The NHL has dropped Jogmo World Corp. as a primary technology partner in its player and puck tracking plans, but vows to have the highly anticipated data collection system up and running by the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"We're in the process of making a switch," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told ESPN on Thursday. "Jogmo had some organizational and financial challenges which we were concerned about at the offset, but actually came to fruition. We have a new partner who can do it and we're very confident that that hasn't slowed us down."

A league source said that technology company SMT is the league's new partner.

Jogmo had worked to develop a system that would allow the league to collect millions of datapoints for every game played through sensors placed on the players and inside the puck, as well as using in-arena antennas. It handled the tech side, while Germany's Fraunhofer Institute had developed the hardware.

Bettman said the change in partners won't derail the NHL's plans to get puck and player tracking ready for the 2019-20 postseason. Full rollout won't happen until the 2020-21 season, according to Keith Wachtel, Executive Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer for the NHL.

"We believe we'll be up and running for the playoffs. Maybe we could be up and running sooner, but we want to set expectations because it's complicated -- obviously it's taken a long time. Getting it set up in 31 buildings, none of which are identical, and it has to work perfectly. And it has to work perfectly at the same time," Bettman said. "My belief is, based off everything I'm being told, is that we'll be up and running for the playoffs. That doesn't mean we won't use it, for example at the All-Star Game, but it's the scalability and fine tuning of it, to make sure it does what it's supposed to do."

The NHL has made its puck and player tracking technology a significant priority. Its television partners will integrate the data and real-time visualizations into broadcasts, having already experimented with it at previous NHL events. Teams will be able to collect more accurate player data and stats. But most importantly, the tracking technology promised to usher in a new era of wagering on NHL games, both for amusement and for actual dollars as the legalization of sports betting continues to spread.

The NHL has already cut data exclusivity deals with MGM Grand, Fan Duel and William Hill in anticipation of player tracking. Any delays or hiccups in implementation could affect that next step.

"You leave yourself a lot of runway for this. We've been meeting with numerous technology companies for the last few years -- anyone that's in that business of optical and hardware-based solutions. So you have options, and we always want to leave them open if issues like that should arise," said Wachtel. "The strategy that we have for all these technologies is two to three years out. I think you make sure you have other options and opportunities, and that's what the commissioner and the owners expect with us."

After working with several partners in an attempt to develop player and puck tracking systems, the NHL partnered with Fraunhofer Institute to create a puck that could house the tech. It also had a freezer that stores the puck, charges it, and tests its battery life and signal strength. They built a machine that has a mechanical arm with a syringe that pumps the ideal amount of adhesive to seal it and then applies 10 tons of pressure.

Jogmo World Corp. partnered with Fraunhofer to create the technology used in player and puck tracking. The initial plan featured 14 antennas placed around the arena, with sensors inside the puck allowing it to be tracked over 2,000 times per second. The technology was tested at the 2018 and 2019 NHL All-Star Games, and at regular season games in arenas like T-Mobile in Las Vegas and the Prudential Center in Newark.

Earlier this year, the NHL announced it would be using a hybrid system of both the sensor tracking developed by Jogmo and optical tracking, which relies on cameras around the rink.

"We're convinced that the best solution for us is a two-system tracking system: a sensor-based system that will give us X-Y-Z coordinates for the players and the pucks, and an optical system that will give stick position, body position and limb recognition that we can add to the X-Y and X-Y-Z coordinates to get the full data," said David Lehanski, the NHL's senior vice president of business development.

"If the tests go well, we'll be looking to add that optical component at some time next season. It may not be exactly aligned with the rollout of the [sensor] system, but ideally at some point next season."

The move was seen as a peculiar one given the NHL's previous concerns with that technology. While it's been effective in sports like tennis, the amount of obstructed views during a fast-paced hockey game make it ineffective. The hope was that when partnered with the sensor technology, it could present a full picture of game action.

That hybrid version of puck and player tracking is what the NHL still intends to roll out after splitting with Jogmo. Wachtel said there are "no concerns" that it will arrive in the near future.

Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug isn't one to Google himself. But he admits he has searched his name on Twitter "quite frequently" over the last few months.

"Especially being in my contract situation, I want to see what rumors are out there," Krug says. "So I'll search frequently."

Krug, 28, becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer, and is poised to be one of the top defensemen available on the open market. As one of the premier offensive defensemen in the league, Krug is due for a raise from the $5.25 million he will make this season. Krug told ESPN his preference is to stay with the Bruins, and he would consider doing what many Boston athletes -- most famously Tom Brady -- have done over the years: take less money to remain with his team.

"I love the situation I'm in," Krug says. "I'm pretty sure my teammates would love me to come back. My coach [Bruce Cassidy] I know for a fact loves the way I play. This last playoffs was big for me and my development and my growth. I feel like I'm just hitting my prime."

The Michigan native went undrafted, and signed with Boston as a college free agent in 2012 after a standout career at Michigan State. He has been a regular in the Bruins' lineup since the 2013-14 season.

"Would I take less to stay in Boston?" Krug says. "It's something that I've talked about with my family and my agent. It's something I'm interested in. How much less -- that's a question that will be answered at a certain time. I think something that's fair will be able to be worked out both ways. As long as they want me, I think something could be done, realistically. Everyone does it. How much they do it, is kind of their own opinion and [dependent] on their own circumstances."

Boston, which lost to the St. Louis Blues in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, has a roster filled with team-friendly deals. Krug points to teammate Brad Marchand, who finished fifth in league scoring last season at 100 points, but is only making $6.125 million per year on a contract that expires in 2025.

"Marchy is way too low, because he signed one year too early," Krug says.

Boston has another terrific bargain in Marchand's linemate David Pastrnak, who finished top-15 in goal-scoring with 38 goals last season, but will earn only $6.66 million through 2023.

