that they can move him on to Europe and be that club that wins on that that transfer fee.
00:07:07
Speaker
I don't know where... I don't really know Colorado well enough. I'm trying to goad on a couple of Colorado podcasters to let us know like where he would sit in that depth chart. But $2 million dollars to me, man, there's there's a... that's an and That would be an instant take for me. I mean, I told you...
00:07:23
Speaker
Last podcast, I was like, I i don't really understand. i get the Georgie thing, but it's like I'm maybe not completely sold. So I like him as a person. I think he's a fun player. But honestly, man, like $2 million, dollars that's a lot of money in the Sounders pocket for a player who you bought $500,000. And it's also and it's also a proving ground for this idea that you can spend transfer fees, put players on the defiance and move them through your system and sell them on. This is exactly what the Sounders want to be. So it's it seems like the right business.
00:08:01
Speaker
Well, let me give a little bit more added context to this. You know, I've got access to this this spreadsheet that meticulously tracks every trade that involves allocation money in MLS history.
00:08:16
Speaker
And, you know, to if it's assuming it's $2 million, dollars and I'm going to guess that that's maybe some incentives or it's not all in one lump sum, but let's just treat it as a $2 million dollars total fee.
00:08:29
Speaker
Jesus Ferreira, who was a much, much more proven player, that was $2.3 million. dollars Yes. Dante Seeley was a player that ah that Colorado bought in the offseason.
00:08:42
Speaker
They paid $2.5 million for him. he He also had done more. ah Paul Areola, way back in 2022, sold for $2.3 million. And then Leo Campagna sold for, you know, whatever. The record is, three point i guess, $3.25 million. And famously, he's doing really well.
00:09:03
Speaker
And I just want to say, that's the list. That's the whole list of players who have sold for more than $2 million dollars in GAM. So he is ba this is looking like the fourth or fifth most expensive GAM trade in MLS history.
00:09:20
Speaker
To put it in context, you know that's a lot. the The whole thing, one of the things with Georgie was that he's got all these really impressive underlying metrics that suggest that he could be this super elite volume chance creator and potentially assist guy if he just got enough run. And it kind of felt like he was, you know, he was breaking in the rotation with Seattle, but he was never getting that sustained enough run to be able to tell if he was going to make good on that. So I'm at least hoping that the Rapids plan for this is to bet on that and then give him the run. And then we can all find out once and for all what the ceiling is. And if he hits like a crazy ceiling in Colorado that he wasn't going to get here because he wasn't get the playing time, then, I mean, i think that i think that's great because it just feels, it kind of felt like he might never really get that full opportunity here.
00:10:13
Speaker
yeah. i'm I'm hoping that they at least give him the minutes to to find out. We can finally get the ah Georgie eval. James is bringing up a a good a good point here. He's saying you're getting him on a cheap deal until 2029. So it's a lot up front with the savings over the course of the contract.
00:10:31
Speaker
What do we think about that he is a that's that? That's definitely part of what makes Georgie attractive is that he is under contract or he's got player option or team options through 2029. He's also what's called a special discovery player, which is sort of this weird ah mine and like ah ah like roster mechanism that's not used that often.
00:10:54
Speaker
And so i is so he he counts, you know, it's it basically depends it changes the way that there's their transfer fee hits the cap, but it allows him to hit the cap at actually less than even a U22 would hit the cap at.
00:11:09
Speaker
That's huge. Yeah, I mean, that's that's what makes that's a part of what makes him such an attractive asset for the Rapids, I think. So in your calculation, because of that, does that make him...
00:11:24
Speaker
Like giving giving him up for that cost, like how hard is it to replace him with a player in that cap saving structure? Like is he kind of just a unicorn in that space? I mean, the Sounders are not going to – my suspicion is that the Sounders will not be able to go out and find a player of his caliber who will be able to kind of just slot in and be – as productive as he was at that cap hit. But the thing is that they now have a lot more cap flexibility. I had estimated that they had roughly $3 million dollars in unspent cap already.
00:11:57
Speaker
And so this, you know, I would guess that at least a million of this is going to come through in 2026. So, you know, they've got $4 million dollars in cap flexibility going into the summer.
00:12:09
Speaker
They should be able to, yeah they they absolutely should be, that's a very high level TAM player while still having money left over. So, you know, like put that, you know, for what it's worth. Like this is definitely something that they can do something with. But again, i just don't think that the short-term need is all that high.
Fan Reactions and Strategic Insights
00:12:27
Speaker
Again, you've got Paul Areola already fighting for minutes. You've got Paul Rothrock already fighting for minutes.
00:12:33
Speaker
You're going to have Pedro de la Vega. There was not there was a world where there just weren't that many minutes to go around for Georgie once the summer hits. We got Jax joining up as a new YouTube member. Thank you, Jax. has been crashing out. i Appreciate the support. going to say, you know we yeah we don't necessarily need to read any individual crash outs, but there are there's i would say there's a lot of ah there's sadness in the in the fan base over this. At least that's what I'm seeing in the initial reaction.
00:13:04
Speaker
And I think it is it is sad from the perspective of he was a fan favorite. And I think he, you know, we all, we all like Georgie seemed like a great guy. It's really fun story. Fun guy to have on the team and a really exciting player to watch, you know, for all the talk about how he never quite made good on what we thought the potential could be. He did. ah He drew the penalty in the league's cup final that allowed Alex rolled on to effectively put that game to to bed. So there were some anti you high the penalty to Portland Timbers in the open cup match for Tacoma to find. He also got the Christ yellow. Let's not forget that the christ yellow yellowed the Christ yellow red, which that was an all-time moment last how you
00:13:43
Speaker
will remember you. I'm a follower of Christ. There were some ah there were some very high highs. though. So I'm going to... The goal against Tijuana was a great goal.
00:13:55
Speaker
Is that the one right before the Christy The one before he got red-carded? Yeah, yeah. That was... See, that was one of the best moments of last year, in my opinion. Like, that was incredible. Mostly because they didn't end up costing them the game, which... Yeah, that would have taken the shine off it a little bit. It would have taken the shine off. But that was ah that was a great goal. And, you know, the penalty that he won in the League's Cup final was huge. But ah I don't know. Noah, what do you make of the reaction that we're seeing? There's there's quite a bit of sadness, which i which I understand. But does that surprise you at all?
00:14:28
Speaker
It doesn't surprise me, but I mean... Tribe, dude. tribe we're i Tribe, if you're out there. Sorry. Sorry. I just... I don't know. I think I'm the wrong person to ask that question. I think I should just keep my mouth shut. It's like, damn, this food this funeral food kind of tastes good, in my opinion, right now. like Dude, you got such a good deal for him. like i'm not i'm not Like, I'm not really upset by this at all. And he was already stuck behind so many other players. If you like Georgie, this is a good move for him. This is good for him. He gets to ah he gets to go and play more, potentially. He's on a team that kind of fits his his style a little bit. Colorado is an interesting spot in an interesting spot right now. I don't know. It's good for him.
00:15:12
Speaker
He is going to be... Probably competing with Dante Sealy, the guy who Colorado played even more for. Sealy, by the way, i just looked this up. He was coming off a nine goal, two assist season with the with the impact.
00:15:24
Speaker
So that sort of explains why he was a more expensive player. very Basically the same age as Georgie. a Somewhat similar skill set. So you can see where the where the price came from, I suppose.
00:15:36
Speaker
they Those are kind of similar players. Sealy was more proven at the MLS level, but still, I feel like there was quite a bit of projection with spending what they did on him. And that's that's what they're doing with Georgie as well. So, i you know, they're just kind of, seems like they're kind of just taking rolls of the dice on high ceilings and seeing what can hit, which, you know, it's a good strategy. It's just kind of, it is there is ah there's risk that comes with that.
