Arsecast Extra Episode 646 - 30.06.2025

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1:34James McNicholas: Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra. As always, we're James from Gunner Blog. James, good morning to you. Morning, Andrew. How are you doing? I'm good. I'm good. I just want to get something out in the open. Okay. Because, listen, we've talked a lot about transfers this summer, and I said, and have been of the opinion, I'm not as, let's say I'm not as hot on Rodrigo as some people. Sure. But I take it back. I am now Team Rodrigo.

2:04Andrew Allen: What's changed, Andrew?

2:05James McNicholas: Olivia Rodrigo. Brilliant. There you go. I watched Glastonbury this weekend.

2:13Andrew Allen: Does she want to come to Arsenal?

2:14James McNicholas: I think so. I think so.

2:16Andrew Allen: It cost a pretty penny. She sure would. She performs at that level, though, consistently.

2:21James McNicholas: Wow. Wow. We're winning it all. We're winning it all.

2:25Andrew Allen: I actually had the other stage on at that time of night. I had Prodigy on the other side.

2:32James McNicholas: Oh, yeah. My goodness.

2:35Andrew Allen: Weather. It's one thing to be watching that in a field in the dark, but it's quite surreal and strange to be watching it sort of sober from your sofa.

2:46James McNicholas: Sure. Sure. I understand. But, you know, it's hard not to be, what's the word? Moved is not quite the right word. But, you know, I was struck over the weekend of watching Glastonbury, just how much people just want to listen to music and have a good time. Yeah. And that is probably one of, if not the best thing in the entire world. And I include football in that. Just having a good time and listening to music. You know, the sheer uncomplicated joy of that is, it did strike me this weekend because, you know, it's not something everybody gets to do, unfortunately.

3:24Andrew Allen: No, it was great. I was very, obviously I was there last year for the first time. I was a bit jealous to not be there this year, but I made the most of my comfy vantage point at home.

3:38James McNicholas: I like seeing the Future Islands guy again. Oh, yeah. He's so good, isn't he? Like, he's got this kind of weird, evil Marlon Brando vibe to him. And then he's singing the songs. And then every so often he does this, like, deep, scary voice. And it's like, wah! I love it, but I'm slightly frightened at the same time.

4:01Andrew Allen: Yeah, slight sort of supervillain vibe. Yeah, listen, it was great. Arsenal fans, Ezra Collective, their set was great.

4:12James McNicholas: Boy, they were so good, weren't they? That was sort of where I came to that conclusion about everybody just sort of existing together and dancing around and having a good time. They were absolutely brilliant, I have to say. And I know that Femi is a big Arsenal fan as well. So, yeah, that was just amazing. Amazing.

4:32Andrew Allen: So, yeah, they were brilliant. That's something worth watching. prodigy were great um yeah i was just i ended up i had my in-laws around for a barbecue and ended up watching the majority of rod stewart um it's a very different flavor sorry to hear that yeah but you know you do what you must i mean i think that's the cool thing about glastonbury that you get a little bit of everything yeah yeah so yeah i but also i would say too hot for me this year oh yeah too hot i i think i would have melted in one of those fields you wouldn't want to have been in a sort of hastily assembled nylon tent no not ideally no no i i go back i'm going i'm i want the

5:21James McNicholas: full influencer experience you want like a a five-star tp consider this me reaching out

5:28Andrew Allen: do you know what i mean to glastonbury people yeah yeah glastonbury people associated brands Vodafone whoever you are I'm ready for the full influence

5:40James McNicholas: I'm sure somebody listening will make that happen for you I'm sort of happy to watch it from a distance you know what I mean I love the vibe I love the energy I love the music but I don't want to be in a field with all those people fair without access to a clean toilet I think is basically my biggest

6:00Andrew Allen: fear it is a hell of a sacrifice it is a hell of a sacrifice

6:03James McNicholas: Yeah, I had a friend, there was a festival here, I think it's still going, called Electric Picnic. Happens down in County Leash. And I went one year and I had a friend whose philosophy was Imodium in, Sennacott out. Right. So Imodium Friday, Sennacott Monday. And that's how he does it.

6:28Andrew Allen: That's one way to deal with the problem.

6:31James McNicholas: Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it is. not one I would necessarily advise I'm sure there's probably some

6:38Andrew Allen: there's got to be some sort of bounce back on that

6:40James McNicholas: yeah I don't think it's good for your insides

6:42Andrew Allen: think of all the drugs you can take at Glastonbury that might be one of the ones that worries me the most

6:49James McNicholas: well yeah he was definitely those weren't the only pills he was taking that weekend I can tell you for sure anyway good fun good vibes

6:58Andrew Allen: yeah great I mean you know lovely stuff and football, Andrew? Is it on your radar? Did you watch the England under-21s European triumph featuring our very own Ethan Ranieri?

7:10James McNicholas: I did not. I did not. I'm like football is away in the distance.

