🎙 Florian Thauvin says Tigres treated him badly
Florian Thauvin returned to the radar of Mexican fans after an interview with L'Èquipe, where he talked about his time with Tigres and made strong statements about the club and his departure.
"The club treated me badly. In Mexico, I hit rock bottom; they questioned my level to the point of firing me; it was hard to accept,' mentioned the Frenchman.
However, not all his time with the Monterrey team was negative, as the forward also acknowledged the U fans: "There I met fantastic people and fans."
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Tigres announced Thauvin with great expectations after he joined the squad as a world champion. However, the story ended with little activity on the field and two lawsuits.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.
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New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
Josh Metellus is due an extension, but his contract situation is more interesting than most
The decision-makers in charge of the Minnesota Vikings rightfully receive lots of credit for lots of things. The reigning NFL Coach of the Year, Kevin O'Connell's acumen is discussed regularly. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's loaded free-agent classes understandably earn praise. One component of their leadership, though, has gone a tad unnoticed. When players seek new contracts, and the Vikings don't immediately accept the preferred terms, the situation rarely escalates. Advertisement In the last three years, has a single Vikings player taken to social media to air his grievances? Or, more to the point, has the team failed to find an agreement with a player it has viewed as a future cornerstone? Superstar receiver Justin Jefferson inked his new deal without any public mayhem. Elite left tackle Christian Darrisaw signed his extension with no hoopla. Of course, not every negotiation was as seamless as those two. Edge rusher Danielle Hunter and tight end T.J. Hockenson delayed their training camp involvement, but even those two eventually found common ground without much more than a hiccup. The players and their agents play a role in the professionalism. Jefferson handled his situation with particular grace, especially given his status as an elite receiver. Still, it takes two to tango, and the frequency with which the Vikings have orchestrated these contracts without conspicuous snags is a testament to the approach O'Connell, Adofo-Mensah and even cap whiz Rob Brzezinski have taken — not to mention the relationships they foster and maintain. We've got some silly ones on the squad 🤣 — Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) June 19, 2025 This brings us to the current player idling at a fork in the road: Josh Metellus. The veteran safety is under contract through the 2025 season — then his contract will void. Not surprisingly, he'd like an extension. The Vikings recognize that and view him as a key cog in the present and future of their defense. How could they not? 'Josh is as valuable a player on the roster as we have,' defensive coordinator Brian Flores said last fall. Metellus checks all of the boxes. Age isn't an issue; Metellus recently turned 27. Injuries haven't been a problem. Metellus has played more than 2,000 defensive snaps combined over the last two seasons. His production stands out, too. In the last two seasons, Metellus has totaled more than 150 tackles, five forced fumbles, three interceptions and 10 pass deflections. To top it off, he is a leader in the locker room, a captain respected by veterans and a trusted confidant for young players. Advertisement Why, then, has an extension not occurred? The answer comes down to money. A player's worth is never explicit, but Metellus' situation represents a more interesting conversation than most. Consider former Vikings safety Cam Bynum, for example. Like Metellus, Bynum was young, durable and beloved internally. Unlike Metellus, Bynum played one position almost 100 percent of the time. He and his agent could scan the recent history of extensions at safety, pluck a few names and numbers and pencil in Bynum's value in a sensible spot. (He got a four-year, $60 million deal from the Indianapolis Colts.) You cannot do that for Metellus because he isn't a traditional safety. His role in the Vikings' defense is truly unique. It is unlike anyone or anything else. Last year, Metellus played about 40 percent of his snaps at linebacker, 30 percent at slot cornerback and 16 percent at safety. The rest of the time, he lined up on the defensive line or out wide against elite receivers. So, from a compensation standpoint, what's fair? Paying Metellus like a linebacker? Like a slot cornerback? Or like a chess piece who can reliably play all of these positions? There is a drastic gap in pay between those various worlds. A linebacker of a similar age (think Ernest Jones) earns about $9.5 million a year, whereas a similarly aged Swiss Army knife safety (think Kyle Dugger) earns about $14.5 million a year. Whether the Vikings and Metellus can find a sweet spot depends on the answers to two questions. Metellus must ask himself how important the security is of knowing his team, the defensive system and, of course, his future compensation. The Vikings must ask themselves how willing they are to perform