00:16:01
Speaker
No, and that's that's also part of what the Rapids model is right now, is they are not spending a lot of cash. They are you know looking for deals around um MLS. They are selling players to turn it into... yeah I mean, it's... it's I've said it before.
00:16:16
Speaker
I don't love this analogy, but the Sounders are sort of like a rich man's rapids in terms of the way that they're operating their team. And ah and so it it kind of makes sense that they're doing business with one another. But, I mean, I would definitely – the expectation should be and the pressure should be on the front office now to go and actually do something with all this gam.
00:16:38
Speaker
I mean, they have – They have more GAM right now than they've probably ever had. And you would think that they would go out and and do something useful with it. I don't necessarily think it's going to happen this window.
00:16:50
Speaker
That would be by the end of today if they were to do it. But I definitely expect them to do something in the summer. And frankly, it makes sense to do something in the summer when they have a real a clear idea of what they need on the roster.
00:17:03
Speaker
Do you know what the like roughly, rough GAM total is in the war chest right now? I mean, I i did and a story where I estimated they have about three million, they have probably about $3 million dollars once the payments for Obed and Leyva clear, which are which i've not cleared yet.
00:17:22
Speaker
But once that money clears, they'll have about $3 million. dollars And then you add this in, so you have about five, you know four to 5 million, depending on how much they have in 2026. Will this be the summer? They finally do it? jeal they're not that They're not that broke. Not that broke. Not that broke. They're not broke. They can't use that as a shield.
00:17:40
Speaker
Still pretty but not that broke. They don't have cash. That's the where they are broke. They don't seem to want to actually spend transfer fee, actual cash, but they have plenty of money to to go out and spend on players within MLS, no question. but Well, what about ah Noah Ohio? He's rotting away on the bench on like the second division. what What are we doing with him? can you this is your no ohio fund This is the Noah Ohio fund.
00:18:03
Speaker
Right. But i don't I don't think he's a U-22 anymore, unfortunately. That's true. the ah The Costa Rican guy who played against LAFC and looked really good, this is a complete aside. He just tore his ACL. Sounder, sign him.
00:18:18
Speaker
He's 21. You're 22. Busted ACL, just perfect. It's perfect. Perfect for us. Hey, guys. I'm going to get out of here, though. thanks for Thanks for having me on.
00:18:30
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for tapping in. we Appreciate it, J.O.
00:18:36
Speaker
Uh, Jax remains unhappy, but thank you for the 499 Jax. We appreciate it. He says, Georgie had a life here, loves the fans, knows what this club means and always shows up with extra effort. And this how we treat him betrayal. Uh, well, I mean,
00:18:50
Speaker
Like all those things can be true. And it is also kind of part of the game. Part of the business is trades. And i think like most athletes understand that things can change at the drop of a hat.
00:19:00
Speaker
Also, ah sometimes in these situations, I don't know if this is what happened in this situation, but sometimes in this situation, the player actually welcomes it. If it's a situation where they're going to a place where they can get a bigger role and, you know, advance in their career faster you get an opportunity to do so in the way that they wouldn't where they currently are, which that could, for all we know, that could be the situation with Georgie because there was the hammer B situation as well, you know? So I don't know how much of it we were talking about, how much of it could be him pushing for it versus the club.
00:19:33
Speaker
deciding it's the better option but for all we know georgie could be embracing and welcoming the opportunity if i were him i probably i would be just with the knowledge that uh i would the the rapids i don't think they're gonna drop a two million dollar bag on him if they're not planning on giving him a pretty feature role and honestly just talking through it right there with like Dante Sealy being his competition like do we think that Dante Sealy is so much better than Georgie that he's going to be soaking up the Georgie minutes I don't really think so I don't really know the fine points of their roster beyond that but if Dante Sealy is the guy that he's competing with like I might actually I might take Georgie to a win that out on the on the training ground
00:20:13
Speaker
but I mean, it's it just makes sense. Like, I know that we've already said it, but you're stacked behind Paul Areola, better player than Georgie Minungu. I'm sorry, that's just the truth. Paul Rothrock, way more proven, way more goal dangerous than Georgie Minungu. Okay, baseline stats, whatever. i'm not I'm talking about actual production. Then you have your designated player who you are 10 times out of 10 going to put on the field when he's healthy in Pedro de la Vega.
00:20:39
Speaker
It doesn't matter if you're playing in three competitions. It's just stacked up there. Like, that's just how it's going to be. And now you have Jordan coming. There's just, like, the options on the wings are too much.
00:20:52
Speaker
This is a great move. He's going to actually get minutes. And this is a good point, too. We're for sure signing Kingston now. selling Selling Georgie to sign Pete, King Pete, what do we think?
00:21:06
Speaker
Maybe that's the move. i kind of I kind of love it, honestly. Plus 2 million in the war chest, and you get Pete in the mix.
00:21:18
Speaker
It's kind of tough to argue. Dude, you just slot the next one in. It's kind of tough to argue. If for no other reason than that, I feel like it seemed like the writing was on the wall that Georgie's, the ceiling for his role here was as depth player that gets spot starts and substitute appearances and not like a carry-the-load
Assessing the Trade: Future Prospects
00:21:39
Speaker
type player. And this is going to be a good case study for the nerds, all right? Like, we've heard about the dribbling numbers, the chance creation, the cutback passes. We've heard about all of it. But, like, honestly, like, to be fair to Georgie, he never –
00:21:55
Speaker
like got enough run to be able to, to tell, you know, they're going they're going to give him theoretically. Now they spent $2 million. They're going to give him enough minutes to find out if the cutback pass underlying metrics translate. And this can be all the stuff that I used to read about Georgie was like, you know, this guy could be a 15 plus assist guy. If you just got this, you know, so hopefully we're actually going to find out like I was saying, but, uh,
00:22:24
Speaker
Anyway, no, i didn't I think it's just a great, frankly, a good signing ah for if you do sign Pete Kingston, because listen, that's just your next guy up. You're just pushing people through the academy. This is exactly how a well run club operates. We paid $500,000 Georgie Minungu.
00:22:46
Speaker
on a transfer fee. We were one of the first clubs to have our second team spend a transfer fee. We did it on Georgie Minogue. We talked actually on a previous podcast with, who did we talk to? direct Wade Weber. We were talking with Wade Weber about this and he was like, we are kind of changing the way we do things. This is this is like a a big moment for the Sounders outside of losing a player that we love. This is showing that like,
00:23:14
Speaker
We trust our development staff. We trust our scouting staff and we trust our process so much so that we can spend $500,000. And in the course of three to four years, that player's worth $2 million dollars getting caps for their national team and is looked at as one of the statistically most potential to break out in the whole entire league. This is just how it's going to be. This is just like, this is a good, this is a good thing. Selling Georgie, it can be emotional. It can be a feelings thing, but for the price that they're selling him for, for you're slotting in the next player and you literally are proving that your concept is working and you're kind of mogging the rest of the MLS. It's, you know, just like, what if we signed Griezmann?
00:24:07
Speaker
How about you sign Georgie? You know what i mean? ever think of that? You ever think of that? that's You ever think of that? Jack says he's my favorite. He sat in ECS. I'm just sad. That's valid, man. You're allowed to be sad. but You should be sad.
00:24:20
Speaker
He was like ah uniquely a fan favorite for sure. Like I remember we were talking about how in Spokane, like all the fans there, they Georgie and knew who seemed like they were the biggest fan favorites, I would say. But after the game, Georgie was we posted a little video of it. He was running around taking selfies with everybody. Like was the last person to leave the field.