"Pasta had no [arbitration] rights, so he had to take a little bit less out of pure nature," Krug says.

The third member of the top line, Patrice Bergeron -- who has won four of the last eight Selke Awards as the league's best two-way forward -- is also making less than $7 million per season. He inked that eight-year extension back in summer 2013.

"Bergeron's deal is just so old, and that's why it seems low," Krug says. "So everyone's situation is a little bit different, everyone took less at some point, but it's just a matter of circumstance."

Krug says he won't let his own contract situation weigh on him this season.

"I've been through it so much," Krug says. "My first three deals were all one-year deals. I'm used to it. I'm used to having to prove myself. That's been my thing ever since I came into the league, that I've had to prove people wrong instead of proving people right. So I'm used to it."

Now that he's had the summer to reflect, Krug says the biggest reason the Bruins fell short in the Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues was a series of "momentum swings."

"They were able to stop momentum swings a little bit quicker than we were," Krug says. "I don't even remember any of the final scores, but I know we won one game really big [the Bruins won Game 3, 7-2]. And entering the next game we felt like we were in those guys' heads. We're just going to keep the momentum, but they were able to stop it on a dime, end it, and move on the other way. We never won consecutive games. They did."

This summer, the NHL was split into two camps when it came to restricted free agents and their unsigned contracts covered in nervous droplets of flop sweat from general managers: Those who believed this was the new normal, and those who believed this offseason was an anomaly.

I've been Team Anomaly. Things got weird this summer, and not just because our culture was briefly ruled by spiked seltzer and a chicken sandwich. We had an offer sheet -- an actual offer sheet! We have a player in Mitch Marner who may or may not be gumming up the market as he asks for a contract that every general manager thinks is preposterous and every agent hopes resets the bar. We had a crop of young stars all coming up at the same time and all deserving of significant deals, with no one wanting to flinch.

Yet when it comes to next summer's RFA class, the Arizona Coyotes flinched: Forward Clayton Keller was handed an eight-year deal with an average annual value of $7.15 million on Wednesday, making him the second-highest paid Coyote behind Oliver Ekman-Larsson ($8.25 million AAV), whom GM John Chayka also signed a year before his contract expired.

It's one of the first significant deals out of the gate for next year's RFAs. Earlier this summer, the Tampa Bay Lightning took Andrei Vasilevskiy out of the mix with an eight-year deal with a $9.5 million AAV. While that contract had its critics, the Keller deal had more of them.

Micah Blake McCurdy called the contract "a disastrous idea." Evolving Hockey was stunned by the term, and had the cap hit more in the $6.4 million range. But Rachel Doerrie thinks the cap hit will look rather good for the majority of the deal.

No matter what you think of Keller -- and I think he's getting paid for potential, rather than performance, especially on the defensive end -- the Coyotes basically said they're not going to play any RFA reindeer games next offseason. While next year's group of RFAs isn't as stacked as the Class of 2019, there are some significant names up for new deals that could cause some significant stress for fans and GMs if their contract status is allowed to linger.

Here are the 10 most interesting pending RFAs in 2020:

Also in this week's Wysh List: Jersey Foul | Puck headlines
Justin Williams takes a break

10. Sam Reinhart, RW and Brandon Montour, D, Buffalo Sabres

OK, so make that 11 RFAs.

There are other RFAs that we could have slotted in here -- Dylan Strome, Anthony Cirelli, Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou to name a few -- but the position Reinhart and Montour are in is fascinating. Reinhart is coming off a bridge deal that pays him $3.65 million AAV this season, while Montour makes $3,387,500 AAV this season in the final campaign of his bridge deal signed with the Anaheim Ducks last summer. Both players are arbitration-eligible, and go RFA in a summer that'll see Buffalo have just nine players under contract and more than $35 million in cap space with which to play. How much of that goes to these two players, or do they both end up part of a grand reconfiguration of the roster? (This being Buffalo, we suppose we should additionally ask which general manager will be making that decision ...)

9. Nolan Patrick, C, Philadelphia Flyers

Likely demoted to the third line with the Kevin Hayes signing, and coming off a bummer of a sophomore season, the No. 2 overall pick from 2017 has to be looking at a bridge deal that would allow him to build up some cache and momentum toward something more lucrative.

8. Darnell Nurse, D, Edmonton Oilers

Unlike many of the players here, Nurse is coming off a bridge deal. He signed a two-year extension last September, paying him $3.2 million against the cap through next summer. Jonathan Willis of The Athletic ran the numbers with some defensemen who did a similar thing, and sees the Nurse extension rivaling that of Matt Dumba's ($6 million AAV over five seasons) or Esa Lindell's (six years, $5.8 million AAV). Sounds about right.

7. Jake DeBrusk, LW, Boston Bruins

DeBrusk shouldn't be labeled a product of David Krejci, although he spent the majority of his time with him in scoring 27 goals last season. His numbers are more than respectable without Krejci, and DeBrusk has gone a long way towards accomplishing what he wanted to accomplish last season, which was quieting any trade talk involving his name.

As for what he's worth ... the Bruins are going to have a ton of cap space next summer, but will need new contracts needed for Charlie Coyle and (one assumes) Torey Krug, and will have some holes to fill in the lineup. One assumes they'd like to get DeBrusk in before addressing those issues. Stanley Cup of Chowder had some good analysis of his potential next deal.

6. Nico Hischier, C, New Jersey Devils

Everything in the Devils' financial orbit is affected by the gravity of the Taylor Hall extension, which makes you wonder about Hischier's next contract. Does GM Ray Shero tackle it first to secure "cost certainty" (TM, Gary Bettman) before trying to ink Hall, or does this deal follow in the wake of whatever happens with the Devils' star winger?