7:16Andrew Allen: The detox continues.

7:17James McNicholas: Yeah, it's great. I'm enjoying it. I really am. Every so often, I'll like sort of as a sort of muscle memory habit kind of thing, I'll go over to the Guardian football site and then just go, actually, I don't give a fuck about what's going on at the Club World Cup or anything else. You know, Arsenal transfer news and Arsenal news I'm interested in, very obviously. But the rest of it, I'm like, I don't care. Who cares how many strikers Chelsea are signing? All of the strikers. I'm just not doing it. But no, I'm glad for Ethan. I think he came on as a late sub, didn't he, in the final? And England got the very late goal to win the game.

7:58James McNicholas: So congrats to him.

8:00Andrew Allen: Yeah, he had to do a fair bit of defending, actually, in his time on the pitch. But apparently 3.7 million people watched that on Channel 4. Right. So I guess some people are missing the football, I would suggest. I guess so. But, yeah, that happened. The Club World Cup continues to happen.

8:19James McNicholas: I don't know anything about anything to do with that tournament. I really don't. I have got no clue who's played, who's won a game, who's lost a game. Haven't seen a second of any highlights or any of it.

8:36Andrew Allen: Out of sight, out of mind.

8:38James McNicholas: Yeah, I'm quite happy with that, though. You know, I don't need it. I just do not need it.

8:42Andrew Allen: Yeah, I haven't watched any games. I know that Chelsea are still in it. I know that Man City are still in it.

8:48James McNicholas: Well, I hope they go all the way to the final and then play each other. and it's a game of incredible brutality. Yeah. Which sees both of their squads decimated before the start of the new season.

9:05Andrew Allen: I think the weather enough is going to be pretty brutal. I think I saw Chelsea's game was delayed by like 90 minutes due to storms. Oh, really? So yeah, there's all kinds of difficulties, but I'm sure the financial rewards give their owners some comfort. Yeah, Chelsea have bought another striker, as you mentioned, Gio Pedro.

9:31James McNicholas: What's that?

9:32Andrew Allen: 50 million quid. Thoughts on that as a deal? I mean, he's a good player, isn't he? But he's all right. He's all right. I know we were linked with him, weren't we? Yeah, I think they had a chat about him, but I don't know how I'd feel about 50 million quid. Not sure.

9:50James McNicholas: We had a question about him, actually. Wcampo33 on the Discord says, Morning, guys. When I heard that João Pedro had joined Chelsea, I thought it made complete sense in terms of his character and that club's character. Same for Cunha and Man United. On the other hand, Zubimendi and Norgard seem right up Arteta's and Arsenal's alley. How big a factor is character, the fit of character in recruitment? It seems to me that at the elite level, There's not a huge skill difference between Martinelli, Gordon, Williams, Rodrigo, etc. And the real scouting is psychological. I love your thoughts. I thought that was quite interesting, you know, about that point.

10:31James McNicholas: You know, there are certain players you look at and you think, nah, there's no way. There's no way Arteta would go anywhere near him. Like, for example, I saw over the weekend that Johan Duran is leaving whatever club he's in. Our old friend from the January transfer window.

10:49Andrew Allen: Yeah.

10:50James McNicholas: So Johan is leaving and he was pretty good for Aston Villa.

10:54Andrew Allen: He's enraged at the typo in his first name.

10:58James McNicholas: It's a bit like, well, we'll get to Muscara now in a minute.

11:01Andrew Allen: Oh, yeah.

11:03James McNicholas: But people said, well, why are Arsenal going for Johan Joran? And it was like, I think he's a bit of a character, should we put it that way. and maybe not the kind of character that michael arteta would like slash appreciate so that is an interesting thing to to consider isn't it when you look at the signings we have made there's a bit of like with norgaard maybe norgaard not so much but certainly with zubimendi a bit of like the head boy prefect kind of thing going on there do you know what i mean i think that's i think that's

11:36Andrew Allen: true for norgaard as well to be honest with you he's a bit dirty though you know i remember a couple of nasty tackles oh sure but i think in terms of his relationship with the manager he was incredibly close with thomas frank at brentford and was sort of his lieutenant right eyes and ears in the dressing room kind of yeah yeah kind of thing a bit of a sort of teacher's pet odegaard figure um so yeah i i think the chemistry with the manager obviously is of paramount importance i suppose one thing that is interesting in this context is the links to rodrigo because while i'm always a bit um dubious or or sort of shall we say i always try to engage critical thinking over the way players have discussed spanish media um especially you know when you consider some of the more sort of endemic cultural issues within in Spanish society, you know, especially when it's a black player under discussion, I think you have to look at it extra closely.

12:40But the reports, the reports around his attitude, his training aren't always glowing. Yeah.

12:50Andrew Allen: There was a piece in The Athletic, wasn't there? It's curious, isn't it?