00:24:39
Speaker
Yeah, so, no, I mean, it ah it is it is sad, and he was a very exciting player to watch. You know, $2 million dollars is a good bag, but, like, the the emotions are all valid. No, I was going to say, ah if I'm being honest about something, I have kind of been talking myself into Pete being an impact player on this team. i was ah I was grinding some tape.
00:25:05
Speaker
Because, well, I was just thinking about, you know how we were you talking about during the Club World Cup, like the funny visual of the scouting staff of PSG having to be like, all right, we got to study Danny Musavsky. All right, someone take someone take the Musavsky tape. And then it's like the best team in the world is scouting up, grinding Moose tape. Which I'm so sorry, Moose. You got absolutely ah destroyed today in your first ever North Macedonia game. And you're not going to the World Cup.
00:25:30
Speaker
But... And you didn't even get to sub in and play, but congratulations being the field. he played, he played. Oh, he did he did get subbed in? He got on the field. I don't know. for I can't remember for how long, but he didn't really do all that much. But he I don't think he really had much of an opportunity to. But congrats to him for playing, even if it was not in a victorious effort. But that's, you know, still a career milestone for Moose. But anyway, I was thinking... ah Along those lines, I was thinking of how, you know, now Tigris, one of the most successful clubs in Mexico, their scouting staff now has to grind Pete Kingston tape.
00:26:03
Speaker
And that, you know, they're all sitting there sitting around getting prepared for this CCC series. And they have to be like, all right, someone has to grind the Pete tape. And like they literally get coffee, watching the peak Pete tape, dude. you have to You have to grind that tape because he had two assists in the last series. So they don't have a choice but to watch the Pete Kingston tape. So I was like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to watch the Pete Kingston tape. So I went and watched ah his UW highlights and his Tacoma Defiance highlights. And I was i was like, man, i was really just not familiar with the nuances of the game here.
00:26:35
Speaker
Like he, it was some great stuff. I recommend everyone grind the the Pete Kingston tape, just like the Tigris scouting staff is going to have to do. But if this does free up a spot for Pete, I mean, I'm excited about that.
00:26:49
Speaker
Here's, here's another good point to this. All this game going to the war chest gives them more money to extend Snyder Brunel. You know, they're going to, they're going to do some, just something like this instead of getting a new player. That's we all know that we can pretend. that that happen We know that's going to, I'm preemptively accepting it.
00:27:07
Speaker
Okay. You all can do, uh, handle it how you want. I'm preemptively accepting it. It's you, you, you have to accept it. That's just, that's just the way that it is. I, uh, i don't know what to I don't know what to tell you about that. If you're if you're thinking that the Sounders are about to go use this bag to go sign someone in the summer, it's probably not going to happen.
00:27:29
Speaker
I doubt it. But at least you know at least they have the war chest yeah so we can act like they're not broke. What was your favorite Georgie moment on the Sounders?
00:27:40
Speaker
I think the Christ yellow. Like, that was that was one of my ah top moments of last season for anybody. So I just thought that ah because it came in a winning effort and it turned out to be just comedic in hindsight. Getting subbed in, immediately getting a yellow. Sickest goal. Boring the sickest goal of your career, running over to the corner flag, taking off your shirt, Jesus is king, red card.
00:28:05
Speaker
there was that There was a lot of moments where it like never had that negative effect so we could laugh at it, but there was a lot of moments where it's like, Georgie, no, what are you doing? gegie's like even ah I had one of those in the Quakes game on the goal where Rothrock scored, where he was where he was coming back from way offside. If you watch that full play, he's just like he's just running. what like i was watching it back like, Georgie, where are you going? Where are you going? Don't run that way. The amount goals that will be onside now. I know. like i'm actually I'm genuinely going to miss the bit of like how he's always offside like four times a game whenever he's playing. be like oh Georgie's offside. That stuff was fun. That was funny. like
00:28:48
Speaker
yeah It's sad. It's sad to not have that anymore. Tim Foss here posted this on Blue Sky and I just wanted to read it to you because I think it's exactly what we're saying, but it's a really good ah take on this as well. $2 million dollars in GAM for a guy with three goals and six assists for a first team is practically a godfather offer. That's outstanding business and Georgie was buried behind more senior players and there are still guys in the pipeline.
00:29:13
Speaker
That's basically it, man. when when someone comes to the When someone comes to your dinner table with with a supersized load of Taco Bell and they say, listen, I just want you to sit here and eat this with me.
00:29:26
Speaker
You're going to eat it. You're going to eat it. You're not paying for dinner. that They got the offer that should probably not have come. I mean, Colorado clearly sees something, but that that's a massive deal. That's a massive deal. That's a lot of money fur for Georgie. So, I mean, if I'm, if I'm sitting there in their shoes, I don't know. There's no way I wouldn't take that.
00:29:51
Speaker
I'm interested to see how this works for the Rapids. Cause it is part of what it seems like they're evolving their model into, which I guess this has kind of always been their model. They've been a ah money ball type team, but it seems like they have gotten more committed to, ah you know, betting on high ceiling projections and seeing what you can get,
00:30:16
Speaker
pay off. So we'll, we'll see if that works. It's one, it's one way to do it. And I think what they're trying with these moves is maybe eliminating some of the variables you going with a completely unproven player from another league. And, you know, they're looking at Seattle that has this good track record of youth development. And they're thinking, all right, well, there's, we have more to go off of scouting these players than players from elsewhere.
00:30:46
Speaker
perhaps. So it that makes it more likely in theory that they're going to hit when they come to our team and they actually get an
Moneyball Strategy and Player Potential
00:30:54
Speaker
opportunity. Felt like the Danny Weva, it felt like never really got going there, but it seems like Atencio has become a key contributor starting player for them. And I'm i'm really hoping that, I'm hoping they they let Atencio just run their midfield and let Georgie Cook out wide every single week and become a full-time starter. And you get to see those guys thrive and succeed. I think i think that would be a a good thing.
00:31:18
Speaker
i have I have something that i was going to... Nico said he could jump on in 20 minutes. If we can keep bantering for 20 minutes, we can do that. If you've got to go we can just go. But I wanted to at least toss that out there.
00:31:31
Speaker
i can probably I can probably make that happen. i can probably at it We could also toss a call link, maybe see how people are feeling for for a minute. Yeah, we could do that. That might be a good way to ah kill the time before Nico gets on. i'm doubt well did you ah Do you have anything else on the on the topic of the trade or other stuff you wanted to cook on in in general?
00:31:53
Speaker
I mean, i think... Bye week? it's It's definitely a bye week. We were talking about how we were like not going to do a – and then, of course, there's a huge trade. so Yeah. Here's another good one. Rare case if the Sanders not holding on too long. I think they've been doing this. I mean, Baker Whiting they're doing now. they It seems like there's this change. They've they've realized that like it's time to like wheel and deal. um Let's send out a crash-out call line. i kind of want I kind of want to hear the crash-outs. I got to be honest, Ari. Yeah.
00:32:24
Speaker
If we can, i don't know if Tribe knows that we're streaming right now, but that's who we really need ah on right now. But anyone yeah anyone else who wants to crash out, feel free to call in and crash out. Or not crash out. You could not crash out. Or be happy. like You could you could ah be whatever whatever emotion that you're feeling is valid. All right.
00:32:45
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. No, I... I don't know. what what what What more else is there to say? Like, this is a kind of a good deal, you know? were you Were you, like, what was your surprise level when you saw the $2 million dollar price tag? I was pretty surprised. Heavy because Hammer be a club that would have offered, that's cash, right? Like, that's straight cash.
00:33:13
Speaker
This is GAM. This is fake money.
