Lion Links: 8/29/17

Ahh, Tuesday. A day so trivial and uninspiring that we had to make it Taco Tuesday just to get ourselves out of bed for it. Well, to paraphrase the words of singer Wynn Stewart, (singer of “Another Day, Another Dollar”) another day, another edition of Lion Links awaits us, so lets get going.

Pride Expect Jasmyne Spencer Back by Saturday

Following her absence during the Pride's 2-1 win over FC Kansas City over the weekend, Head Coach Tom Sermanni was optimistic that Jasmyne Spencer would return for Saturday’s match against the Boston Breakers. Thus far, Spencer has played in 17 games this season, notching three goals and four assists. Best of luck to Jasmyne for a speedy recovery as the Pride look to extend their four-game winning streak back at home.

Orlando City SC Launches Youth Affiliate Program

OCSC have launched a new Youth Affiliate Program, and have also announced South Orlando Soccer Club as the very first affiliate. The affiliate program will involve the Lions providing coaching and coaching education programs for both competitive and recreational soccer programs. Not only will this be a way for the club to give back and get involved with the community, but it should also provide a direct pipeline for promising young local players to get to Orlando City development academies, and hopefully to the big show one day.  

Big Money Transfers Rule the Weekend

Ousmane Dembele has become the most expensive signing ever for a certain Catalan club following his move to Barcelona. The 20-year-old signed on the dotted line for a reported initial fee of €105 million, which dwarfs the €80 million they shelled out for Luis Suarez in 2014. They sure aren't wasting any time spending that Neymar money! Ligue 1 also saw some money being thrown around with Kylian Mbappe moving on loan to PSG with the move becoming permanent following the end of this season. It was decided that Mbappe would be signed on an initial loan in order to comply with Financial Fair Play, following the Parisian club's €222 million acquisition of Neymar earlier this month.  

Free Kicks

• Two Orlando Pride players are up for weekly awards, with Alex Morgan up for NWSL Goal of the Week and teammate Ashlyn Harris among the nominees for Save of the Week. Great job, ladies!

• Ousmane Dembele had a little um…trouble at his Barcelona unveiling today. I’ll just shut up and let the video speak for itself on this one.

• OCSC's own Joe Bendik had a baby girl born yesterday, congratulations go out to Joe and his family.

Healthy baby, healthy momma, and one super happy dad! Welcome to the 🌎 Addison Cayde Bendik

A post shared by jbendik (@jbendik) on Aug 28, 2017 at 10:36am PDT

• Today’s birthdays include John McCain, singers Liam Payne and the late Michael Jackson, Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, and philosopher John Locke.

That’ll do it for today’s Lion Links, hope everybody’s week is off to a good start. Also, tomorrow just so happens to be the birthday of yours truly, so if I don’t get a shout out in tomorrow’s Free Kicks section, I’ll be extremely hurt. It’s fine, I’m not crying, you’re crying. Either that or someone’s cutting an onion in here.