12:53James McNicholas: Yeah, there was a piece in The Athletic that I read and there was a suggestion. It's a sort of read between the lines suggestion about,

13:05James McNicholas: his willingness to turn up for a particular game or something like that. Which, you know, can happen for all kinds of reasons. It might not necessarily be bad character, but there might be something else going on. So you have to respect that aspect of it as well. But I did read that and think, you know, if Carlo Ancelotti, for example, is making slightly pointed remarks about a player, and he's usually pretty, you know, straight down the middle, then I did wonder about him and Arteta a little bit.

13:38Andrew Allen: Yes, it's an interesting one that, I mean, maybe it's unfair. You know what I'm saying? Sure. Or maybe Rodrigo's not happy or not in a good place and therefore not giving his best self. Like all these things might be a factor. I do think Arsenal do their due diligence here. I mean, I know of players this summer that they've called up international teammates of them or people who've worked with them at previous clubs in order to gain a better understanding of what they're like on a day-to-day basis. You know, that's probably not in itself massively surprising. I think you'd expect a club to behave in that way.

14:19Andrew Allen: But yeah, I wonder if in those conversations about João Pedro, was character, were some of the references they got a factor? Certainly our interest never really developed into anywhere particularly serious. And now, like all attackers, he's gone to Chelsea.

14:39James McNicholas: Like all attackers. Sorry, I'm dropping my phone here.

14:42Andrew Allen: Until we unburdened them of some of their unwanted players. Yeah, of course. And the cycle continued.

14:51James McNicholas: Way to depress people on a Monday morning, James.

14:54Andrew Allen: Sorry, sorry. Well, they didn't be depressed. I mean, there's been plenty of activity since we last spoke. We mentioned Norgard. That, you know, went from zero to 60 rather quickly.

15:04James McNicholas: It did, didn't it? Yeah. What do you make of it? I mean, I spoke a little bit to Lewis about this on Friday's pod, but obviously we're here on a Monday and it might well happen this week. Who knows? but it is something that obviously has developed quickly. And I guess, you know, there are other elements involved in this as well. The departure of Thomas Partey, I guess, is what precipitated this move. Yeah, I mean, listen, I think there was a pretty good case

15:37Andrew Allen: to let Partey's contract elapse. You know, when you look at his age, his performances over the last five years, some of the injury problems he's had, and the salary. This would be for a player who probably wouldn't be a first choice next season with Zubman Andy coming in. So, you know, I'm not shedding any tears over that. And I think this is probably a relatively sensible solution. You know, a guy with loads of Premier League experience, regarded as a real dressing room leader, you know, was captain at Brentford. that's something I think Arsenal have lost in Jorginho Jorginho my gosh Jorginho sorry we're talking about depressing people on a Monday morning but I think yeah it's not exciting it's not one to get I can't imagine the armoury is going to be inundated with fans queuing up for their Norgaard shirt.

16:43Apart from our Danish chums. Well, for them, it's great. Yeah.

16:48Andrew Allen: And listen, for him, what a move at this stage in his career to go from Brentford to Arsenal. He gets to stay in London, which I think was a big priority for him. He's got a young family. He will be competing in the Champions League next year. I mean, superb. But I think it's probably a pretty sensible solution to a problem for Arsenal. What do you think? Yeah, I mean, I was going to ask you, I mean, the elephant in the room, I guess, not the elephant in the room, but the big one, the striker,

17:24James McNicholas: that continues to be an ongoing issue, right? Who is it going to be? Is it this guy? Is it that guy? Is it going to be another guy now? We don't know yet. that's still there and that's still the biggest decision that Arsenal have to make this summer. And I'm hopeful obviously that they have already come to a decision, right? That they know who they want and they're going to get that done as, as soon as possible. But the other stuff that we've done this summer feels pretty uncomplicated. Do you think that's like the plan, you know, not to get bogged down in like, okay, if Partey's leaving, we need to get something done quickly.

18:03James McNicholas: We've already got Zubimendi snapped up. We don't need to be spending all summer chasing a backup goalkeeper. We appear to have that deal done as well. So there's a sort of a low fuss philosophy to this summer.

18:18Andrew Allen: There is. I mean, I suppose, slightly boring answer, but I think it's kind of case by case. I mean, Zubimendi obviously had the release clause and Arsenal have sort of worked their way around that. Kepa, that's a release clause. That makes those deals quite expedient to do. I think in Norgard's case, you've got a club like Brentford who I don't know if they had like a gentleman's agreement with him because he only signed a new contract in March. But they're a pretty data-driven, savvy club and I suspect they looked at whether it's 12 million or 15 million, depending on who you believe, as a fee for Norgaard and thought, this is probably our last chance to make money on this player and replace him for a fee.