00:33:20
Speaker
$2 million dollars in fit. I mean, that's just like, I was just shocked at the at the at the price because the Sounders definitely didn't think that $1 million in cash was enough. I don't really know how that converts or whatever.
00:33:33
Speaker
because of his contract status, whatever. And then I think the second part of it is, like, they they didn't really know what Paul Arreola's factor would be in all of this. Now, they've been able to see their depth. They've had our whole preseason. They get to see how Paul is playing. Paul clearly is fucking incredible. He's had the double P's are killing it. The Paul and Paul show.
00:33:55
Speaker
Two million. We don't know if there's a sell-on clause. We don't know all of the official details, which I'm sure we'll get to at some point. But, like... Kinda, I was just, i was surprised. I never would have thought that he would have got that much, that much money.
00:34:11
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's definitely <unk> definitely a bold one from Colorado's perspective. I feel it's just kind of not what you usually see with a deal like this, like we were we were talking about. Usually you go for ah more proven commodity for that type of price tag, right, and instead of spending this much money on projection. But if you feel good about your eval, which they clearly do, then, you know, ah it could very well turn out to be worth the... ah Worth the risk. We got, ah we got a hunch in the queue and that's it right now. But before we bring hunch on Caleb coming in with the five. Appreciate you, Caleb. Should I yell it? Should I yell it?
00:34:49
Speaker
gave Georgie drumsticks. Craig, please take your RSL philosophy and go somewhere else. The vote. Caleb also in the category of unhappy about the trade, which there there's there's ah there's a fair amount of that sentiment out there, which I understand that. Anytime a fan favorite moves on, that's going to happen. But let's let's see what Hunch has to think about this. Hunch, you are on the stage right now. what What's up? What's going on?
00:35:16
Speaker
a oh Well, initially it was, what the fuck? Like, seriously out of the blue. i His ceiling, as you pointed out, was already so high.
00:35:27
Speaker
But then i heard the terms. And I don't... Have we 100% verified that that is at least the minimum term is the two mil? ah I don't think so. But when tom when Tom Bogue says it, I tend to think that that's probably like probably accurate. It's probably two million with incentives.
00:35:46
Speaker
Okay. And Nico kind of broke this. So if he's on in a bit, he'll be able to clarify anything too, right? Exactly. Yeah. He says he'll be on at about 20. Okay. So if that's true... Well, let's look at it differently.
00:35:59
Speaker
What would they ever expect to get for Georgie, let's say, in the next two to four years? And it would have to be with him getting playing time and improving those stats and having someone come calling. They might get two, three, four million in the next two or three years, or you could have two million right now.
00:36:16
Speaker
And a sell-on, potentially. See, if he was as good as the nerds say that he is, then I think if you if if you gave him playing time and he reached that type of ceiling, we would be talking about way, way, way more money than $2 million dollars because it would be like proof of concept. The production would be there and it would be like...
00:36:39
Speaker
Everything that everyone was saying about the high volume chance creation, if that came true, he would be like, ah I mean, I don't, I don't know. I don't want to say a number, but it would be way more than two. So that's like, I think that is what the risk factor is. And the detractors of the trade, my point to that is like, yeah, there's evidence that the ceiling here is of a way bigger price tag than that.
00:36:58
Speaker
But that's with playing time, and that's if he develops, and that's if somebody comes. A lot of ifs. And that's several years from now. it's A lot of ifs, a lot of projection, and probably multiple years from now, yeah. And it would it would not have been this year. At best, you could hope mid-next summer or following.
00:37:14
Speaker
yeah i you I love Georgie. I wish he was here. I wish he was getting playing time. I wish he was on the precipice of as of starting. I thought him and Rothrock in the last year and a half have been our two most dynamic players in terms of they come in and affect games.
00:37:28
Speaker
And that's only because Jesus is still getting his feet wet. And like we're seeing how it's you know him working with the team. So no shade towards him whatsoever. But those guys are the two most dynamic. You bring him in, they change games. They change games, literally. And so this pains me to lose them.
00:37:41
Speaker
But that... i I will i hopefully the deal gets even better in terms of some of the sell on some the stuff. I'd be hard pressed not to take that. And if if there's any other incentives for Georgie, meaning like there's some kind of, hey, going to bring you up to speed. I know somebody pointed out, James, I think that he's under contract for so long. But if maybe Georgie was declining.
00:38:00
Speaker
to want to go or maybe not just incentivize in terms of like, yeah, I'd rather stay. Colorado could have talked to him, I said expect, and say, listen, we'll we'll we'll bring you up a little bit. We'll do something. We'll we'll use some tam or sam you know some funny money to like, there have been sentence for him in addition to the playing time. So initial response is like, what the fuck?
00:38:19
Speaker
Now my response is, especially in the on the terms, this makes sense. It's because they're making room for Sala. They're going to sign Mo Sala. I didn't want to mean that. I wasn't going to say it either. I wasn't going to say it either, but let's show let's show sam let's show some ambition here. Okay? Go out I forgot about Kingston. they that's I mean, you or you're overflowing at the wings.
00:38:44
Speaker
Like, yeah, you got to make room. And especially if you can get Kingston to even be 75% or 90% of what Georgie is already for a quarter or less of the cost and potentially even improve him with minutes and time and sell him for x amount of dollars in the next year and a half is like, this is what they do.
00:39:01
Speaker
Like, this is what the Sounders have been doing. So this is what they have to do. Pete bagged a third of Georgie's career assist total in an eight-minute CONCACAF Champions Cup cameo in Spokane. I'm just saying, if Pete is the one who takes the roster spot, we don't know what the implications of that could be. could be bigger than the year. He could be getting that Georgie transfer fee, and we don't even know it yet.
00:39:30
Speaker
Yeah, and the sell-on will be big, like you were saying. if If he can truly top out, which I think he can. I think he's got the ability to do it. It's going to come down to playing minutes and you know obviously improving those stats.
00:39:41
Speaker
But if we have a sell-on as part of that, like this is a deal you can't not take. Because what is $4 million or whatever going to get you in three or four years? Who knows? But you know what it gets you now with the with the deal that's on the table. So it sucks, but yeah. if we If we weren't so deep at wing, I'd say, okay, maybe not. But...
00:39:59
Speaker
I think it's good, man. Like I love to be able to cycle through new talent through our pool. Like, what having the ability to like be like, okay, you're an instant impact. You're not an instant impact. You're kind of a background character, but we can move you. We can make your career. We can build you up. It's building this ethos of the club. It's building this like kind of a look to players on the outside. Like come here, we'll develop you and you can go play. If you're not playing, we'll move you. If if you are, we'll you know we'll pay you like Rothrock. We'll make it happen, you know?
00:40:35
Speaker
Like, i think I think this is good for everyone. And then it's it's just fun for me as a fan where I'm like, all right, who's the next guy up? Like, I'm still going to go root for Georgie when he's playing on Colorado. i already root for the Rapids when we're not playing them because Josh Intensio is on that team, and I think he's one of their best midfielders.
00:40:52
Speaker
And you have, like, this cool ability to, like, move players around and and have that Sounders impact across the league and across the world. It's like Obed. Hobbit's potentially going to start against literally, probably, potentially the best club in the world right now in Barcelona.
00:41:11
Speaker
Like, that's awesome. in yeah or yeah Go for it, Hunch. i was gonna say, here's another thought sort of puzzle you could you could ponder, and that is look at all the people and let's call count both wings because Paul Rothrock playing on the right gets pushed over to the left if needed, depending on
Sounders' Business Logic and Team Structure
00:41:29
Speaker
who's coming into the game. So it kind of balances. We're not just talking about the left necessarily, but it could either side.