5. Alex DeBrincat, LW/RW, Chicago Blackhawks

In the past two seasons, DeBrincat is 52nd among forwards in points scored (128), and 47th in points per game (0.78) for players with at least 150 games played. His contract is up right as the Blackhawks gain some cap flexibility, although much of that is thanks to $11 million in goaltending contracts expiring. Hopefully that's enough to break the Stan Bowman cycle of great young offensive talents needing new contracts and then getting shipped out of town. Hopefully.

4. Max Domi, C, Montreal Canadiens

It's amazing to think about where Max Domi was a year ago, which was coming off two straight nine-goal seasons and having people wonder if he was washed up at 22 years old. Then the Montreal trade happened, followed by 28 goals, 44 assists and a new lease on his career. He makes $3.15 million against the cap this season. He's arbitration-eligible, but one assumes the Canadiens will want to lock him before it gets to that point, and the same goes for Domi's side.

3. Pierre-Luc Dubois, C, Columbus Blue Jackets

Two words: Artemi Panarin. Dubois played 1,699 minutes with Panarin in the last two seasons at 5-on-5. The Blue Jackets generated 56.00 percent of the shot attempts with the duo on ice. They scored 59.63 percent of the goals, for a goal differential of plus-31. They had an expected goals percentage of 55.57. They were great. Dubois without Panarin? He played 634 minutes, earned 47.92 percent of the shot attempts, had 48.33 percent of the goals and had an expected goals percentage of 51.22.

What Dubois does in the first season of a post-Panarin Blue Jackets will determine plenty about his next deal.

2. Matt Murray, G, Pittsburgh Penguins

Ryan Wilson had an interesting look at what GM Jim Rutherford has given his goaltenders in the past as far as percentage of the cap. Cam Ward's six-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes when Rutherford was running that show was 11.8 percent of the cap. Marc-Andre Fleury's contract with Rutherford -- a four-year deal signed in 2014, before his reversal of fortunes and the Penguins' back-to-back Stanley Cups -- was for 8.33 percent of the cap. Sticking with the lower end of that scale, it could mean an AAV of over $7 million for Murray, which is in the neighborhood of what Fleury's making with the Vegas Golden Knights these days on a three-year deal. Arbitration will be an option.

1. Mathew Barzal, C, New York Islanders

Despite a statistical dip last season -- which probably had more to do with Barry Trotz's stylistic changes than any wilting in the post-John Tavares spotlight -- Barzal is the Islanders' franchise player, and they'll seek to compensate him as such. The question, then, is what kind of term commitment Barzal is going to seek: an eight-year franchise deal, or something in the Auston Matthews range?

One benefit for the Islanders: The Belmont arena is scheduled to open in the 2021-22 season, offering Barzal the kind of clarity on the franchise's future that Tavares never had. One drawback for the Islanders: whatever Marner gets.

This has been a partial look at the RFA Class of 2020. We'd be remiss if we didn't mention Sebastian Aho was also a free agent next summer. No, the other one this time.

Jersey Fouls

From earlier this summer, from Florida Georgia Line:

@StLouisBlues y'all need some hype men? ? pic.twitter.com/lqW49nj1vJ

— Florida Georgia Line (@FLAGALine) August 9, 2019

Let's assume that when the band played Hollywood Casino Amphitheater, the Blues were kind enough to gift them personalized jerseys, which as you know would not be a Foul. But ripping off the sleeves like the sweater just insulted Chewbacca ... no. No, no, no, no. I don't care if there are some companies that might traffic in blasphemy and create a tank top jersey. What you have here is the hockey equivalent of someone taking the Shroud of Turin and refashioning it into a Speedo.

Ring 'Gloria'

Speaking of the Blues:

THIS delivered!Such an honor & tribute to LAURA & AMAZING @StLouisBlues & "Gloria" story that has forever united a Stanley Cup Championship team & its city.❤️ "GLORIA! GLORIA!" FOR YOU, LB!❤️????Thanks to the one who gifted this-you know who you are.?~ Kathy, Other Half Ent. pic.twitter.com/n5csTUinjG

— Laura Branigan (@laurabranigan) September 4, 2019

The tale of the Blues official victory song "Gloria" continues, as a Stanley Cup ring was created in the late Laura Branigan's honor. The "82" is in reference to the year the song hit the charts. Such a very, very cool gesture.

Justin Williams takes a break

Instead of re-signing with the Carolina Hurricanes, captain and postgame celebration coordinator Justin Williams announced he was "stepping away" from the NHL for a bit after feeling "unsure of my aspirations with regards to hockey" during the summer.

Williams is either going to return to the Hurricanes at some point or hang up his skates. If he chooses to return, it'll likely be in the middle of an 82-game grind he couldn't get up for, and with some clarity as to what the Hurricanes are going to look like next season. If you're 37 years old, and you've played 1,244 regular-season and 155 postseason games, this makes too much sense -- get back when it matters, and with fresh wheels.

That's what Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer did back in 2007, after the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup. "It's a big commitment, and right now I just don't feel that I have the energy and am willing to make that commitment to start camp," he said in announcing he wouldn't be with the team to start the season.

Niedermayer, 34 at the time, found that commitment by December. "You always want to try to get back to do the same thing, and I guess maybe early on, I just didn't have that in me, to dig down and do it again. As time progressed, I found it again," he said, returning to the team on Dec. 16.

Teemu Selanne took a bit longer, staying out of the lineup until February as a 37-year-old free agent (who would go on to play until he was 43). The Ducks made the playoffs, and lost to Dallas in the first round.

What Williams might end up doing here is far from unprecedented. It's kind of amazing this doesn't happen more frequently with veteran players. Not that it's exactly the best thing for the NHL to have prominent names sitting out for a few months, comfortable in knowing that 50 percent of the teams in their conference make the playoffs. But if you're a Hurricanes fan who watched Williams score one goal in four games against Boston in the conference final, you might be OK with him storing up some energy for later.