19:05Andrew Allen: And they probably made quite a cold, unemotional decision about that. So, yeah, it's an interesting one. I mean, to-do lists are being sort of ticked off, but equally, probably the signing or maybe the two signings, if you consider a wide attacker, that Arsenal fans are most anticipating, most excited about, remain outstanding. And, yeah, if I'm totally honest, I don't quite know how to feel about that. Like, if Arsenal had signed a big marquee number nine and done all this other business, you'd be like, well, that seems great. You know, that seems really, really good. But I just think as long as that is outstanding, there's going to be that little niggle there and that bit of uncertainty.

19:58And I think that's sort of fair enough, really.

20:00James McNicholas: Yeah, for sure. For sure. That is the one that everyone is focused on and for very understandable reasons. And, you know, even then, I think, did we talk about it last week being slightly underwhelming as and when it does happen? Because we've heard so much about Sescon, so much about Jokka. When it's done, it'll be just like, oh, fuck. Thank goodness. You know, he made a decision. You put the money down, you've got the player, and now we can sort of think about how it all works and how it comes together. I mean, this morning there's links to Hugo Eketike. Oh, God, I'm not going to do this. Eketike.

20:33James McNicholas: It's difficult when you haven't pronounced that before. You know, he's at Eintracht Frankfurt. He is a player who is, I guess, in the same sort of ballpark as Sesco, isn't he? Sort of young, got up 20-odd goals last season. and probably available to a club like Arsenal. So is that a name that you're expecting to hear a bit more of or do you think we're just going to pivot back to those two?

21:01Andrew Allen: I don't know right now, to be honest with you. It's a name I've heard in passing in the last few months, but certainly not as consistently or strongly as the ones that you've heard the most, Jokeres, Sesko, and I'd say even Oli Watkins as well. And Alexander Ezak, of course. I love that.

21:22James McNicholas: It's just sort of a passing. And that one guy that everybody wants more than that. Well, yeah, it would be remiss to not throw his name.

21:30Andrew Allen: No, I know that. But yeah, I don't expect that one to happen.

21:37Ekiteke, maybe.

21:39Andrew Allen: Maybe. I mean, for me, it would be slightly odd if having sort of been in the hunt for the other two for this long, Aston went another route, but maybe they've hit stumbling blocks with those two deals. Who knows? Yeah, well, I know they have hit stumbling blocks, but, you know, that's every negotiation. It's whether they can... Yeah, overcome them, yeah. ...overcome them. And, yeah, I really don't know. It's hard to imagine, isn't it, how... Every transfer window, I think we talk about the order of transfers having a big impact on kind of fan sentiment about the window.

22:20James McNicholas: Sure.

22:22Andrew Allen: And Arsenal are going about it the boring way round. Do you know what I mean?

22:31James McNicholas: I know what you mean. I know what you mean.

22:33Andrew Allen: And there may be economic or practical reasons for that. You know, maybe a case of, right, well, let's nail these things that we need to get on the to-do list done and sort of see where that leaves us. The only thing I sort of, in the back of my mind, think is of all the signings we've made or might make, I do feel like that number nine one might be the one that Arteta would want in soonest. Yes. Zimendi, sure, but that was done a long time ago. But this is a player who could be a starting XI player, who could be someone we're looking to make an impact in the early weeks of the season. I have to think, you know, he wants that player ready to go when preseason starts.

23:18James McNicholas: Oh, sure. I think that's absolutely right. The counter-argument or devil's advocate position on that might be that Mikel Arteta says, well, I've got Kai Havertz, so I can push it out a bit more. Listen, just to be clear, I don't want that to happen. I would prefer that we got that signing done sooner rather than later. but maybe that just gives him in his own mind a little bit of a safety net. But I do think the pressure, external pressure from fans, in as much as that makes any difference to the decision-making or the process itself, is such that they really do need to get that one done to sort of keep everyone happy, if that's the right way to put it.

24:05James McNicholas: I'm not sure that that's why they make signings. I make signings to improve the team. But I do think that there is already, you know, the fact that we're hitting July tomorrow might ramp up some of that disquiet. You know, it's only June. It's only June.

24:20Andrew Allen: Yeah, the it's only June brigade about to be silenced.

24:24James McNicholas: Yeah, their safety net is gone, you know.

24:29Andrew Allen: Yeah, I mean, I've heard this opinion expressed that, you know, Arsenal declined to sign a striker in January. And that was six months ago now. And in theory, they have had plenty of time to kind of not only make a decision, but do a deal. Now, what I would say is obviously there's been a big kind of spanner in the works there, which is they had a change at sporting director level. um at the end of march uh and you know they probably didn't want to proceed with anything prior to that and maybe maybe andrea bursa's arrival you know naturally begins a kind of a new conversation or a new process but if someone says to me like they've had six months to do it you know why isn't it in the bag i can't really argue with that to be honest with you no i mean