00:41:35
Speaker
All the other wingers we have right now, how many of them would you take 2 million for?
00:41:44
Speaker
Any of them. Would you take $2 million for Paul Rothrock? Pedro. No. I'd take $2 million for $10 million for Rothrock or I'm hanging up.
00:41:56
Speaker
but but but What I'm saying is like if you could sell any of the wingers for that price, aio how many would you take $2 million for him? Man, I feel like he's more useful than the $2 million right now. you're in he's definitely winner What time frame? I don't think I would take $2 I would take $2 million for Pedro, though.
00:42:13
Speaker
We know you would take that. I would not. I would not do that. but If you had a cell line... We don't need to get it. If it was close on any of those, and those guys are the ones starting or next to starting, and this guy is, let's say, third. He's third option in a lot of cases because he's not the starter and he's generally not the first option off the bench if, like, Rothrock's on the bench or somebody else.
00:42:38
Speaker
um You're getting $2 million for somebody who's two and a half deep. It's pretty good. Yeah. He's not going to develop. I always try and think of it from the perspective of like what if I was the one making that decision? Put my GM hat on.
00:42:55
Speaker
I have $2 million dollars on the table for for Georgie. Would I take it? Or would I hold out? Picturing myself in that situation, I feel like it would it would be pretty hard to not take that even even if like we all know the potential of Georgie is enticing, but you know, potential is just potential until it actually becomes production.
00:43:16
Speaker
And you got two mil on the table with the depth they have at the position, you know, It's also we got to look at what team they sold them to. They didn't sell them to the Timbers. They didn't sell them to the Galaxy. They didn't sell them to LAFC. Or SKC. Or to a garbage team.
00:43:33
Speaker
I would be fine if they sold them SKC. They didn't sell them to a contending team. They sold them to the Rapids. I don't know. The Rapids look kind nice. The Rapids are going to top four or five, I'd bet, this They look kind of nice. We, we, the Seattle works them in the first game. So I think we all thought that meant that they are bad, but they've, they've won a few games. they Yeah, guys, guess this. They beat sporting Kansas city, a red carded Portland, a red carded LA galaxy.
00:44:00
Speaker
And that's it. And they lost to New York city FC. All right, undermine it to say that the Colorado Rapids victories don't count. I'm just saying. you know Sorry, right Georgie's going to turn it around. I'm sorry, Georgie's got it. I was more commenting on how bad the rest the West was, not necessarily how good Colorado was. yeah the yeah The best of the worst.
00:44:18
Speaker
But also, they're not they're not they're not terrible from an organization standpoint. And Pablo, I like him as a coach. I think that's a good place that for Georgie to develop. Pablo is ah pablo's RSL now. He used to be called. Oh, God damn it. It's now a butblo Pablo at RSL is absolutely cooking. Yeah.
00:44:39
Speaker
Who's Colorado then now? It's so it's some British guy named Matt Wells. It's his first year. They had Chris Armas for a couple of years there and it was not that great. And so it's like it's this guy's first year and he's trying to you know, he's changing the culture is what he's doing. I've been it's worked it's it's I guess it's working.
00:44:57
Speaker
I had forgotten that Pablo, I thought he'd gone from run side of Colorado, but I had it backwards. I guess it's when a giant mustache at at Colorado and now he's just kind of clean shaven. That was, ah he, he got, the Colorado Rapids fans hate it when I bring it up. I'm like a defender of the Pablo match for any of that era. Cause he had that team go into the Western conference championship when they were built around, like, was like Kevin Doyle. If you guys remember who that, who that guy is. It was not that great of a team. And he always kind of had them competing and,
00:45:25
Speaker
That was a guy of Notre Dame, right? Their forward out of Notre Dame? Oh, man. Kevin Doyle is the writer. Oh. and but Do I have that name or right? do i don't I don't know. No, I'm just fucking with you. Matt Doyle, Kevin Doyle. Oh, okay, okay. I was doing a bit, guys.
00:45:40
Speaker
Well, so here's the other thing that maybe is not being thought about either is whether the Sounders put out there that Georgie was, you know, David Price- available to other teams, but this could be just a confluence of the sounders are maybe trying to build towards something with this works yes like maybe they actually have something in mind and they were looking to make the moves and they know that the deepest at the wings. Price- And this was just an offer that's like well. Price- This kind of matches with we're trying to go for and we're trying to build this for chess for something maybe we don't know what that is i'm just being optimistic.
00:46:09
Speaker
Yeah, you know, battered bat patttered sounder syndrome. This summer will be the summer. But it's going to happen, guys. I swear this summer going to happen. Just one more window. Just one more window, Greg.
00:46:21
Speaker
It's the De La Vega. It's my De La Vega affliction. Our last big window in the summer, I'll say big. Nico was a big one, but that was only because we saw how big he became. Our last was post-World Cup when the U.S. was in it.
00:46:35
Speaker
Well, the U.S. wasn't in the last World Cup. That's really point. Or they were in the last one before that. Correct. it's it was It was the World Cup post-Dempsie that we got him that that fo later that summer because he had played a World Cup qualifier here.
00:46:47
Speaker
And then we signed him but you know August or whatever that year. are you Are we talking Ladero? No, no. That's what I'm saying. Last big like summer signing.
00:46:57
Speaker
Ladero was, but that's only because we saw what he became. But it wasn't like a big deal necessarily. You should Weston McKinney.
00:47:06
Speaker
they'd probably They'd probably get positive ambition press for that. Well, actually, no, no, because he's USMNT, so that would be unambitious. Sorry. Yeah, retread, yeah. But maybe maybe they're hoping somebody's going to will make the move from Europe back to here, or maybe they have something in mind, ah you know, i and that this is just, again, they're deepest at the wings. Like, they're not deep in center back, although Lopez is helping that.
00:47:26
Speaker
They're definitely not deep deep in the center defending midfield. Like, what, what, one or two deep? Maybe three? Nick with the $10 super sticker. Sorry. That's just exciting news. Thank you, Nick.
00:47:38
Speaker
Colorado out of defiance. We got you on the emergency stream. We got you. you know you know but The wings are where the deepest and to the point where people can't get minutes. So if you're going to offload somebody and do it for two mil, as much as I don't like it, it makes sense.
00:47:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's the page that ah that I'm on as well. i do it you know i i understand he was he he was such a fan favorite. so again it was Well, they just did a video on him last year, too.
00:48:04
Speaker
Yeah, they did ah they did a video on him. Everyone loved the the story. Easy guy to root for, it like for sure. Definitely an easy guy to root for. And I'm good. Like you said, im I, ah every time the Rapids do this, I kind of become interested in their team, you know, with Danny Leiva. They kind of weren't playing Danny Leiva at first. So i sort of lost interest in that one. But ah now that and um an MLS starting 11 with ah Josh Atencio and Georgie as building blocks, I'll watch that. Sure. Yeah.
00:48:31
Speaker
Okay, guys, I'm so sorry to do this. But this is embarrassing. We have had 160 people in here and we have 39 likes. What are we doing? Like we stopped our whole day. i literally I've still got something in the oven. It's just burning in there. I'm literally going start a house fire because this is way more important. And you're just going to sit here and not like our video. I don't know what to tell you. This is shameful.
00:48:54
Speaker
And if you're listening on the audio, make sure to rate five stars. So just get it done. Just get it done, guys. Come on. What are we doing? Nat is saying that, Nat's saying Colorado are frauds, USMNT rejects won't make the playoffs.
00:49:08
Speaker
Honestly, probably correct. You know, I was trying to, I was trying to gas them up a little bit, but ah that was honestly not the most impressive schedule I've ever heard in my life.