Listen To ESPN On Ice

The full season archive of our podcast can be found on iTunes. Emily Kaplan and I will return in a few weeks, and already have some stellar NHL guests lined up.

Congrats to Brian Boucher

Brian Boucher, a once and future ESPN On Ice guest, has apparently been promoted to a lead analyst role with NBC, according to Rick Carpiniello. Boucher has the good as an analyst, bringing a goalie's perspective to the proceedings and an ability to break down plays in a succinct manner. He's a part of the broadcast without ever feeling the need to overshadow the broadcast. His commentary and chemistry make him feel like a seamless part of the team rather than an uninvited party guest. This is a positive, overdue move.

Meanwhile, former Globe & Mail media critic Bruce Dowbiggin went scorched earth on the recent layoffs by Sportsnet in Canada, and why their big NHL rights deal has, in his eyes, backfired. It's worth a read.

Puck headlines

Solid recap of a wild summer in women's hockey.

Previewing the goalie masks for the East and the West.

As Niklas Kronwall retires, here are 20 minutes of Kronwall'ing.

Travis Yost says it's not about the escrow: "It's a vicious cycle: the league over-forecasts revenue projections and then the players and league try to manage to that guidance, eventually dealing with the repercussions of the over-forecast by withholding salary. That's why the fight against escrow is a red herring -- it's merely the symptom of a larger issue."

I still can't believe Tim Thomas spoke about hockey this week.

Can Leon Draisaitl topple Alex Ovechkin for the Richard Trophy?

The top-selling jerseys for 2018-19. Jordan Binnington clocking in at No. 7 was a surprise.

Two Canadians have a shootout to determine the sale price of a house, which apparently isn't how they usually determine the sale price of a house in Canada, which was news to me.

Hockey tl;dr (too long; didn't read)

Craig Custance gets inside a special idea-sharing session involving elite men's and women's players like Auston Matthews and Hilary Knight. ($)

In case you missed this from your friends at ESPN

Evander Kane, a star of the latest ESPN The Magazine Body Issue, offered some really fascinating takes on the NHL and race.

Sergino Dest will start.

That was the biggest news coming out of Thursday afternoon's news conference with United States men's coach Gregg Berhalter in advance of the team's Friday night match against Mexico at MetLife Stadium.

"He's doing great in camp," the manager said of the 18-year-old Ajax defender. "He's going to start the game tomorrow. It's a great opportunity for us ... to give him an opportunity with the first team. That's what's nice about this story."

Dest, who was born and raised in the Netherlands but whose father is a U.S. citizen, has enjoyed a strong start to the season in the Eredivisie with the Ajax senior team after coming up through their youth ranks.

- O'Hanlon: Could Dest be U.S. Soccer's 'Next Big Thing'?

He also featured for the U.S. U20s during their run to the quarterfinals of the Under-20 World Cup earlier this summer.

"It's not about, to me, the dual nationalism of him. It's about that he's come from our programming and he's performed well. He's really achieved something in this short month at Ajax, and it's nice to be able to reward that."

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Berhalter said his team was looking forward to the challenge of taking on their regional rival, while admitting that Mexico represented a formidable opponent.

"We're both in a position where we're battling for supremacy in CONCACAF," he said. "We're both trying to be the top team. I think right now, Mexico is slightly ahead of us, having beaten us in the last game and having performed well over the last few years.

"But when we play them you see the intensity takes a different level. Everything is up a level. The intensity of the game is up. The tackles are a little bit harder. And these are special games. It's always an occasion to be playing against Mexico."

In their last match, the Americans lost 1-0 to Mexico in the final of the Gold Cup. Friday night's affair represents a chance to alter the game plan and get a result.

"That's the beauty of playing them in the next game," Berhalter said. "You get to make adjustments. You get to look at what you want to work on, how you want to work."

One of the more controversial decisions from that Gold Cup roster was the absence of teenage forward Josh Sargent. On Thursday, Berhalter explained why the Werder Bremen attacker was left off the roster and how he recovered to make this one.

"At the time, seeing Josh and having him in camp, we thought the best decision was to leave him off the roster," he said. "And, I think the rest is how the player responds. It's not us making these decisions that can change the course of history. It's entirely up to the player and how he responds.

"I would say Josh responded in the fashion that we'd expect or that we'd want. He was very motivated. He used the time to first rest, and then attack the season."

The U.S. head coach also talked about how he plans to deploy star Christian Pulisic.

"We want to put him in position to be able to help our team and affect the game," he said. "He's got a great skill set. He's a game-changer. We want to put him in position to get the ball and hurt the opponent."

At the end of a very long, very hot summer in which it felt like every day was Groundhog Day, another performance played out in public and in the press as if they were all stuck in Punxsutawney.

FC Barcelona didn't buy Neymar, but he still cost them.

Again.

Two years after Neymar walked out, mere days following vice-president Jordi Mestre saying he was staying "200 percent," president Josep Maria Bartomeu insisting he was "relaxed" about it and Gerard Piqué announcing "se queda" -- words so famous and so wrong they became a meme that needs no translation -- he decided that he wanted to walk back in again. And so, Barcelona, who'd been made to look silly once before, and who are due in court against him in 22 days' time, decided to help him do just that. Or did they?

The headlines provided a timeline to a story that never ended even when, at last, it did, to the satisfaction of pretty much no one. Take the Catalan daily Sport: "FINAL MOVE FOR NEYMAR," its front cover shouted. We could go back months and months but we've all got things to do, so let's cut to the chase, expressed like a cartoon strip across their covers.