25:33James McNicholas: it's something that has been required for some time and everybody knows it like you know that that whole well arsenal need a number nine conversation that's gone on for the last 12 18 months maybe more on on television and punditry and that kind of stuff you know it's not always been a good faith argument but there's no doubt that this summer in particular um it is the number one priority and I think that's something that Arteta has more or less said himself hasn't he hasn't he in some of his sort of end of season press conferences when talking about how they're going to boost the squad it's been if not said outright pretty much implied that this is the big

26:14Andrew Allen: one yeah and listen hopefully this is the mother of all jinxes and just as we hang up the microphones um david drops the orn bomb and we can all move on with our lives yes uh but until such a time and i also have this again i'm just sort of sharing my feelings andrew you know feel free

26:34James McNicholas: this is safe no one's listening are they no i don't think so okay cool it's just you and me just just um i also have this slight nagging thing of like the deliberation or at least the sort of

26:47Andrew Allen: dual pursuit of at least two significant strikers. Weirdly, it kind of doesn't massively fill me with conviction about their confidence in either. Do you know what I mean? Like, I kind of want them to be sure. And maybe they are sure. Like, maybe behind closed doors and then behind another set of closed doors, in the very smallest meetings, in the very most private conversations, they are sure and this is all for public consumption but it's not quite the impression I get and sure yeah yeah that that's starting to worry me a little bit this thing of like are they are they are they really committed to either of these players and if they're not is that worry I don't know it's a good question it's a good question but you know I think where

27:45James McNicholas: we are is sort of in a vacuum of information right yeah because look yourself david um there are lots of good reporters out there with good sources who get good information and on this one and you can correct me if i'm wrong it feels like arsenal are playing their cards extremely close to their chest yes there's very very little information out there beyond we know Arsenal are interested in these two strikers because they're two good strikers they could both probably come in and score goals for Arsenal and they're both kind of available if that's the right way of putting it they're both ready for moves this summer so beyond that though that there were there really isn't

28:36Andrew Allen: anything else you know no that's fair i mean i think funnily enough you took the words out of my hand i think i've i've written their play in their cars close to their chest exactly that and they're entitled to don't get me wrong i'm just articulating the kind of fan experience which is sort of one of i suppose slight anxiety because we all desperately want it resolved of course

29:07James McNicholas: of course

29:09Andrew Allen: so fingers crossed that resolution comes soon I do think for Mikel Arteta you know he will be looking at the sort of resumption of pre-season there's a training camp in Lamanga then of course they go to Asia I think he will be looking at that as potentially quite a hard deadline for him

29:26James McNicholas: when are the players back for pre-season? It's usually the sort of first week of July isn't it? I'm not sure, I know some players are due back

29:35Andrew Allen: I think on the 7th, so a week today.

29:37James McNicholas: Right, okay.

29:37Andrew Allen: I'm not sure if there are some in before that. The committed ones will be in. The committed ones, or the ones who didn't play international football, depending on how you choose to perceive it. Sure, sure.

29:53James McNicholas: The ones who've had a nice summer holiday already, yeah. Yeah.

29:57Andrew Allen: So in the next fortnight, I would expect a number of the players to be back with the group.

30:02James McNicholas: What about this little question from Blue Sky from Ollie, who's at ollie-l.bsky.social? He says, are we set for a new signing announcement every day this week? And could it make a new Craig David song? Zuby on Tuesday, Kepa on Wednesday, Norgard on Thursday, and Moskera on Friday. I bought this guy on Monday. We were making love bad... Oh, no.

30:31um yeah but but i was an admirer of this guy on monday took him for a drink on tuesday you don't want to know what happened on friday holy shit um what do i mean seriously though i mean that what we got in the can we've got zubamendi We've got Zubimendi, Kepa, Norgard.

30:53Andrew Allen: Norgard to come. I think he's due for kind of medical and all that this week at some point. The stuff.

31:00James McNicholas: You know who's not getting a holiday? The Arsenal content guys.

31:03Andrew Allen: They don't stop those guys.

31:06James McNicholas: Get your camcorders out, lads, and get filming this stuff. But, I mean, listen, it could happen this week. I presume, for example, given the fact it's July and Real Sociedad will now allow us to announce Martin Zubimendi because they can put it on the accounts for the next financial year in Spain. We had questions about that. Like, wow, maybe that's why Arsenal are not doing things because they want it in the next financial year. But the financial year in England, I think, ends at the end of May. So it's not quite the same scenario for Arsenal. But Zubomendi surely, surely is going to happen this week.

31:42Andrew Allen: Yes. I mean, there's no reason it shouldn't be tomorrow. unless Arsenal have another big announcement like today's bombshell over Asahi acquiring the rights to sell beer at the Emirates Stadium.

31:59James McNicholas: The new beer partner, yeah.

32:00Andrew Allen: New beer partner. Yeah, I mean, I've been saying July for a while. It's going to be July tomorrow. It better happen or your reputation is fucked. They're going to be out to get me. Aggregate that. Yeah. Yeah. At GunnerBlog, it's better bloody happen. It might not. I mean, obviously, you know, they can announce it whenever they want. And I'm sure it will be a synchronized thing with Sociedad and presented as a, you know, great deal for them. Yeah.