00:49:21
Speaker
So we'll see if they can sustain it. Maybe Georgie's what launches them to the next level. Well, we want them to be the best team below us. if they can if If we can power them up to take the rest of the West down below us, then we're happy with that. Now, we played them here already, so we have to go there.
00:49:36
Speaker
So potentially we'll see Georgie in Colorado later this year. But, you know, the real question is, is what is Charlotte going to do? Are they to sell someone for $2 million because they're pattering themselves after us?
00:49:49
Speaker
Hunch, how likely how likely do you think it is that Georgie makes good on all the underlying metrics and the cutback passes and the theoretical assist production and becomes just a double-digit assist every season beast type of player? you think that's in the range outcomes here?
00:50:06
Speaker
I think he'll be a top three scorer for them, but I don't know what their midfield's like, so don't know what kind of service he's going to get because off the top of my head, I don't know. And Atencio's defensive. i mean, he's an okay distributor.
00:50:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty good. But I don't know. i mean, the the problem with what we saw in the last match with Georgie is they only used half of his talent, and that was give him the ball deep and let him go take people on. They were never feeding him with three balls or anything else. If Colorado plays both sides of what George is capable of, ah you know, he could easily be a top three points deliverer. When i say points, he assists and goals for their team, if fees if especially if he's lining for the start or getting the starts.
00:50:45
Speaker
Thank you for padding my DoorDash fund, $5. That'll go to all of our DoorDash fund. That $5 will cover the DoorDash regulatory fee, so I appreciate that.
00:50:57
Speaker
Nico should be popping on here in the next few minutes. He said he was pulling into Starfire right now, I think because... Starfire? Well, he's got kids who play soccer. Okay, that's He trained there. Yeah, yeah. But that doesn't stop him.
00:51:11
Speaker
No. We've got Nico with the kids going to call in here in a minute. We've got Tom Bogert who refuses to call in because he has a kid now. It's a whole thing. we just The Scoops guys...
00:51:23
Speaker
they don't want to they don't even want to um some people have lives i guess like i can't really relate i can't relate to that like i feel like i'm surrounded by fake grinders but you know it is if you can't if you can't hop on a georgie manungu trade reaction live stream at 4 40 p.m on a thursday what are you actually doing like what are you actually doing i was in the middle of eating like lunch dinner and drove home that's how That's how much Hunch wanted to. This is a big deal. Like I was shocked. This can't be for real. It is. It is. that's we we That's why we had to rip the emergency stream. But ah okay, we got DiscGolfer tapping in into React now. So ah we'll let you go, Hunch. Appreciate you tapping in and helping us fill that gap there. That i was actually very helpful. We need to do an under the lights sometime. And we need get somebody on from Colorado if you get chance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good point, good point. i'll ah I'll try and line that up maybe before the the Houston match. But thanks again, Josh. Appreciate you, man. Take care. All right, let's get Disc Golfer in here.
00:52:26
Speaker
Disc Golfer, what's up? Oh, Nico's here. Okay, we got Nico here. Get Nico in. we can this We could do four-man panels. Okay, yeah. well You guys are good. Get Nico in here. I'm not that stressed about it. Appreciate you, man.
00:52:42
Speaker
All right. Yeah. Let's get Nico live from star fire. There he is. The man himself. He just broke the scoop about an hour ago. Georgie Manugu traded. flex Can you before, before, can you give us a flex on Tommy scoops?
00:52:56
Speaker
Can you give us a flex on Tommy scoops? Yeah. Hell no, man. He's the reason why I couldn't wait for the for the details, man. I already knew he was, you know, I could feel him on my neck.
00:53:07
Speaker
So that's why i at it went work I didn't wait for none of the details. He definitely put him out there. You know, he he he eat the best. he had a scheduled tweet, bro. He had a scheduled tweet. Yeah.
00:53:19
Speaker
Good good.
00:53:21
Speaker
Awesome work, Nico. Great work on the scoop as always. I guess let's start with, you know, you're ah you're behind the scenes, you're talking to people, you're trying to figure out what's going on. And then someone someone tells you Georgie Manungu is getting traded to the Colorado Rapids. What was your reaction? were you Were you shocked to hear that? Or based on what you had been hearing, were you were you feeling like, okay, I actually expected this?
00:53:46
Speaker
I was in disbelief and it was mainly... because of the timeframe, right? I mean, it it's because it is now, if you would have told me this in the summer, I would have said, yeah, of course, it was something that we have talked about that you could potentially believe in um Within MLS, it makes sense because I feel like you can maximize your value immediately without needing to worry about somebody trying to lowball you. So, yeah, There were aspects about it that make sense. But yes, I was in disbelief. actually had to make sure that I did my due diligence to make sure that this was all accurate. As I mentioned, I did want to get the the details. And I had heard it was about $2 million dollars in GAM, but I just didn't want to wait for confirmation on that. And both Tommy Scoops went and and
00:54:36
Speaker
Confirmed that without a doubt. um I knew that it was a permanent transfer that at the time when I heard the player was not necessarily aware of what was going on. So I also wanted to, you know, try to get get a whole bunch of other things put together prior to putting that out there.
00:54:54
Speaker
um And now he knows. Now everybody knows. Before I posted the the tweet, actually, I heard that he had just found out not too recently. So, yeah, it it was um it was interesting, unexpected.
00:55:11
Speaker
But now that I've had time to sit on the news, kind of... um I think is a win-win. um I'm a big believer in Georgie Manungu's overall talent.
00:55:26
Speaker
As I've always said, at his age and where he's at, he's no longer a prospect. and you're His development is going to be there, but it's not going to be as...
00:55:40
Speaker
substantial as he might be with a prospect, but his game has grown from Tacoma Defiance to now, right? Because you can sharpen, you can get better at decision-making, you can get better at defending, you can improve your game heavily. And I think that Georgie has done that.
00:55:57
Speaker
I disagree with those who call him a one-trick pony. i don't think he's a one-trick pony. I don't think he's a little chew-like. I think that there's a lot of aspects to his game that are are excellent. I think that he goes well to the end line. I think that he started to really work on enduring and in harnessing that mid-race shot when he cuts inside. So there was just a lot of things about Georgie that I think are going to continue to get better. um And he does need playtime. So will he get it in Colorado?
00:56:29
Speaker
I'm not necessarily sold on that just yet. A million dollars? they're not i think If they spent $2 million, dollars don't you think that means they probably are planning on playing him? Well, yeah, but I just, he, he, I don't, I don't know where he would play that. that That's kind of the thing, like, uh, you know, under their system. I mean, I mean, I guess you could just put him as a, uh, as a white player and let him go from there. Um, but they just play different that than the Sounders do. Um, so yeah, I mean, I'm hoping that he gets the play time. You're right. $2 million dollars is mound big enough that you're thinking this guy's gonna come in and contribute immediately.
00:57:08
Speaker
um So all in all, I do think that is a win-win, a win for the Sounders, because $2 million in game is no small amount. I think it's a very substantial, sizable amount of money.
00:57:23
Speaker
What they do with that, I guess, can further let us know how good this move really was, because if they're just going to sit on it or what what does that transfer to? I'm curious. But ah as of right now, I think it's a win-win.
00:57:39
Speaker
So can you confirm the... they You're confirming the $2 million in GAM figure, and then is there is there anything, like, any other details that you've heard of in addition to that as far as, you know, like sell-ons or things of that nature?
00:57:56
Speaker
That's good clarification. ah And i whenever I hear the... The term up to $2 million, dollars it tells me that that's with other things lining up.
