Mudryk Is Back, So We're Winning the League

Red, White & Blues FC | Mudryk Is Back, Infantino Tried to Sell the World Cup

Chelsea have been made whole again. Also, the president of FIFA attempted a legal bribe in broad daylight and it blew up in his face.

Big things happening, big people back, old people here, and Infantino is an asshole — that’s the episode in one line. Mykhailo Mudryk is finally cleared and back at Chelsea after twenty months away, which sends Daniel into a full state of rapture and Jason into a state of mild concern about it. Then we get into a preseason loss to ten-man Tottenham that neither of us can confirm actually happened, two deals that went official today, and the small matter of FIFA nearly spinning the World Cup off into a private equity vehicle. There’s no transfer deep-dive here — that’s Thursday, and we’ve got an announcement about Thursday at the end.

Welcome Back, King

Mudryk is back for two more years and Daniel is not being ironic about how happy he is — well, mostly not. The man everybody puts their hopes and dreams into, who constantly disappoints us, and whom we love anyway, butterfly tattoos and all. The infuriating part is the timing: the rules changed after he got popped, and if the same result came in today no charge would have been brought at all. He lost twenty months of his career to a process that dragged. So, some house rules going forward — don’t leave your drinks unattended, don’t take supplements, fire the virtual doctor, become a vegan, get it straight from the source. The training photo of Mudryk and Estêvão together in Hong Kong is Daniel’s new favorite Chelsea picture ever, and on the strength of it alone he has decided we’re winning the league. Peak Eden Hazard season. Then the Strasbourg loan rumor surfaced and the joy curdled instantly: send Gittens for the reps, Mudryk doesn’t need them. Over/under on a red card in his first match remains open.

A Loss to Ten-Man Tottenham That May or May Not Have Occurred

Neither of us watched it, so neither of us can confirm nor deny. Let Tottenham have it — it’s preseason, and God knows they need something. Estêvão scored, other people spent the afternoon trying to take our players out, and the only thing that actually matters is that we came out of Australia without injuries. The pitches on this tour have been rubbish, no Ed Sheeran required this time. Lavia played and did not get hurt, which we’re treating as a minor miracle, and Jason would like Estêvão laying healing hands on the entire locker room for the full season. Wednesday’s Juventus match is at Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong, and Daniel’s faith in a decent surface rests entirely on the theory that the hosts won’t want to look bad — unlike whatever repurposed rugby pitch we were playing on in Australia.

The Bushwhackers Are Officially Chelsea Players

Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson have both been formally announced, which prompts several minutes of the two of us doing the Bushwhackers arm-swing at each other. Careful, lads, you’ll sprain something. The mental image we can’t shake is Welbeck and Henderson coming off the bench while Estêvão and Mudryk heckle them from the sideline — Henderson, don’t use your arms to break your fall, your bones are brittle. He’s going to concede a handball and break his arm doing it. Elsewhere: Geovany Quenda is with the squad now and we’re hoping to see his Chelsea debut, two deals went official today with Trevoh Chalobah joining Como and Valentín Barco finally being confirmed as a Chelsea player — a signing we’re fairly sure was announced two months ago, and one that even Rory apparently missed, given he quote-tweeted his own World Cup post about what a little shit Barco was to Bellingham to ask whether the guy is a Chelsea player now. One of the foremost Chelsea pundits in the world, everybody.

Infantino Tried to Sell Shares in the World Cup

The main event. FIFA’s plan was to spin the commercial side into a standalone company — FIFA Forward Enterprises, valued around $20 billion — sell shares to private equity, and distribute the proceeds to member federations, with FIFA itself staying a nonprofit handling the sport. Call it what it is: a legal bribe. Infantino’s pitch was effectively “vote no and you get $2.7 billion, vote yes and you get ten,” plus a rumor he’d personally clear about $30 million if it went through. The man ran on transparency and, to be fair, he’s being extremely transparent about the bribery. What’s new isn’t the corruption — we know FIFA, we remember Blatter and the brown envelopes and how Qatar got a World Cup, and we get into how confederations quietly print money reselling allocated tickets at multiples of face value. What’s new is the brazenness. CONCACAF and UEFA came out against it, UEFA threatened an outright boycott without mincing words, the plan leaked before it could even be pitched, and by the time we’re recording Infantino has scrapped it. Now the question is whether he survives it. He’s currently running unopposed ahead of the March 2027 election, and if UEFA and CONCACAF can agree on a single challenger, the math gets very interesting. This is the Super League all over again: fans will tolerate a lot, but not a small group openly centralizing the money and taking the whole pie.

What We’re Actually Looking Forward To

We close on the honest question, and both answers come back to the same man. Jason’s is Xabi Alonso — the first time since Tuchel was fired that he’s been excited to watch a coach cook. After Potter, after Lampard going through the motions, after Pochettino shitting the bed until the last six matches, after Maresca abandoning us for City, this is a manager who can command a locker room and has the résumé to back it. He’d rather have European football, but no Wednesdays and no Thursdays means a low-pressure season, and after four relentlessly negative years the prospect of just watching Chelsea play without the BlueCo drama is its own reward. Daniel’s answer is simpler: he’s excited to be excited. Quenda and Estêvão, Palmer, João Pedro, Mudryk back in the building, Xabi in charge. Still holes at goalkeeper and in defense, still no idea how a back four is going to work, still question marks about locker-room management. And when Daniel asks how long before it all comes crashing down, Jason gives him three months — because December is coming, and December always comes.

One More Thing

Starting this Thursday, the transfer episode goes live. 6:15pm-ish on YouTube and X, questions and opinions welcome in the chat. Bring your bell notifications. Tonight’s episode is brought to you by the tilde, which means approximately.

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