Hi! It’s been over a month, but the core message remains the same: CONSIDER PRE-ORDERING MY BOOK, AND IF YOU’VE ALREADY DONE THAT, THEN EITHER 1) CONSIDER DOING THAT AGAIN PERHAPS OR 2) TELL A FELLOW READER IN YOUR LIFE TO CONSIDER PRE-ORDERING A BOOK THAT, PER MY PUBLISHER, DOES THE FOLLOWING:

By exploring how massive institutions built on billions of dollars can function for so long without any kind of introspection—and what happens when people from the outside attempt to question the status quo—author Ryan O'Hanlon, staff writer at ESPN, shows how time and again experts, managers, coaches, players, and fans feel they know the best approach for any given team or player, and yet get undermined by the complexity of the game—and human behavior.

OK! Here’s what I’ve written over the past two weeks:

-What happened to Frenkie De Jong?

In the Eredivisie, Ajax were employing this lithe blond kid as a center-back, and he was dribbling up, down and across the field for fun. It was video-game soccer, but less FIFA and more Super Mario Brothers. Any space he saw seemed to be an invitation to drive it forward. He'd turned the standard risk/reward of the soccer field on its head. De Jong's fearlessness opened up all kinds of new possibilities for the way the game could be played; if you could play like that as a center-back, then, well, what couldn't you do?

While De Jong didn't play at the back during Ajax's famous run to within seconds of the Champions League final, he still stretched the field and the bounds of positional possibility from a deep midfield role. In the summer of 2019, he moved to Barcelona for €75 million ($94.6m). Three years later, he's been the one thing it didn't seem like he could ever be: unspectacular.

-How to sign the new Andy Robertson (and Mo Salah and others):

However, a simpler indicator of his potential might have been the fact that he played a ton of minutes in a major league at a young age. In the 2016-17 season, the only full-back younger than Robertson who played more minutes across the Big Five leagues was Nantes' Leo Dubois, who has since been capped by France 13 times.

Who could be this year's version of Robertson? Burnley forward Dwight McNeil played the fifth-most minutes of any under-23 player across the Big Five leagues this season. And given that the 22-year-old was an attacking player on a defense-first team, there's at least some reason to believe that we never got to see what he might be capable of producing in a team that has a lot more of the ball. Newcastle and Man United have been linked with him in the past, while his transfer valuation is around €18m ($20m).

-New Chelsea owner Todd Boehly wants to make trades. Here’s why he can’t:

In most American sports, players can be traded whether they like it or not. While a small number of stars have "no-trade" clauses negotiated into their contracts, the majority of players can be traded from one team to another, so long as their contract fits into their new team's roster in a way that doesn't violate the league's salary cap structure.

"In order to move a player in European football, it requires player consent," said Jake Cohen, a sports lawyer. "So a player has to agree to any transfer, whether that be permanently or on loan, which makes it a little more difficult for teams to move players as they do in American sports. In European football, it's mandatory that players consent to move, and that's not something that can be negotiated away. That's sort of a fundamental right guaranteed by FIFA."

-What a monthly list of the best soccer players in Europe can teach us about the modern history of the sport:

The youngest player ahead of TAA on the list is Manchester City's Cancelo, who turned 28 in May. He has made 12 appearances in the Team of the Month and has made the Team of the Year for two campaigns running. In fact, this season he led all players in Team of the Month appearances with seven. He didn't make the team in September or October, but he then ran the table from November through May.

Since the '95-96 season, just 17 other times has a player made the Team of the Month at least seven times in a season:

- Messi (Barcelona): 6
- Ronaldo (Real Madrid): 2

And then nine other players did it once: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, 2018-19); Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid, 1997-98); Ronaldo (Barcelona, 1996-97); John Terry (Chelsea, 2004-05); Carles Puyol and Ronaldinho (Barcelona, 05-06); Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United, 2007-08); Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United, 2010-11); Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City 2017-18.)

There are five instances of a player hitting eight of the nine months: Messi (2010-11, 2017-18, 2018-19), Ronaldo (2011-12), and Roberto Carlos (1997-98). And only twice has a player appeared in all nine teams of the month: Messi in 2011-12 and Van Dijk in 2018-19.

Enjoy your long or normal or short weekends, all.