a complete overhaul of their safety room in the span of two seasons. Metellus could roll the dice like Bynum, play out the 2025 season and create a market for himself via free agency. Would that guarantee more money than Minnesota is willing to pay now? The Vikings could remain firm in their offer and allow Metellus to test the market. Would they be underestimating Metellus' distinctiveness? Advertisement Maybe the most underrated aspect of what Metellus brings to the table is his mind. You can find plenty of 5-foot-11, 207-pound defenders who played at the pinnacle of college football and possess the physical traits to compete in the NFL. But how many of them have the fortitude to navigate being waived? How many of them are cerebral enough to learn as many positions as Metellus has in Flores' system? And how many of them can process the field the way Metellus does? These are the types of points Metellus' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, will bear in mind as he pitches his client's value. Minnesota will hear Rosenhaus out the same way it did for Darrisaw and, more recently, edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel. Until Metellus and the Vikings find a palatable number, don't expect much more from either side than what Metellus said during minicamp: 'That's between Drew and the boys upstairs. I'll let Drew handle that.' The beginning of training camp presents one potential deadline, even if it's fairly arbitrary. Metellus does not need many practice reps to perform in Flores' defense. Nor do the Vikings need to see Metellus on the field in practice to know what he can do. The conviction from both sides almost underscores their shared fit. Why would either side be willing to move on if it has as much faith as it does in one another?


New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
Clint Dempsey interview: USMNT icon on Christian Pulisic's podcast drama and pay-to-play
For the United States men's national team, it has been a summer of podcast outbursts forming a tetchy soundtrack one year out from a heavily anticipated home World Cup. Following Christian Pulisic's decision not to join up with Mauricio Pochettino's team for the Gold Cup — along with a slew of other absentees — criticism came from USMNT icons Landon Donovan and Tim Howard (on their own podcast), Pulisic issued a riposte (on a CBS podcast) and Clint Dempsey said he struggled to understand Pulisic's decision (on the Men In Blazers podcast). Advertisement In between all that, Pulisic's father appeared to launch a broadside at Donovan via Instagram (on a post liked by his son). Pochettino also used his news conferences to assert his authority, saying players 'cannot dictate the plan' after Pulisic claimed he offered to play in the two warmup friendly games but with the condition of dropping out for the Gold Cup. Dempsey also pointed out how the situation might have been averted if U.S. Soccer, the nation's governing body, and Pulisic had aligned more closely on their messaging. During an interview with The Athletic, Dempsey said: 'Why wasn't there a way that we could have been more unified in the messaging that's going out to the public? You have one of the best players for the national team, and if it had been England, if Harry Kane was missing a tournament or the Nations League or World Cup qualifying, there would be people asking questions. 'It's important to be unified and to have that conversation. Then there's no back and forth looking like two people are at odds with each other, especially a year out from the World Cup. It could have been handled better. Still, the best way to solve problems — whether you get a red card in the game or you do something stupid — is to get back on the pitch and let your play do the talking for you.' Dempsey, who earned more than 140 senior caps, has previously revealed he once had a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection in his adductor to play for the USMNT. He was asked whether his locker room would have required the federation to step in or if the players would have held themselves to account. 'You would like to think you have a good enough relationship with your teammates that you could put a call in and ask, 'Hey, what's going on? Is there something I can do for you? We need you in this tournament'. At the same time, for me, it was never a question if I was going to go into the national team and play,' Dempsey said. 'Whether it was Gold Cup, World Cup qualifying, the Confederations Cup, Copa America, the World Cup, I wanted to be there because as a kid, I dreamed about representing my country. Advertisement 'I knew that there were a lot of kids where I am from that didn't make it. You're representing for them, your town, your city, your state, your country. So everybody's going through different things. Everybody's dealing with different injuries and different things mentally. I'm not privy to those conversations to know what's going on. 