- The definitive story of the Neymar saga
- Ogden: CL draw reaction for biggest teams
- Lowe: 'New' Real Madrid looks just like the old

The above line was printed on July 31 and it was followed by an "ULTIMATUM FOR NEYMAR" -- on Aug. 12, two weeks later. So it can't have been that final a move and it can't have been that much of an ultimatum because it didn't end there. But the next day Neymar was pressing to go now! Well, maybe not now exactly but he was closer, they said the day after that.

Closer, but not close enough. A week later, he was in the same place he'd always been. He was, though, MORE OPTIMISTIC. That was Aug. 21 and two days later, there was a "FINAL MOVE FOR NEYMAR" (stop us if you've heard that one before) that wasn't exactly final either.

Neymar was "ON THE VERGE" of signing on Aug. 28. And so, Aug. 29 was "NEYMAR DAY" unlike all those other days, eh. Only, it wasn't of course. The next day was "FRENETIC." The day after they were "ON THE LIMIT." And then, well... then it was over.

Or not.

On the morning of deadline day, Sport (and everyone else) announced that while it was over, it wasn't completely over: Neymar could come in 2020 instead, which means we get to do it all over again.

At least Barcelona's players could forget it for a moment. They'd all been sick of it. Ernesto Valverde had admitted a few days before that he was desperate for Sept. 2 to come and leave it all behind. Asked how tired he was of it all on a scale of 0 to 10, he replied: "nine and a half." The only real surprise was that half that wasn't sick of it all.

All that drama and in the end, they hadn't even got him. The dream of an absurdly good forward line -- we'll work out where to actually put them all later -- was gone.

And that probably isn't even the worst part.

The next day, Sport ran a cover of Neymar, head down, looking sad. "Sunk," it said. He wasn't the only one affected and it's worth asking what damage this might have done, and what damage it may still do.

In the midst of it all, with Neymar dominating everything -- plans, ideas, the mental space they inhabited and, let's not be naïve here, team selection too -- Barcelona had dropped five points. That can't be attributed solely to Neymar, but it can't have helped either, and those points aren't coming back. Sure, Valverde was joking. Sort of. But many a true word said in jest and all that.

Neymar's departure had thrown his plans upon arrival. Valverde adapted the Barca squad, rebuilt it and won -- it is worth reminding people how unexpected that was at the time -- but two years on, Neymar appeared again, plans in the air once more. He could have done with Neymar then; he could have done without Neymar now.

Meanwhile, Barcelona hadn't come out of this looking good just as they didn't two years ago, when they emerged as weak, powerless and unable to exercise control. In 2019, they played this out publicly: those headlines are not about sport, easy though it is to giggle at them; they are about the clubs, about Neymar, about the game. The media knew which flights Barcelona were on, which hotels they were in and what time their meetings were. At least in part, because that's the way Barcelona wanted it.

There was something exaggerated about it all: a show, a charade even, like they wanted it to look like they were trying: especially, it has been suggested, to Neymar and to Lionel Messi, who really wanted his friend back. His friend and, let's not forget, possibly the best player he has played with. Even if maybe they actually weren't trying.

PSG had always suspected Barcelona didn't have the means to make this happen. There was no place to put Neymar and no money to pay for him, but Barca had to be seen to try. And the truth is that in the end, they might have quite enjoyed leaving him stuck. "Sunk?" That might have made some at Barcelona smile. So, this guy who left us in the lurch, made us look stupid, took us to court and then begged to return is unhappy? Good. So PSG are lumbered with him, having publicly said they wanted to sell, with the fans against him and everyone hating him after he effectively let it be known that he screwed up two years ago and wishes he had never left, making him the bad guy, not us? Even better.

The idea has been floated on these pages before: what if this was a brilliantly clever, Machiavellian act of cold, cold revenge on Barcelona's part? It's a neat idea, but it suggests a level of cunning that, honestly, it doesn't seem realistic to concede.

If there was something in it to start with, if the pursuit was a little half-hearted -- we know it wasn't originally planned as you don't sign Antoine Griezmann if you're actually going for Neymar -- the risk of Madrid getting him, a risk probably engineered by his camp, changed the game a little. And even if the outcome may actually be quite good and even what they wanted most deep down -- he stays in Paris, unhappier than ever, doesn't join Madrid and is prepared to try again in the future when Barcelona ready for it -- the cost is high.

If it was a plan, it was not without its losses.

Neymar coming might have been a problem; Neymar not coming, having pursued him, is a problem too. Even if it was a plan, Barcelona haven't come out of this looking good. "We're close," one director said, but they weren't. They made offers they couldn't make, with money they didn't have, and they didn't get their man. A man, it is worth noting, if only because it seems to get overlooked so readily, even gleefully, who is still a hell of a footballer. Not having him costs. More than just the absence. They have paid no money, but Barcelona might yet pay a heavy price.

Barcelona have also irritated those that wanted Neymar to come and those that didn't. Rebuilding some of those bridges may not be easy.

"Neymar did everything he could to return," said Luis Suárez. Perhaps it's a stretch but it's not difficult to read implicit in those words: the club, on the other hand, didn't. Suárez and Messi wanted him, as did other dressing room heavyweights; they have been let down. That Barcelona pursued him underlines this unhappiness, which in itself can't be an easy idea for Griezmann to digest. Think about it: you arrive as a star and they're agitating for someone else to arrive who plays where you do?

It's an even more difficult idea for Ousmane Dembele, the player Bartomeu said was better than Neymar and then tried to get to leave to bring Neymar back. He now knows he's expendable, that the president's word is worthless, that no-one stood up for him, no-one defended him and no-one fought for him to continue. Just as Philippe Coutinho was expendable, even without Neymar eventually arriving. That's almost €300 million of footballers they tried to shift out on the cheap. The very same ones they brought to replace Neymar.

