Núñez. Embolo. Really?

Good morning! Sydney here with this edition of the Scarves and Spikes Daily newsletter. Follow me on X, BSky, IG, and Threads.

Silly season heating up for Atlanta United in a big way

You already know the big transfer news from yesterday surrounding Atlanta United. If not, here’s a quick rundown:

–Breel Embolo (Rennes, Switzerland NT) – potential $17M transfer. Just interest at this point, per Ben Jacobs, who adds that Ipswich and Hull City are also looking at him along with clubs in Serie A.

–Darwin Núñez (Uruguay NT) – on the verge of leaving Al-Hilal a year into a three-year deal originally coupled with a $60M transfer fee. Talks have just begun between him and Atlanta, per Tom Bogert and Paul Tenorio, but Nunez is still officially under contract with the Saudi Pro League outfit.

Both come with some hang-ups:

-Núñez is the big name, but inconsistency has been a concern with him. (Case in point: a YouTube video called “Top 10 Núñez misses for Liverpool” has over 16K views and another with a thumbnail reading “The biggest fraud” has 41K views.) Then there’s that whole situation with fans in the Copa America semifinal in Charlotte a couple years ago.

-Embolo tore his left ACL in a training session with Monaco in August 2023 and missed the subsequent Ligue 1 season.With Rennes, his stats have been relatively unimpressive.

Both, I think, can perform well in MLS, though. There’s a fairly common consensus that Núñez, specifically, would tear the league up. (I agree.)

The one thing preventing anything significant from happening, though? The Emmanuel Latte Lath situation. According to UK soccer writer Alan Nixon, Championship side Burnley have entered a loan bid that would become permanent if it wins promotion to the Premier League. The twist? Burnley is the club that reportedly hired Garth Lagerwey to oversee its football operations.

Clearly, a lot is going on. (We haven’t even mentioned Pedro Amador, who’s reportedly been linked to Israel, and Steven Alzate, who wasn’t in the team on Wednesday but looks to be as good as gone.) Tyler and I talked about all of the news yesterday on our transfer special on YouTube; click here to give it a watch if you haven’t already.

One other transfer tidbit: ATL UTD 2 transferred midfielder Moises Tablante to second-division Portuguese side Lusitânia FC yesterday. All the best to the 25-year-old, who signed with the 2s in 2025 and made 42 appearances with 26 starts.

Stay connected to all the latest Atlanta United transfer news

Our transfer tracker is where you can get every Atlanta United transfer report or rumor, all in one place. Bookmark it, as it will come in handy during this big summer window. Click here →

Oh, and Atlanta United play a match tomorrow

In the midst of all the transfer excitement, it’s easy to forget: Atlanta is paying a visit to the New England Revolution tomorrow. After trailing Charlotte FC 2-0 before playing to a 2-2 draw, tomorrow’s match in Foxborough is about building on Wednesday’s second-half performance in Charlotte and sustaining it for a full 90 minutes.

Maybe, just maybe, there’s at least something that carries over against a New England team that currently sits fourth in the East. Later today, I’m chatting with Caleb Pongratz, who covers the Revs and has plenty of insight into what’s happening in New England under Marko Mitrović. That chat will be on Patreon, so click here to sign up for access to that, other bonus content, and our Discord (your first seven days are free!).

We’ll have our regular match coverage tomorrow, too, including our prematch show on YouTube at 6:30 (subscribe!), our match thread, and my preview and predicted XI.

That’s it for now. See you in the next one.