'What's made this situation difficult is what happened with Copa America when we did not get out of the group stage, then losing to Panama and Canada in Nations League and then the four losses in a row, the worst streak we'd had in a long time. It put more pressure on this Gold Cup. There are not many opportunities left after this for meaningful games, and you want to try to get things right.' Pulisic, who racked up more than 3,500 minutes for Milan in the 2024-25 season, told CBS his body and mind 'started talking' to him towards the end of the campaign and he felt a rest was best for his fitness. Does Dempsey, who spent 15 seasons playing in the English Premier League and in MLS, believe that USMNT players in Europe have a uniquely difficult task to balance club and country responsibilities? 'No matter what league you're in, it's going to be difficult,' he said. 'The things that are difficult about MLS are the travel and the time changes. When I played MLS, you weren't flying privately. People were asking you, 'Are you a college team? Do you play lacrosse?'. We were sitting in middle seats, sitting back next to the toilet. But then in Europe at the top teams, you're playing in more competitions and it is a grind to go back and forth to the States.' He does, however, point out that the USMNT has recently avoided the most grueling travel because it does not need to qualify for the home World Cup. 'That is the hardest traveling,' he said, 'because normally you come in, you play two games, you're going to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica, then you fly back to Europe on Thursday, you get there Friday morning, you have a game either Saturday or Sunday.' Advertisement And what of the soap opera that has surrounded the team this summer, with former players offering strong opinions and current players hitting back? 'It shows there's a climate where people care,' Dempsey said. 'I'm not trying to be a part of the drama. You're asking me my opinion and I'm giving you how I look at things. In terms of the Christian situation, all I think is U.S. Soccer could have been more unified about how that gets out to the public. 'Playing for your country in a tournament, I tell you what my mentality was. I am not saying whether someone's doing right or wrong. Everybody has a right to their opinion — it shows that people do care, but you never want to get in a situation where it's tit for tat. Everybody wants the same thing: to have the U.S. playing well. We want to be excited. I'd like to focus more on the positives of the new faces. They're gonna be in this Gold Cup, they're gonna push to get into the lineup and get this fanbase and team back on track to being inspired because we are one year out from the greatest tournament.' Dempsey, who was speaking at the mid-point of the Gold Cup group stage, said that following the breakthrough of young USMNT players who carried the team to the knockout stage of the World Cup in 2022, the team's development has appeared to be at 'a little bit of a standstill.' He said: 'You've had this new talent, you've developed it so far, but then where's this next young talent that's coming up and pushing these guys and having competition for spots? That would create an environment where you have to look over your shoulder and be on your game to make sure that someone's not taking your spot.' Dempsey was talking to The Athletic as part of an initiative led by Abbott, a healthcare firm that has partnered with Real Madrid as part of the Abbott Dream Team program, which will see youngsters try out in cities across the U.S. for the opportunity to then travel to Spain to train under Real Madrid coaches and learn about sports nutrition from the club's medical team. Dempsey says the tryouts are available to 18- and 19-year-old boys and girls. 'If you have the right eyes watching you, the sky is the limit,' Dempsey said. 'A buddy of mine, José Torres, he's from Longview, Texas. He played Hispanic leagues on Sunday, but through his play in Hispanic leagues, this allowed him to get a trial in Mexico with a Liga MX team and he was able to make it.' More broadly, the program is part of Abbott's and Real Madrid's ongoing 'Beat Malnutrition' campaign to provide nutrition education and malnutrition screening to children in 12 countries around the world. Last weekend, during a conversation at Fanatics Fest in New York, FIFA president Gianni Infantino criticized the 'pay-to-play' model for many young soccer players in the U.S., saying, 'For children, it must be free to play football.' When speaking to The Athletic before Infantino's intervention, Dempsey said there is room for improvement. Advertisement 'My son is in an MLS academy and you don't have to pay to play,' Dempsey said. 'If you're good enough, it doesn't matter where you come from, what your background is, that is covered. For the players in rural areas or inner cities that are not around MLS teams, it is a lot more difficult. It is a financial strain, and my family went into debt doing that. I didn't have a college fund growing up. It was, 'How bad do you want something in life? What are you willing to risk? How hard are you willing to work?'. Nothing's perfect, things need to get better. We need to make it easier for people who are less fortunate to have the chance to go chase their dreams. Hopefully, that changes, but it's just so difficult to fix everything. 'It's not fair. And I'm not saying that I want families to do the path I did. Everybody has a different story and a different path. There needs to be ways to figure out for the people that can't afford it to get the better coaching and the platform to try to take their game to the next level. I'm on board with that 100 percent.'