So how do you mend that? Barcelona offered PSG players without even asking those players first. Then they set about trying to push them to the door.

A club is not just players, it is people.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- It's about three hours to go until the kickoff of the Portland Timbers' biggest game of the year, a Cascadia Cup clash against their bitter rivals, the Seattle Sounders. The match is arguably the pinnacle of Major League Soccer's Rivalry Week on a balmy Friday night.

On the surface, all appears normal. But the Timbers Army (TA), in conjunction with their Sounders counterparts, the Emerald City Supporters and Gorilla FC, have planned a protest over MLS's in-stadium ban on political signage. The league has banned the waving of any flag it deems political, including the Iron Front, a logo consisting of three arrows pointing down and to the left. The Iron Front was an anti-Nazi paramilitary group from the 1930s but is now connected with the growing "Antifa" (anti-fascism) movement in the U.S., which is comprised of amorphous, autonomous groups that stand in opposition to fascism and far-right ideology.

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At the Fanladen, the de facto clubhouse of the Timbers Army, Sheba Rawson is attending to her duties as president of the 107ist, the organizational arm of the TA and the Rose City Riveters, the supporters of the NWSL's Portland Thorns. At the moment, this consists mainly of making sure the denizens of the Timbers Army section get their tickets with minimum fuss.

Rawson's choice of jewelry, a pair of yellow earrings in the shape of the Iron Front symbol, confirms where she stands on the issue: the image is one of inclusion.

"That's the flag we would like to fly," says Rawson. "It's an odd thing for the league to send a message that that flag is offensive. If I can't make that appeal to [the front office] we have to do the one thing we can do, which is to take away the value that we add to the business."

The MLS Fan Code of Conduct prohibits fans from "using (including on any sign or other visible representation) political, threatening, abusive, insulting, offensive language and/or gestures, which includes racist, homophobic, xenophobic, sexist or otherwise inappropriate language or behavior." In MLS's eyes, "antifa" is a political organization, meaning the flying of any flag connected to it is forbidden.

Hours earlier, the three groups put out a statement that they not only want the ban on the Iron Front flag lifted, they want the word "political" removed from the league's Fan Code of Conduct, as well as to work with human rights experts on a new version that ensures fan safety. Their stance is backed by the Independent Supporters Council, an umbrella organization advocating for supporter groups in MLS.

So the groups have a unique kind of protest planned. There will be no colorful "tifo" banners hoisted before the match. For the first 33 minutes -- an ode to 1933, the year the Iron Front was banned by the Nazis -- the supporter groups from both teams will be silent. No chants, no singing, no drumming.

The irony of the standoff is that in a bid to differentiate itself from other North American sports leagues, MLS has long cultivated a fan culture that is urban, edgier and more progressive, as evidenced by the advertisements hyping up the league. Portland and Seattle are prime examples of this passion, but the tension surrounding both sets of supporters invokes the sense that MLS is trying to curtail precisely the kind of supporter culture -- including the political statements that some ascribe to -- that it has coveted and cultivated since year one.

No fan group is monolithic, of course, and so it proves with the Timbers fans in attendance. At the main entrance to the Timbers Army section, Daniel Ribeiro is among the fans waiting for the gates to open. He's wearing a vest with a message pinned to the back that reads "This Mustache Kills Fascists," a parody of the saying "This Machine Kills Fascists" popularized by folk singer Woody Guthrie in the 1940s, and altered by the Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello.

Ribeiro is fully in support of the Timbers Army's stance. The latest instance of demonstrations in Portland involving the alt-right group the Proud Boys and antifa are on his mind.

"Its a symbol of inclusion," said Ribeiro about the Iron Front flag. "It's a symbol that's against a lot of the hate and angry rhetoric and fascist intents that we've been seeing from a lot of ultra-right-wing groups that have been coming to our town doing these things. It's also a symbol that we've used at the stadium here for years. It's not a symbol of hate."

That support is universal at this entrance to the stadium, but it's less fervent at other gates.

"I'm not a fan of antifa," said Portland resident Jim Keyes, as he prepared to enter Providence Park. "They're a counter group, the Proud Boys are just as bad. The whole thing is just kind of a mess for Portland. If you want to protest, protest. But you don't have to be violent, you don't have to be destructive, you don't have to be a jerk about it."

While one fan who declined to be identified said he thinks the protest is "stupid, I'm here to watch a soccer game," half of the 20 people approached by ESPN weren't even aware that a protest was about to take place, or that it was about the Iron Front flag.

Providence Park is known for its noise and energy, giving it one of the best fan atmospheres in North America. But for the first half-hour, the protest is having its intended effect as the crowd is oddly quiet. An occasional "Let's Go Timbers!" chant rings out. Even when Seattle's Cristian Roldan puts the Sounders ahead in the 22nd minute, the noise level isn't near what one would expect, and there are signs of subtle protest, too. Three fans mimic the Iron Front symbol by holding giant, pink cardboard cutouts of arrows, pointing them down and to the left. A banner in the north end has "Fe," the chemical symbol for iron, and then the word "Front" underneath it.

As the game clock strikes 33:00, flags of all kinds sprout up from the crowd and the volume turns up to 11. The Timbers Army belts out "Bella Ciao," an Italian anti-fascist anthem, and doesn't stop until halftime. The number of Iron Front flags visible easily reaches double figures. Their Seattle counterparts respond in kind and the atmosphere reaches a level you'd expect from this intense rivalry. The fact that the game ends with Seattle winning 2-1 is almost secondary.

Afterwards, Portland defender Zarek Valentin addressed the media wearing a T-shirt with the Iron Front logo, while Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei voiced his support for the stance the fans had taken. Two days later when the Thorns took on the Chicago Red Stars, the Rose City Riveters displayed the Iron Front flag. Christine Sinclair showed up at the stadium in an Iron Front t-shirt.