00:58:06
Speaker
So that that's kind of what I've heard so far. ah And it's very early on the phone calls that I've been able to take. um I have not heard of a salon clause yet, but I would venture to say that there's definitely one there, but I have not been able to confirm that at all. um
00:58:28
Speaker
Obviously, his contract goes through 29. I believe that's what it is through. And so what what does that mean for Georgie? That's something that I was wondering. Because I know that at some point he was going to be looking for you know a better deal. So you know but i wonder if Colorado is is willing to do that for him as well. And that makes this a better deal for him as well.
00:58:55
Speaker
um but ah But yeah, that's that's kind of what we have so far. What do you think of the $2 million dollars bag? We were all kind of on the same page that it was more than we thought they would get in a hypothetical Georgie deal. we We heard the report in preseason that Hammerby offered a million for him. So I think i we were all probably kind of guessing that that would be the ballpark of what this deal was.
00:59:18
Speaker
Turns out to be up to $2 million. Was that was that substantially significantly more than you were anticipating? Or do you think that that makes about sense? Well, that was the least. And i don't know if you guys had Jeremiah on yet, but yeah that's what as soon as I heard, I called him and me and him were just doing some long division. And $2 million is kind of the least that you would take for Georgia probably at this point, whether that was direct money or or or GAM money. So I think that was a fair price.
00:59:52
Speaker
The discussion that we had is, you know,
00:59:57
Speaker
if you If you would have waited until the summer and and he would have continued to play, could you got have more out abroad? I mean, I guess it's hard to go with that sort of mentality because you don't know what could happen, an injury or anything like that, or does he perform, does he not perform?
01:00:15
Speaker
But where I'm going with this, is that I do think that the $2 million dollar GAM is is fair and I think it's a very good amount, but I do believe that in a certain sense, just as I mentioned with Reed, this move also talks about,
01:00:37
Speaker
how do I phrase this? I think that there was some doubt about how much more time you can give Georgie within this roster.
01:00:47
Speaker
with the competition level at those positions and and where he was at. and And so if you find a tu situation where he could go out there and perform immediately, you want it to do right by the player and do right by the organization. So maybe that's something similar.
01:01:03
Speaker
um It always felt like Brian didn't quite trust Georgie in all of its sense. And, you know, he he's we've all talked about him not being the best defender and all these things that he's done. ah But I felt like there was a pecking order and even maybe Snyder Burnell on the wing, on the white areas, seemed like a better option for and um but Georgie. So i think that if you take all that into consideration,
01:01:38
Speaker
What you bought the player for, which was, what, $500,000? ah Kind of what you've given him his salary, what you've invested in him as a player ah to the $2 million mark that you're getting, i feel like it's it's fair value.
01:01:51
Speaker
ah But I think it does talk about that Sanders may be coming to that timeline where is you know you either perform for us now or maybe we need to find you a better place to to perform at. And I think that had a lot to do with it.
01:02:05
Speaker
Yeah, so for for people wondering, for people, for anyone who maybe is not as up on the minutia of MLS trades as we are, like when you see this up to 2 million language with the with the incentives, Based on like, I feel like what is usually going on in that type of situation is that you've got these incentives that you have like a baseline number and then you've got these incentives that can push it up to a certain number. And generally those figures are like 250K in added gam if certain incentives are met or 300 and 350K if certain incentives are met. So that kind of tells me that the actual baseline number is probably more like
01:02:51
Speaker
1.5 or 1.7 and then the rest of that is incentives that can get it up to 2. ah Do you think that's kind of roughly the way to to think of it? That that's more what the actual baseline number is and then anything else added on to that with the incentives is going to account for the rest of it?
01:03:10
Speaker
Yes, I do believe that's that's the case. um
01:03:16
Speaker
There could be a You know, um I know for Josh Atencio, I think that the number that was reported ah didn't have some of those incentives. So, um you know, it could go one way or the of the other. But I do think particularly because of Georgie's profile um and and maybe him not being a player with as many minutes as Josh Atencio, I do think that this particular case, that 2 million is probably with all of those incentives and performance escalators.
01:03:53
Speaker
Did you say that Georgie didn't know about this trade? Yeah, i think initially he he he was unaware. I mean, ah we need to remember that he, I believe, is with his national team, right? I believe he is currently playing with the national team. So, you know, through various...
01:04:14
Speaker
various sources that are close to him. I had heard that he wasn't necessarily aware of what was going on until maybe a minute before I posted on socials. um So that's the the way of of of MLS, the way of soccer. It's it's kind of crazy that you could be out, you know, the national team and they're letting you know, hey, man, do my – You leave it.
01:04:43
Speaker
Monday, you start in Colorado. you know it's Yeah, it's crazy. That's a tough one. and And I think, you know what? I have i had heard that you know Georgie was looking for a house or something. That's what Jeremiah was saying, yeah.
01:05:01
Speaker
So i that's a rough one, right? i mean, hopefully he he did not purchase anything yet. ah and and and he was able to get his money out here anyway, man. It's fine, you know?
01:05:14
Speaker
Well, see, but that's the difference between ah a Georgie move and like, ah I don't know, Pereira move or a Leo Chu move, right? Leo could have bought a house here. He's gone to Dallas and he'll buy another one there. Georgie doesn't have that sort of luxury.
01:05:29
Speaker
So, yeah, I was just hoping that that those things went well. But it's everything, right? It's your livelihood, it's your family, you know, your roots, ah your your comfort. And I want to reiterate, man, I absolutely love Georgie. I love Georgie's intangibles. I loved his demeanor.
01:05:46
Speaker
He was a guy that was always a hard worker. You know, that that smile on his face was always there at training. just Just a guy that's happy to be, you know, being with a soccer ball at his feet. And and and that sort of thing is just endearing to to see. Right. Yeah.
01:06:05
Speaker
And again, his growth over the last couple of of seasons, you could tell that he's really worked hard on on reading the game better and and understanding his triggers better. And even in the last game, he didn't have a great game against Minnesota, but he had big moments. And I thought that he was...
01:06:25
Speaker
one of the most, one of the more effective players playing out wide that we had throughout that game, getting to the end line, being able to disbalance the defense. He had, he was the what one of the few shots you got on target was from Georgie with that inside cut and he tried to curl one in.
01:06:44
Speaker
So, You know, ah I just feel like there was ah ah enough there that I wanted to see him continue to grow with the Sounders. But, um you know, if he can go to Colorado and get a starting position, i mean, that's that that'd be great.
01:07:02
Speaker
A couple questions from chatd here that I don't know if you'll know the answer to, but we will ah ask, we'll ask him anyway. Nico Danicus wants to know, is this 2026 game 2027 or split? Or do do we know like what the, what the deal is with the game as far as that goes, or is that not known yet?
01:07:21
Speaker
I would guess it's 2027. And I'm only saying that because I was, um I was surprised to find that,
01:07:33
Speaker
The Danny Leyva stuff didn't hit in January. The Obit stuff obviously was right right there. You know, wasn't part of the the that that GAM converted money and and things for January. They were part of a tensious deal that still haven't hit.
01:07:50
Speaker
So my guess is that this would be probably more for 2027. i don't I don't know that for sure. But, you know, I think that some of those rollover things when it comes to GAM, but my guess is that that could be 2027.
01:08:04
Speaker
And then Techno Gatsby wants to know odds of a sell-on clause. We don't know if there is one yet, but if you had to make a guess on if there was going to be one or not, what would you i'm almost starting say there? i'm ah I'm almost certain that Seattle at least keeps a 15% sell-on That's what usually happens. Yeah.
01:08:24
Speaker
yeah I would be shocked if that's not the case here, especially with a guy like Georgie. um And one of the reasons why you probably are okay with to sell him at this price range. um So yeah, I am 95% sure that there is a sell-on clause of at least 15%. Yeah, I think that's that is the most likely ah scenario. I guess, Nico, I just got one more for you, and then we can let you go and go back to being a family man out at Starfire.