New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
NHL rumblings: Tampering penalties and Marner signing timeline, plus latest on Giroux, Gibson, more
At the NHL general managers meeting last November, deputy commissioner Bill Daly addressed the room on the subject of tampering. Especially on and around July 1. I asked him that day why he decided to raise the topic. 'We just haven't emphasized its importance in recent years,' Daly responded. 'So, it's more of a refresher on what the rules are and what can be done and what can't be done and what's appropriate and what's not appropriate. That's all.' Advertisement And the timing of the refresher? 'There was some commentary in the media that I was uncomfortable with around July 1 that indicated that there may have been contact and negotiation before July 1,' he said. On Nov. 25, Daly followed up by sending a league memo on tampering to all 32 clubs. So here we are, with July 1 just days away. 'We sent out a reminder to clubs this past week about pre-free-agency talks and certainly hope that will be useful as a reminder,' Daly told The Athletic on Wednesday. 'If we are made aware of tampering going on, we will be required to act.' What are the repercussions for a team found to be tampering? 'Fines, suspensions and potential loss of draft picks,' Daly said. So, will we see an impact when James Duthie welcomes the hockey world on TSN's Free Agent Frenzy on Tuesday? Will it be a little quieter than normal in the first hour after the market opens? Hard to say, honestly. Let's be real: Any team waiting until July 1 to communicate for the first time with a notable unrestricted free agent is toast. They would get left in the dust by their competition. At the very least, every team interested in certain free agents has to lay the groundwork before July 1 to make sure they're in the mix. And to be fair, usually it's agents reaching out to teams, feeling them out. Agents leave the draft combine in Buffalo every year feeling a lot clearer about what the market will look like for their clients, and it was no different this year. But perhaps teams and agents are being a little more careful this year in how far their conversations are going ahead of July 1. As one agent said this week, maybe don't ratify your agreement in the first five minutes after the market opens, right? What's the rush? (I still don't understand why the NHL and NHL Players' Association did away with the UFA speaking period, which was legalized tampering in the day leading up to free agency, when extending the CBA in July 2020. It's the NHLPA that wanted it gone.) Advertisement Whatever the case, it doesn't sound as though the No. 1 free agent on the board will be a 12:01 p.m. Eastern signing, for starters. 'As per the rules, we are only permitted to speak with teams beginning July 1,' Darren Ferris, Mitch Marner's agent, said Wednesday. 'At that time, prospective teams will have the opportunity to speak with Mitch directly. Following those conversations, Mitch will make an informed and thoughtful decision.' That doesn't sound like a first-hour signing. What Ferris didn't say exactly, is when that decision would be made. My TSN colleague Darren Dreger reported on a SportsCentre hit during the Stanley Cup Final that after soliciting interest from teams on July 1, Ferris and Marner would whittle the list to the clubs he and his family want to visit 'before making a decision by July 15.' Teams aren't convinced that's how it's going to go down, but I get why Ferris may want that out there ahead of time. It takes the pressure off the situation just in case a Marner signing doesn't happen on July 1. And if Marner really does feel the need to visit teams and cities, well, that will indeed delay things. Remember that prized free-agent defenseman Alex Pietrangelo did visit Vegas before signing with the Golden Knights on Oct. 12, 2020, three days after the market opened. And of course, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter made their splashy signings in Minnesota on July 4, 2012, also three days after the market opened. There are other examples as well. Heck, Nazem Kadri didn't sign until Aug. 18 when he was UFA in 2022 (the market opened July 13 that