Ask members of the Timbers Army when the Iron Front flag first started being displayed at Portland matches, and no one can give an exact answer. However, it's been a presence for years, usually draped next to the "Timbers Army" banner near the capo stand in Providence Park's north end.

The Timbers Army isn't alone. As recently as 2017, support for anti-fascism has been spotted at stadiums in New York, Montreal and Dallas. Fans of NYCFC have expressed concerns to team management about the presence of far-right elements at their home matches.

The flag's presence didn't become problematic until this season, when MLS's effort to revamp its Fan Code of Conduct was completed. In recent years, the league noticed that signs that espoused what it called "political views" were visible in its stadium and decided to ban them. MLS instructed its teams before the season that displaying the Iron Front image would be prohibited.

"The vast majority of MLS fans are there to enjoy the game," said MLS president and deputy commissioner Mark Abbott via phone. "As part of the Fan Code of Conduct, the league and the clubs believe that the promotion of outside political organizations in our stadiums is not appropriate."

The Fan Code of Conduct says a display of political signage is a "threat to the safety of the event," but a statement put out by the Timbers front office on Aug. 19 revealed another motivation. They don't want it seen on television.

"For obvious reasons banners and signs are widely visible to the broader stadium and television audience and thusly fall under a different set of guidelines," the statement read.

Adding the ban on political signage to the Fan Code of Conduct seems to be a solution in search of a problem, especially when signs that explicitly state positions like "anti-fascist" or "anti-racism" are still allowed. Fans are also allowed to wear the Iron Front symbol on T-shirts.

During an Aug. 4 match against D.C. United, Philadelphia Union midfielder Alejandro Bedoya yelled into an on-field mic, "Congress, do something now. End gun violence. Let's go!" Bedoya's plea not only went unpunished by the league, he was named MLS Player of the Week.

The flag's presence would have likely gone unnoticed by the majority of fans had MLS not made the change to the Fan Code of Conduct. Now the ban has become amplified, with some fans at other MLS stadiums showing solidarity through the hashtag #AUnitedFront.

"MLS is stepping into exactly the same trap that the NFL did with Colin Kaepernick," said Laurent Dubois, a history professor at Duke University and author of the blog Soccer Politics. "After he kneeled for the anthem, if the NFL said, 'We respect people's right to free speech. That's great, and he's an individual who has opinions,' the whole thing would basically have gone away.

"In [Portland's] case, it's only going to raise the stakes for this, and I think MLS is only going to have more confrontations because I think it's very unlikely that fan groups will easily relent on this point."

More than one MLS executive has pointed out that other North American sports leagues are not as tolerant of signage in their stadiums, though this is usually spelled out at the team or stadium level and not as a league-wide policy. But MLS has reduced what is permissible, rather than maintaining or expanding it. That stance has led to allegations that MLS (intentionally or not) is sending a signal to alt-right elements that they are welcome. The presence of Proud Boys members at a Seattle Sounders pregame March to the Match on Aug. 4 is often cited as proof, though MLS argues that it has no control over what happens outside its stadiums.

"That's just patently untrue," said Abbott about the allegations. "If you take a look at our Soccer For All campaign, our commitment to issues of diversity and inclusion are strong. We have a strong record of opposing racism, homophobia and xenophobia, and the thought that the league, in any way, shape or form is supportive of hate speech or hate groups is just not true. We condemn all hate speech."

There are certainly instances of MLS backing up its words with action. It has suspended players for using homophobic slurs on the field. Real Salt Lake recently fired manager Mike Petke for a post-game tirade at officials that included a series of homophobic slurs. In 2014, the Timbers were the first professional sports team to support Oregon's gay marriage equality law.

But whether MLS likes it or not, the fact remains that its stance has struck a nerve in the Pacific Northwest, especially given the demonstrations that have taken place between alt-right groups and antifa, which in some cases have turned violent. The feeling that fans who are part of marginalized groups are now feeling less safe isn't going to go away.

"These types of policies ignore the fact that there are whole groups of people that enter those stadiums that are not allowed to be apolitical," said Brenda Elsey, an associate professor of history at Hofstra University, and a contributor to the podcast "Burn It All Down."

She added, "Alexi Lalas is fine," in reference to the Fox Sports analyst who tweeted out his support of the league's policy. "I'm sorry if he's not enjoying seeing those signs. But there's a whole lot of people that don't get to leave that outside. So I think this policy is insensitive to that fact."

In addition to her academic duties, Elsey is the lead development officer in the Americas for the FARE Network, an organization that seeks to combat inequality and bigotry in the sport of soccer. She acknowledges that athletes, from Kaepernick to the Cal women's basketball team wearing "Black Lives Matter" shirts in 2014, have long been advocates for social change, and these protests are largely a result of grassroots movements.

But protests like the one in Portland are a relatively new phenomenon at sporting events in the U.S. Last year, a grassroots movement helped keep the Columbus Crew in Ohio's capital. More recently, "Equal pay!" chants could be heard at the Women's World Cup final. In the 1990s, fans of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars (now the New York Red Bulls) fended off an attempt by far-right elements to maintain a presence in the stands.

What made Portland's protest different was that it saw rival sets of fans working together in a highly coordinated way to drive home their message of anti-fascism and anti-racism.

"Historically, you see more anti-Nazi, anti-fascist protests where there are more neo-Nazis and neo-fascists, like in Europe," said Elsey. "I think what is going on here is pretty new for the U.S. because for the most part that kind of far-right wing activity hasn't been part of U.S. soccer culture."

There's also the fact that whatever remains of the boundary involving sport, politics and social issues, it is eroding further due to the intersection of government policies, their impact on minority communities and the decidedly multi-cultural bent of MLS supporter culture.

