Mbappé Faces Criticism Over Injury Leave and Vacation

Accusations of a lack of commitment are mounting against Kylian Mbappé, following his recent departure for "recovery" that turned out to be a vacation with partner Ester Expósito.

Observers note the timing was poor, as he was away while the team played against Espanyol, leading to a wave of negative sentiment from supporters and the press. noplasticplease.life

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Joao Pedro is a key part of Chelsea's project, stating a departure would send a 'bad message.'

The Brazilian striker, who scored 15 league goals this season, is valued by Barcelona but is seen as indispensable by the Blues following his £60m move from Brighton.

The White Sox (17-19) fought to the very end, but the bats were inconsistent with runners in scoring position, and the Angels (14-23) knocked Erick Fedde around as the Good Guys dropped game two of their LA road trip, 4-3. Now just two games under, the South Siders are hopefully just taking the scenic route on the road to .500, because we won’t be seeing it tomorrow. The good news is that since both the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers lost Tuesday as well, the Sox are still just a half-game back in the division.

It was not Fedde’s night. The Angels hit him pretty hard, and his pitches simply just weren’t as effective. He only drew a 9% whiff rate over his 4 2/3 innings, and his sweeper typically averages around 23%, whereas it recorded only two whiffs (13%) tonight. The righthander came into this game with five home runs allowed, and added three more Tuesday as Mike Trout, Jorge Soler, and Zach Neto all took him deep.

The White Sox provided a small two-run cushion for Fedde to begin the game, quickly loading the bases in the top of the first and actually taking some advantage of it. Chase Meidroth led off the game with a base hit, and a pair of walks from Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery loaded ’em up. Making his first start as a South Sider and batting in the cleanup spot, Randal Grichuk dropped a broken-bat flare over the second baseman to score the first run of the game. In all honesty, the batting order was a bit weak after Montgomery without Munetaka Murakami in the lineup. I wasn’t expecting much with Edgar Quero up to bat, but he (sort of) proved me wrong and drove in the second run on a sacrifice fly out to center, but those two runs were all the Good Guys could push across the plate, 2-0.

That lead lasted for all of 10 minutes as both Trout and Soler launched solo bombs to tie the game up at two, making it a brand new ball game. Fedde maneuvered through the next few innings without many issues, but once the batting order swung around for the third time, Los Angeles started to get to him. This is when Neto struck, hanging for a second at the plate to watch it fly to give the Angels the lead, 3-2.

Trout walked for the second straight at-bat, and Nolan Schanuel doubled to drive him in and give LA a two-run lead, 4-2. Fedde met the end of his night after that, finishing with four runs surrendered on six hits, two walks, three bombs, and two strikeouts. Fortunately, this didn’t severely impact his ERA, which increased to 3.79 after starting the night at 3.23, and hopefully these types of outings don’t become a habit.

After the first inning rally, it took until the seventh for the South Siders to scrape another run across. They got something going in the sixth after Derek Hill reached on an infield single, and Will Venable called on Murakami to pinch-hit. In another universe, he might have hit the game-tying homer, but he did knock a single to put runners on the corners for Sam Antonacci, who flew out to end the inning. Finally breaking the scoring drought, Meidroth mashed his second long ball of the season in the seventh to bring the Sox within one, 4-3.

The bullpen was solid coming in to relieve Fedde, only allowing one base runner while keeping Los Angeles at bay in hopes that the bats could figure something out. For the final 3 1/3, Tyler Davis, Jordan Leasure, and Bryan Hudson shut the Angels down, combining for just one hit (from Hudson) and three strikeouts.

Sure, the three homers from Fedde were a killer, but the Sox had ample scoring opportunities, especially being within just one run. It’s a shame that the hitting couldn’t pull it together.

The Good Guys applied more pressure in the top of the ninth after Antonacci was hit by a pitch, stole second, and then made it to third base with one out and the heart of the order coming up. Vargas walked to bring Colson up with one out, needing just a measly fly ball to tie the game. He unfortunately struck out, but naturally Jared Kelenic walked to extend the inning and loaded the bases up for the second time of the night. A walk is fine, I guess, but with the Angels fan that was screaming his name throughout the entire broadcast, I was hoping that he would tank one out of the park.

That brought us to … Quero with the bases loaded. Just who you want in that situation, the guy with a .425 OPS. Shockingly enough, he rolled over on a ground ball to second to end the game. Unless Drew Romo was completely incapacitated, he should have been available off the bench, and that might have been a good time to use him — the guy that is mashing homers lately — but I digress.

Though they (barely) outhit the Angels again, 8-7, the White Sox weren’t able to convert as they did in the series opener. There were plenty of opportunities to drive in runs, but outside of Grichuk’s base hit in the first, no one else could get the job done, going 1-for-7 with RISP and 11 left on base. Literally any one of those runners would have made for a completely different ball game, but unfortunately, the South Siders won’t be making it back to .500 on this road trip.

Fabrizio Romano reports that Curtis Jones, whose Liverpool contract runs until 2027, is receptive to a transfer to Inter Milan. The Italian side remains keen, and Jones has reportedly wanted a move since January. Liverpool will need to set a price that satisfies both the club’s valuation and the player’s desire for regular football.