32:33James McNicholas: I mean, he will probably have to do like a sort of goodbye to Real Sociedad thing, given that he grew up there and came through their academy. I mean, there'll probably be something, as you say, a little bit coordinated between the two clubs because, you know, him joining is one thing. But there is that thing that when you leave the club, you grew up out in support to go play somewhere else. You know, I think his relationship with the club and the fans is really, really good. So there is going to be something on that side as well, isn't there?

33:05Andrew Allen: That's true. Yeah. And actually, like, that's kind of the story of the deal, really, that relations between the clubs. have been really positive. And in a Spanish release clause situation, that is not always the case. See Arsenal kind of, you know, forcibly extracting Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid five years ago. Yeah. But, yeah, so we got that one as well. So we might have a fair bit of good news this week.

33:38James McNicholas: What do you make of the links to Christian? He's got the H in the wrong place there, doesn't he, on his name? But anyway, Christian Mosquera, who is a 20-year-old central defender at Valencia, in the last year of his contract, and I think this is one that we've talked about a little bit, isn't it, when we've discussed the squad and we've discussed needing backup slash cover for William Saliba. It is a complicated one, isn't it, for a football club. When you have a player like Saliba, like when you have a player as good as Bakayo Saka, there's this thing like we can't overburden them. We have to get cover.

34:22James McNicholas: We have to get backup. We have to get competition for them. But the flip side of that is that when you go to buy a player, you're telling them, well, listen, we want you. We want you to come. We want you to be part of the squad. We have a defined role for you. but there's a really brilliant world-class player ahead of you in your position. And he's going to play most of the games. It makes it a little bit complicated, right? So you either go young, as we're doing with Mosquera. He's just 20. He's played quite a bit for Valencia. I did see people say it might be good to buy him and then send him on loan and let him get more experience.

35:02James McNicholas: But he's coming in to actually play quite a significant role within the squad because we want Timber and White for right back. We need some backup for William Saliba, which we haven't really had. And he had to play probably a bit too much last season, you know, some cup games that he, you know, shouldn't really have been playing. So you either go young or you go the veteran route, right? As we sort of did with Raheem Sterling, and that didn't work out particularly well. So that sort of discussion with a player where you're saying, yes, we want you, we're going to pay the money, but your playing time is probably not going to be as much as it was.

35:35James McNicholas: it's an interesting one to consider. I guess if you're a young player, you probably back yourself to come in and compete and to learn. And he's going to come in and learn from great defenders around him. It'll be very positive for his development. But as a sort of conversation to have with a player, with the agent, et cetera, et cetera, it's not always easy. No, but I think it makes sense.

35:56Andrew Allen: I think we needed to, if we were going to bring in a player here, I think this is kind of the right sort of age profile to do it. You know, we looked obviously at Vito Reis, the Brazilian who went to Man City in January. So this is a kind of similar calibre of signing, a guy who's got a lot of raw ability, but probably needs time, needs development before he's at the top level. And so it might suit him that he's not thrown straight in at the deep end, playing week in, week out in the Premier League. I think in this position, a player of this age profile makes sense. When you've got two such established central defenders, you know, it suits Mascara in some respects that he might not be Premier League ready.

36:41James McNicholas: You know, from the moment he touches down in England, there's going to be time needed to improve, to adapt.

36:49Andrew Allen: And so maybe his expectation will be to have that kind of gradual introduction and not necessarily play every game. I think the contractual situation as well is something that Arsenal might feel they can exploit. You know, a year left on his deal. You know, he's had a decent under 21 euros for Spain. That would have kicked the price up substantially. But there's only so much bargaining power the club have because of the contract situation. So I quite like this deal. I think as a big club, you need to be taking punts on young players. we joke about Chelsea and what they do or are able to do in the market.

37:32Andrew Allen: And a good deal of it is funded by selling off their women's team or a hotel or whatever it might be. But also player trading is a huge, huge, huge part of that. And I mean, trading in and trading out, the revenue they generate from player sales is massive, massive compared to us.

37:51James McNicholas: And I think... Well, that's a volume issue as well, though. You know, if you keep fucking just buying loads of them, you've got to sell loads of them too.

37:59Andrew Allen: That's true. That's true. But I think, and I'm not saying we're buying Musqueira to sell him. No, no. I just think that we need to make investments in players who are going to retain value or even improve substantially in value, as Saliba and Gabriel have done before.

38:16James McNicholas: Yeah. I mean, they're talking maybe around 20 million euros. Arsenal had a bit of 14 million rejected. So they'll probably come to an agreement somewhere around that mark anyway. On top of Zubimendi, on top of Kepa, how much is Norgard? 12, 14, something like that? 10 plus. 10 plus.