01:08:58
Speaker
but Just like old times, tapping in from Starfire. But I guess, so what do you... yeah What do you make of the Colorado Rapids innovative new strategy of just kind of looking at the Tacoma Defiance roster and seeing which guys have made it to the first team but aren't quite breaking in and just taking them to their team? I think it's actually a pretty good strategy. What do you think?
01:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, look, I think um there's a clear... um bridge with with Chris Little over there. And I think that there's been a good relationship between both of those clubs and they they see the value of having an organization like the Sounders where there is a a different level of structure when it comes to your in-depth players where you might not have that in the inner Miamis or the LAFCs. Maybe now with LAFC, but I think that some of the bigger teams just don't have that ability to you really use their depth, really involve everybody in the curriculum, really create a soccer module.
01:10:10
Speaker
And that's benefit, right?
Player Development and Team Integration
01:10:13
Speaker
that That is great to have a Tacoma Defiance that is so enclosed to the first team that you can go out there and and have guys that perform immediately. I mean, I've i've said this multiple times this week, there aren't a lot of teams out there that can plug in players and be successful at it in the way that the Sounders are. So ah for me, it's particularly...
01:10:32
Speaker
um is an art. that that There's a level of investment that goes into it. So I think it's a great strategy. I'm hoping that Tino Lopez ain't next because I'm high on Tino Lopez. So let let let's keep Tino here for for a little bit and and and make sure that Colorado doesn't get their paws on that.
01:10:50
Speaker
because you're right because i mean danny leiva was there for a short period of time right i mean he was there on a loan i remember yeah that's your boy yeah yeah and they never they never freed him but now you know they went they did danny leiva they did josh atensio and now they're uh they're trying georgie i i think there's a solid strategy that they're that this new tactic might work but uh Nico, great work on the scoop today, my guy. As always, thank you for tapping in and giving us the lowdown. is Was there anything else that you wanted to hit on with this Georgie trade that we that we missed or did we about size it up everything there?
01:11:27
Speaker
think you guys sized it up. I do think that this... move also probably adds on to the the level of confidence that there are in guys like Paul Arriola and, you know, obviously the system i'm working in with Jesus Ferreira and and um eventually Pedro De La Vega coming back. I'm hearing Pedro's in great spirits that he feels like he is, if not on schedule, he's ahead of schedule. I think mentally he might be ahead of schedule,
01:11:57
Speaker
The team's clearly going to be very cautious. Pedro's a guy that's extremely hungry to get back to the form that he was prior to that injury. Lord knows what would have happened if Pedro had not gotten hurt and he would have been in those playoffs. I mean, the Sounders might have gotten to the the MLS finals with with that guy on the field. So I do believe that there is... um there are two flowers to be given so Craig for all the criticism that he's taken from us, or at least me on the mics and his issues there and and and a couple of other things. I do think that, um,
01:12:33
Speaker
he can puff off his chest and say, hey, look what i've I've been able to create because this team, at least when it comes to the floor, the high floor that they have, the deep the deepness of the roster and what they could essentially do in the summer window, I mean, the Suns are set pretty, pretty well.
01:12:51
Speaker
do you think they're going to hi anyone but yeah Do you think they're going to do that? That was, but that was going be the last one. They got this war chest game war chest. Now they've made a few of these sales. They're probably sitting on what, like five mil. What are they going to do with it? If anything, or are they going to say that they're too broke to do anything?
Team Strengthening and New Signings
01:13:07
Speaker
No, I think that, I think that Craig is ready to do a,
01:13:11
Speaker
use that that that that budget. I mean, there's a lot of money coming in. i mean, I just told you that there's money coming from Ovid, from Danny, ah from Atencio. I mean, there is a big bucket of money coming in.
01:13:24
Speaker
I do believe that Craig is just dying to bring in a player, sign a player where he could be like, aha, now criticize me. I mean, you know, I could see it. I could feel it. So I do think that there is I'm very optimistic. And and i think that there's a high chance that this team goes out there and signs one or two players. I think that at this particular time, left back, maybe center back and striker are the three positions that I'm looking at.
01:13:58
Speaker
ah for for one but maybe Maybe not center back. No, go back center. Left back and striker. Let's just leave it there. Let's leave it there. you You heard it here first, folks. Listen to all the ambition that's coming down the pike. I mean, Warchest again, new players, new strikers, new left backs. It's ah it's exciting times. So, Nico, that's all I had for you. Thank you so much for tapping in, man, and great stuff. You got that scoop out there. That was awesome to see. And we'll talk to you soon. I mean, I'll talk to you on ah on Monday. Now, get back to Starfire and –
01:14:36
Speaker
Be a family man. We'll definitely talk, guys. and Make sure you like the video, you share, you help Lobbings Court just continue to grow. We're out here just trying to get it done. I hit up Noah. was like, man, get the graphic ready, man. And some props for getting it ready. I almost had a stroke when he came to put in that post. i i don't know what happened with my ex, but this is just funny. I'll just share this.
01:15:01
Speaker
When I read the tweet after I posted it, I was like, that's not the tweet that i wrote. I don't know how. I think I used the photo that I had, and I tried to share it. And then i don't know what happened. But that's not the post that was supposed to happen. I'm glad that it had no grammatical errors or anything like that. But it looked a lot better before that. But then it was too late.
01:15:22
Speaker
I was like 28 minutes in. And I was like, I can't change it now. But I know. Yeah. Just working hard, just making sure that that Tom don't beat me, make sure that I put enough out there so Jeremiah continues to give us our paychecks and, of course, Noah helping us out there. So, yeah, man, happy to be on, guys. Take it easy. Hopefully the fans liked it.
01:15:43
Speaker
Have a good one, Nico. Take care. when you go You telling me someone in the Sounder at Heart Lobbing Scorchers orbit had tech issues?
Technological Advancements and Coverage
01:15:51
Speaker
That's that's shocking to hear that. Guys, look look what we just got.
01:15:55
Speaker
New tech. Ooh, new tech. Is that my tech? Is that my tech? This this is, well, we both got one. This one's mine. Ooh, new. This one's yours. You got in the box. Oh, let's go. New tech. Love new tech. New tech, guys. That means we're going to have improved cameras, too.
01:16:12
Speaker
Caleb with another two. Thank you, Caleb. Appreciate you. He says, I smell an RSL trade soon. That's that's what's going to happen with the war chest. That's what's going to happen with the war chest.
Emergency Stream and Closing Remarks
01:16:20
Speaker
Imagine the scenes when weve we've been talking about the ambition of the new left back and the new striker. And then it's like Aiden and his or Connie.
01:16:28
Speaker
a yes ah honestly i would be signed and hyped on that yeah that that would be the we we would be we would be super lit over that and no one else would be but uh all right good i think we're good and yeah i was gonna ask if you had anything else you wanted to hit on but i think we're vibing so uh we're gonna call right there thank you all for tuning into the emergency stream that was great stuff georgie manungu off to the colorado rapids bombshell news broken by nico moreno so glad we were able to tap in and get that reaction out even at uh 4 p.m on thursday appreciate you all for tuning in like the video sub to the channel follow us on ig like comment subscribe rate five stars if you want a new usmnt jersey Go to lobbyscorchers.com slash USA. Use code SCORCHERS. 10% off your entire order. That includes women's national team, men's national team, anything U.S. soccer. Go do that because they are playing this weekend.
01:17:23
Speaker
Great plug. Great plug. All right. Love you all. See you next time. Peace. Bye.