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Hi!
That’s defender Lucia Leon, who made her first team debut in 2018, but joined the club as a youth player in 2013.
Ramble of the Day
Let’s start with an insignificant, but ultimately nice recent Instagram post from Michel Vorm.
It’s nice when professional photographers get pictures of you and your dear friends for you to pick from on a regular basis, but that’s me going off topic. What’s really the nice thing about this post is that the club brought Vorm back to enjoy a little more time with some very close friends. No one needs me to explain the greatness of friendship, but seeing the camaraderie on display is great as always.
I imagine Eric Dier feels the same way, despite the lack of caption, but that’s not the story here. While Vorm was happy to acknowledge Dier and Jan Vertonghen, Dier’s post reveals that Toby Alderweireld was also around. So - what gives?
The most dramatic explanation is that Vorm doesn’t like Alderweireld, or that he doesn’t consider him a brother from another mother. (To be fair, the second is less dramatic, and it’s not a big deal if they’re not very tight.) The most reasonable explanation is that Alderweireld wasn’t actually part of the moment Vorm, Dier, and Vertonghen were sharing and so Vorm felt a little bit weird keeping him in the picture. At first glance, he doesn’t like he’s part of the conversation, but I’m now convincing myself he could’ve been.
Now I can’t decide if this was a deliberate cut or not, but my urge is to think of it as a funny occurrence and nothing else. If anyone else wants to theorize, though, I’m all ears.
tl;dr: Why did Michel Vorm cut Toby Alderweireld out of a picture?
Links of the Day
Reading will investigate racist and homophobic chants from Cardiff fans during the teams’ FA Cup match over the weekend.
Transfer updates: Newcastle signed Valentino Lazaro from Inter Milan on loan Leipzig signed Dani Olmo from Dinamo Zagreb; Brighton signed Aaron Mooy from Huddersfield on a permanent deal
Today’s longer day: David Conn reports on the specifics of Manchester City’s financial fair play violations before the club’s 2014 agreement with UEFA for The Guardian