38:35Andrew Allen: 10 plus something. 10 plus 2 or 10 plus 5. I think 10 plus 2.

38:39James McNicholas: Hey, did we predict when we did our spending things, did we predict any spending on a central midfielder?

38:49Andrew Allen: uh i think we i think we did transfer predictions 2025 yeah you predicted uh 20 million and i predicted 15 okay so i was i was very close you get a medal then i didn't but i said probably no center back whereas you had a 40 million outlay on a utility defender right 40 that seems a lot

39:17James McNicholas: So you're going to have a lot of money left over for, you know, something.

39:23Andrew Allen: Yes. A striker, maybe? That'd be nice. So, yeah, let's see. I think that one probably will happen. And it encourages me that, you know, one of the teams that were looking really closely at him were RBL, Red Bull, Leipzig. And they've got a really good track record of signing kind of athletic young centre-halves and turning them into defenders of top European pedigree. They've done it, you know, several times over. Canate and Upe Meccano being two of the most obvious examples. And I think the fact that they were looking at him, they're a really smart club, they have that kind of production line of young defenders, makes me think, okay, this feels, this, a phrase I sometimes use, it feels like something a smart club would do.

40:14Sure, sure.

40:16James McNicholas: That might be one that gets done. I think it is a good solution. We do need somebody to take some of the burden off William Saliba, particularly in some of the cup games, the League Cup, maybe some of the Champions League games as well, depending on who you're drawn against and what kind of a schedule you have. I don't think we can ask William Saliba to play as many minutes again next season as we did last season. I think we saw, wasn't it the final game of the season or was it the Newcastle game? He came off with a hamstring injury, second last game of the season. So it did catch up with him.

40:55James McNicholas: So it is important that we do that. And also, as I think you say, maybe take a chance on a player who could develop into something that is very, very useful for us going forward. The other thing that happened since last we talked was the contract announcement from Miles Lewis-Gelly. Not a surprise that it happened, but we got official confirmation of it. And it's a really, really good news and a really good deal.

41:18Andrew Allen: Yeah, great, great stuff. I mean, and I do think the club did a lovely job sort of with all the hashtag content around.

41:26James McNicholas: Yeah, the family video was great, wasn't it?

41:28Andrew Allen: Yeah, really, really nice. and it's a bit of a feel-good moment, isn't it, for everyone because Myles is so loved at Arsenal, academy player, made good. I'm really, really excited for what he is going to bring next season. It's easy to forget he only broke into the team halfway through last campaign and we're going to get a full season of Myles Lewis-Gelly, potentially a Myles Lewis-Gelly World Cup as well to follow after that. So it's a big, big season in his young life.

42:00James McNicholas: Yeah, for sure, for sure. And great news. And fingers crossed there are a few more contract stories before the summer is out. Once they get the striker thing sorted, you know, they can concentrate on that. All right, I think maybe we'll take a little break here and we will come back with your questions and more in part two right after this.

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43:55James McNicholas: Welcome back to the Arsecast Extra. This is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you send to us on Blue Sky at gunnerblog.bsky.social and at arseblog.com. Also on the Arseblog Discord chat server, which you get access to if you are an Arseblog member on Patreon. Do you want to go first or will I go first? Why don't you go first? Why don't I then? Okay. This one comes from SilentFox1 on the Discord. And he says, Goodly morning, gents. As a Yank, what do you make of the halftime interview and sub-interviews? In American sports, the fan gets absolutely nothing from these interviews.

44:33That's interesting, because I often think that American athletes are much more open and articulate than your average Premier League footballer.

44:47Andrew Allen: so the fact that they get nothing from them doesn't bode particularly well.

44:52James McNicholas: I think you're making an assumption there based on like four viral videos That's probably fair actually. over the last 10 years you know the guy the basketball guy who talks about failure is every season a failure if Michael Jordan doesn't win for six years is he a failure? It's a great video by the way I do think that's excellent but I know where you're coming from.

45:15Andrew Allen: You're right. I do. Yeah, I think there is something in that observation. Maybe it's wrong, but I don't know if it's the college education system. You know, the fact that players entering professional sports are often delayed a bit. But I do feel like the limited contacts I've had with American athletes, they've been much more open and less kind of, what's the word?

45:38James McNicholas: Media train, because at Premier League level, media training is essentially, number one, don't say anything. The first rule of post-match interviews is don't say anything.

45:52Andrew Allen: I think they see media in the States generally as more of an opportunity than just an obligation. And I think that's a key difference. um and i so all that said i i don't love this i i i'm all for access and innovation in broadcasting but yeah what is it so it's it's substitution half-time interviews with managers am i right about saying that is that right um substitutes being interviewed as they come off the pitch and cameramen allowed onto the pitch, I think, to shoot goal celebrations.