"I think a lot of these things are connecting, and it feels like fascism," said Elsey. "There's a reason that people are feeling particularly sensitive about keeping MLS and keeping U.S. Soccer away from that. It's about making people feel safe."

Talking to people in the Timbers organization, there is a sense that they are caught in the crossfire. While the Timbers have publicly supported the policy, there is a feeling that the rollout by MLS was poorly communicated and that there wasn't enough direct engagement with fans. It was the Timbers front office that pushed the league to have the "anti-fascist" and "anti-racism" signs allowed. One portion of the Timbers' aforementioned statement hints at how the club is attempting to straddle the issue.

"We didn't make the rule banning the Iron Front on signs but we understand it and support it," the statement read.

Some in the Timbers organization feel it is taking the hit while the league sits in the background, angst that is exacerbated by the fact that the Timbers front office and the Timbers Army are largely in alignment in terms of their values.

This frustration seemed to get the better of Timbers owner Merritt Paulson after Portland's game that night. Sources confirmed that in one exchange with a fan, he stated he was none too happy with the Timbers Army silent protest, and felt it had undercut the team's home-field advantage. By the next morning, a clearer perspective had taken root.

"Our fans are and will always be the heart of our club," Paulson told ESPN. "We respect their decision to make their voice heard or not heard in this case. I also proudly stand by the ideals of the Timbers. We have a long history that speaks louder than words."

The fans are frustrated as well, though obviously for different reasons. MLS told ESPN that a cross section of owners and executives at both league and team level have decided what crosses the line and what doesn't, but the vague nature of the word "political" has led to confusion and uneven enforcement at matches. What exactly constitutes political? Is the rainbow flag used by the LGBTQ community political? (In an interview with ESPN last month, MLS commissioner Don Garber said it isn't, though he declined to discuss other examples of what is deemed "political.") Then there are the military appreciation nights with political overtones.

At an Aug. 17 game at Dignity Health Sports Park between the LA Galaxy and the Sounders, ECS co-president Shawn Wheeler had an "Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist, Always Seattle" banner -- seemingly within the rules -- confiscated because according to MLS the banner wasn't cleared with stadium security beforehand. (The slogan has been championed by the ECS and was recently co-opted by the Sounders organization, even featuring as the text on the team pennant for the recent trip to Portland.)

Wheeler confirmed to ESPN that the banner was snuck in after being told he couldn't bring it inside. He contends that after unveiling the banner in the first half he was approached by someone wearing an MLS credential and was told, "We want both sides to be able to come and watch games without politics." When the banner was shown again in the second half, he was ejected.

Abbott said he hadn't been able to corroborate that the exchange between Wheeler and the MLS employee took place, but said that, "if the implication is that we want to allow people who are espousing hate speech or white supremacy or anything like that, that's not something we are looking to allow in our stadiums and we wholeheartedly condemn it."

Wheeler isn't altering his stance in any way, despite getting ejected.

"I have no regrets about sneaking the banner in," Wheeler says. "I'm proud to say that I'm anti-racist and anti-fascist. If [MLS] wants to kick us out for saying that, then we're going to get kicked out of a lot of places."

ECS co-president Tom Biro added about the ban on the Iron Front flag, "[MLS] is slicing this really thin. It's honestly too nebulous, and what we saw on [Aug. 23] was inconsistency from staff. We had other [non-Iron Front banners] go up, and staff thought they were supposed to come down. That's where there's too much gray area, and it's not getting any better."

As protests go, the three supporters groups achieved what they wanted at Providence Park that night. Biro said the protest "went 100 percent the way we would have liked it to go in the planning. It was extremely effective." He noted that one ECS member was ejected while another, when given the option of giving up their Iron Front flags or leaving, chose to leave. No Timbers fans were ejected or sanctioned for flying the flag, though the Timbers Army was given a general warning by the club.

So what's next? One encouraging sign was that the TA had talks with the Timbers and Thorns front office to discuss the ban on displaying the Iron Front flag. That counted as good news. Talking is preferable to not talking. Abbott added that a meeting is planned with supporter groups from around the league to discuss the Fan Code of Conduct.

But the chances of a compromise have since taken a hit. Last Saturday, at the Timbers' home match against Real Salt Lake, the Iron Front banners were displayed once again when the clock struck 33:00. In response, MLS and the Timbers issued three-match bans to "a handful" of fans for waving the flag.

When asked if MLS would budge from its position, Abbott responded with a simple, "No," before repeating the league's stance that political signage isn't allowed in its stadiums. The supporter groups aren't backing down either. Rawson said that if the current level of escalation isn't enough, they are prepared to take things further, though what that exactly entails she wouldn't say.

"We can appeal on moral grounds or business grounds," she said. "We have options for escalation in both of those arenas if we need to. Here's the thing. None of us want to. We think it's a very simple fix. It wouldn't be a hard thing to walk it back and say, 'You know what? We didn't think this through. Oh my gosh. We didn't know this was so important.' And you could buy so much good will with some of the most ardent supporters."

Rawson admitted her biggest fear is that it will take so long for MLS and the Timbers to understand what's at stake that "something beautiful will be destroyed."

Perhaps that sounds melodramatic, but Rawson isn't thinking of the Timbers Army, the Timbers or MLS specifically, but of the supporter culture that has taken 24 seasons to cultivate, one that includes taking stands on human rights issues.

"If the league continues to try to clamp down on supporters in order to make it safe for TV, they may be killing one of the coolest things about the league, which is the passionate support that is just a little bit freewheeling, and just a little bit over the edge and 'I'm not quite sure what they're going to do next and that's kind of scary and kind of cool,'" she said. "On another level, I'm afraid they're going to drive away some people who don't need to be driven away from one more thing."

For this protest, there's no end in sight.