The Devil: 28 Jul 2025

A New Era of the Juninho Editions of the Daily Merengue

The Past Two Months:

“It starts when you stop…when you rest. It could be nerves, the [censored], maybe the alcohol…You live somewhere between life and death, waiting to move on. And in the end — you accept it. You shake hands with devils, and walk past them.” — Valyrian Steel

Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!

Shoutout to the Mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Ezek XI, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho.

El Diablo: Transfer News

“When things get dark and your number get called. And you look side to side like, “What did they say?”. And it ain’t the Lord’s voice and then you realize…

That the Devil is talkin’ to you.”

It’s been a minute…let’s see if we can still do this.

Konate. I’d be extremely surprised if we land Konate this transfer window and anyone reasonable would likely state that the possibility of signing him is at most 10% (which feels way too high it’s probably closer to 1%). This is for a few distinct reasons which have yet to be resolved 1) Real Madrid has too many CBs on our squad. Yes, they may not all be suitable to be starters or viable rotation players but similar to last year we are currently paying 5 CBs. This is Dean, Raul, Rudiger, Alaba, and Militao. If neither Alaba nor Rudiger depart, both who I’d be surprised to leave (Alaba — zero market + pay decrease; Rudiger — bigger pay day leaving for free next season + still has a pulse compared to others), there is legitimately zero room for Konate to arrive. There is a PR / political reason why we’re receiving reports about Xabi trusting two-time ACL tear Eder Militao. Anyway, the other large reason why it’s unlikely for Konate to arrive is to actually examine Liverpool’s squad. Liverpool does not have enough first team CBs. To my knowledge, Liverpool’s CB list is Joe Gomez (often hurt), VVD (who is old), Konate (also often hurt), and Rhys Williams (academy player who last played in the EFL 2). That’s 4 CBs with legitimately two (Konate x VVD) that can be counted on. Following their current transfer history, I just can’t see them suddenly sacrificing a CB without either being paid a ludicrous amount of money or purchasing someone like Guehi (and even this purchase would still leave this team quite thin depth wise). This transfer may eventually happen..but be prepared to wait until 2026 earliest.

Ceballos. I’ve seen this as a reference of discussion lately, and tbh I’m not entirely sure why. At this point Madrid fans like hating on Ceballos just because it’s Ceballos. It isn’t because he performs poorly (he overall was a better performer from last season). It isn’t because he’s stopping youth players from progressing (he’s legitimately option #5 or 6 + everyone was cool with Modric last year). And it isn’t because he has huge wages like Alaba which stops us from investing in other positions (he makes like 5M net). This is hate more than analysis. We all know that aren’t going to find a #5 choice sub that is as good as him for his price. And although I very much am team sign Angelo Stiller, this just seems like a pipe dream atm. Ceballos might as well stay for another season and help teach TAA spanish.

We also only have like 5-6 midfielders for 4 spots right now. (Will talk about Arda as a CM much later this week).

Kiyan knows ball.

The R. Do we need a recap? Probably not. Let me hit you with a quick disclaimer:

((Quick Disclaimer: If you just don’t like Rodrygo or if he’s the Brazilian Ceballos to you, feel free to skip this section of the DT. I pay it no mind nor does it stop me from continuing to write. We all have opinions.

My position on Rodrygo and it pretty much has been my position regarding the R for most of last year is that he can be a key player for Real Madrid. I have said for nearly a year that Vini + Mbappe cannot effectively play together regardless of the formation (more on that potentially tomorrow) because both do not defend. Yes, I said defend.

Aside: MM needs to stop using “press” as a trigger word for defend. Neither player defends…period. I’m talking like basic levels of tracking back. Rewatch the PSG match.

Therefore, imo Rodrygo (who actually defends and seems to play better when not asked to be a touchline winger) should thrive in a 2 forward Xabi system. Keeping him is additionally imperative considering the contract situation of Vinicius Jr. A recovered and inform Rodrygo from a financial standpoint is massive leverage as the team continues to negotiate Vini’s contract.))

Ok back to what we see now. So here are the rumors of likely the biggest transfer saga for Real Madrid this summer. 1) Several Prem teams seem to be interested in Rodrygo they are — Liverpool, Arsenal, and Tottenham. At the moment, there are zero credible sources linking Rodrygo to Manchester City, Chelsea, PSG, or Man Utd. 2) If Rodrygo is to leave for these clubs, his entourage has signaled that he would want to primarily play on the LW / CAM + receive a pay increase (this is standard just job seeking practice). 3) Most reports indicate that Rodrygo prefers to stay at Real Madrid and fight for his spot (note: this could just be good PR lip-service but it could also very well be true considering his steep wage requests). 4) Real Madrid who appear to be open to selling the player if he wants to leave (lmao again likely lip-service to some extent) has asked for 100M to approve a sale. This is a complicated number for multiple reasons which we can dive into in the comments regarding devaluing an assets purchase price through benching, the rise of Prem funding quite frankly mediocre players, etc etc. 5) Liverpool who seem to have shown the most recent interest have sold Luiz Diaz for 75M to Bayern but appear to prioritizing Isak from Newcastle.

My guess on this situation: 50/50 but it’s unlikely anything happens until after Aug 4th when the players return to practice. IMO it does seem like Rodrygo prefers to stay at Real Madrid or potentially leave for a club of the same ilk (i.e., City, Liverpool, PSG, etc.). And it does seem like the club is delicately pushing him towards an exit door (potentially to reshuffle the books and reinvest in other areas). However, the price point (wages + transfer fee) demanded by both player and club seem to be a massive stumbling block for most potential suitors. We’ll if a potential reunion of all interested parties leads to a breakthrough one way or another. But until then, most reports are simply speculation.

The Devil.

I never been the mod to vibe with. I don’t f— with internet kumbaya ish. Val said “All Juni’s talent must be god sent”. And to send yo’ ass back to the cosmics. The things I’ve seen under my MM eyelids. La Decima dreams, premods, and Coral sirens. Let’s be clear, I left and MM died again. Half of my profits/prophets go to the R + H.B.I.T.I.M. Two many Transfer Judases since let me down. But f— it, the threads again mine, we alright now. Diaz — see 2 months of therapy showed me how to open up. It also showed me I don’t give a fk.

The two-time Gemini with lyrical genocide. I’m generous, however you want it, I’ll be the gentle kind. Gentlemen and gangsta connect, Vini contract renewal “agenda” of mine. And new MMers move up outta here — these replies got gentrified. Heavy genes like Genovese, I’ll drop your Pentagon. Then show up at your gender reveal and tell ‘em give me mine. I sonned MMers, I am the General, ignored the Matastuono pursuit. Every song is the book of Genesis, let the sonics boom. Alts want the tea on me? — well, here’s the ginger root. I generate residuals, Pip, get off my gen—. They said CWC + “P” “A” “Z” but they must’ve misread. Must be full of that ginseng, here comes the jinx, yeah. Twitter fingers genetics been synthetic, screamin’ they genius. A finger wave, they all fall, members is jenga. Val gave me a deck of life + a good 2 months full of free will. Then pulled a Trump card, and told me not to spare your life.

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“My apologies…I thought my time was up.”