year), although there were other factors at play there with the Flames at the time needing to make more moves ahead of the signing, most notably moving Sean Monahan to Montreal that same day to make the cap math work. Kadri still signed a very nice contract given that it was the flat-cap environment, seven years and $49 million. So waiting didn't hurt him. Advertisement Kadri's agent, by the way? Ferris. Which is maybe just a coincidence, but at the very least, it tells you if Marner's situation isn't settled by the end of Tuesday, it's all part of the process for Ferris. Here are rumblings from elsewhere around the NHL: The Ottawa Senators had more talks Wednesday with Pat Brisson, the agent for pending UFA forward Claude Giroux. It's been a grind of a negotiation, by all accounts, on a one-year deal. I don't sense Wednesday's conversation produced the breakthrough the sides had hoped for, but the plan is to keep at it. I get that some Vancouver Canucks fans weren't thrilled that the team had to give up an asset to get Evander Kane from the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday and take on his full $5.125 million cap hit on the remaining year of his contract, helping a rival with their cap issues. But Kane's agent, Dan Milstein, said there was interest from two other teams, so there was competition and interest there. Milstein said Kane's preference was to go to his native Vancouver and credited the Oilers for making that happen. The two other teams were in the Eastern Conference. I actually think a healthy Kane might have a decent year for the Canucks next season in a good role. Speaking of the Oilers, they still need to move more money. It's not just that Evan Bouchard is in line for a huge raise on his expiring $3.9 million cap hit. Remember: Leon Draisaitl is going from $8.5 million to $14 million on the cap next season, too — plus the Oilers putting the finishing touches on Trent Frederic's extension. Next up, the Oilers are looking to trade Viktor Arvidsson and his remaining $4 million cap hit for next season. Arvidsson has a full no-move clause, but that shouldn't be an issue. He met with Oilers management after the season, and both sides agreed that a change could be beneficial for all involved. The agent and team are working together to find him a new home. The Oilers have had several inquiries already. I would expect a trade within the next two to three weeks. And then, well, the Oilers have to find replacement players for Kane and Arvidsson — cheaper guys who can contribute. Not easy to hit that right. Finally on Kane, Daly told The Athletic on Wednesday evening that there is 'no change' as far as the league's investigation into the Oilers and potential long-term-injured-reserve circumvention with Kane this season. The league put the Oilers on notice a while ago, but whether things proceed to the next level on that front, Daly said, remains to be seen. Advertisement Stop me if you've read this before (guilty as charged), but this might finally be the summer that John Gibson gets moved. It's my understanding that several teams have inquired of late on Gibson, 31, who had a better season after a few injury-plagued ones and whose contract is down to two years left on it at a $6.4 million cap hit. It's not a surprise that teams are calling as the UFA crop after Jake Allen isn't very sexy. Gibson has a modified no-trade but is very open to a move. So Ducks GM Pat Verbeek and veteran agent Kurt Overhardt are working together on it. There's a sense that it's finally going to happen, but I will also add that Verbeek isn't overly interested in retaining salary on the trade unless he's incentivized to do so. He would take a contract back in a deal, though. And that contract could be another goalie. Again, I know we've all heard this before, but it feels more real than ever. Just don't hold me to it! Talks continue between the Stars and agent Bayne Pettinger on a new deal for pending UFA captain Jamie Benn, who turns 36 on July 18. The sides are focused on a 35-plus-type one-year deal. July 1 is right around the corner, but there seems to be no concern that it won't get done. Benn doesn't want to go anywhere. (Top photo of Mitch Marner: Claus Andersen / Getty Images)