46:36James McNicholas: I mean, that and dressing room access as well. You know, I think, listen, maybe it's because of my age or I'm of a generation. I really feel like the dressing room should be sacrosanct, you know, that there is a space for the players to be happy, be sad, be angry, to argue, to whatever, away from the glare of the television cameras because we don't need it. None of us need to see that. Is it slightly interesting? Yeah, maybe, but I don't think it's fair. I really think it's unfair to put cameras in the dressing rooms because it immediately makes it an unnatural place, right? When you're aware there's a camera on you at all times.

47:23James McNicholas: I think even something like the Amazon documentary where, where and I think Michel Arteta is on record as saying that, you know, that's not an experience that he would like to endure or experience again. I think even then there is a slight understanding or comfort in that, you know, that when the finished product comes out, because they're sort of in bed with the club to an extent that they're not going to present any kind of anything that's going to make anybody look really bad right but if there is unfettered access or or unedited access to dressing rooms you know that's a that's a different thing so you modify your behavior accordingly right and i don't think at the end of a game of 90 minutes or even before a game, cameras should be in there.

48:17James McNicholas: I don't think they should be on the pitch either. They have zoom lenses. Use your fucking zoom. And the players know where the cameras are.

48:25Andrew Allen: Exactly. It's not like the players aren't celebrating for the cameras as things stand. You know, they look for the cameras.

48:33James McNicholas: Throwing their little fucking stupid darts like James Madison.

48:37Andrew Allen: I'm looking now. There's nothing in the article I'm reading about halftime interviews for managers. so I may have misquoted them there.

48:45James McNicholas: That is something that we have seen a little bit of. We've seen a bit of, yeah.

48:49Andrew Allen: Yeah, cameras will enter the pitch momentarily for goal celebrations.

48:53James McNicholas: Do you think players should be allowed to foot the cameramen if they do that? Are cameramen fair game?

49:00Andrew Allen: In a VAR era as well, like they're going to be entering a lot of the time for goals that don't ultimately count. Oh, yeah. Which is quite strange. I hadn't thought of that. yeah it says cameras will be present in the dressing room but it will never be transmitted during managerial talks but you know does that mean you'll still get the guy who's just been sent off getting back in the dressing room looking all sad or

49:29James McNicholas: i don't know you know what they should do and i don't just mean arsenal is that when the cameras are in the dressing room, they should speak exclusively in the most foul language that they possibly can.

49:44Andrew Allen: Therefore, none of it ever gets broadcast. Will we see the sort of surreal sight of the footballers doing that weird hand over the mouth motion even in the dressing room? I think that's probably inevitable, isn't it?

49:57James McNicholas: We're very sorry if you heard some bad language there. Apologies. It'll be like when Big Brother

50:04Andrew Allen: first launched on uh channel four years and years ago they had like on e4 you could watch the live stream right from inside the big brother house and people i mean unbelievably people did watch that but they had to every time there was any bad language used dub it over with the sound of birds tweeting so basically there was you would turn it on like during the day and because it was pre-watershed and they'd always sort of swearing it would just be the sound of birds tweeting outside the Big Brother house. And I imagine that's what we'll get on the dressing room footage.

50:38James McNicholas: What do you think about the idea of interviewing substituted players? Because I think...

50:46Andrew Allen: Apparently, I've just read there's a cooling off period before the interview. So it's not like they walk off into the interview, as it were. Thank God. Because, you know, often you see a player substituted,

50:59James McNicholas: they're unhappy about it. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Like for most of them, I guess, you know, if that was the case, they would be told, listen, if you're coming off and you have to do that interview, say nothing. Remember, say nothing. But there's going to be an occasion, maybe once or twice a season where a player, if that were the circumstance, he comes off, he's pissed off, he's annoyed. He says something in the heat of the moment that he regrets. And then that becomes indelibly associated with that player forever and ever. You know, like the memes, the gifts, the video clips, the jokes, the hashtag bents, all of that kind of stuff.

51:34James McNicholas: He will become associated with that moment forever and ever and ever because this stuff is permanent, you know. But if that cooling off period is in place, does that mean that the player comes off, sits on the bench, cools off, has a drink, wipes his sweaty head, and then has to get off the bench to go and do an interview? because surely the cameras aren't going to be allowed just excuse me uh hang on move over there the cameraman and the interviewer are not going to be allowed onto the bench itself or into that area to do an interview with a guy who's just sitting down who's been taken off like what's

52:12Andrew Allen: the process for that it's strange yeah i don't know and i guess tv companies they are hoping for those one or two occasions a season where emotion or adrenaline does get the better of a player And they do say something about the manager or the referee or an opposition player that's really inflammatory. They're not hoping for platitudes. So, yeah, listen, here's what I'll say. I reserve the right to change my mind on this because I was pretty worried and negative about the All or Nothing documentary prior to airing. And actually, I think it was a really positive thing. Now, the difference being that was a curated thing in which the club had a hand.

53:00It may be that as a fan, I love this development and I think it's brilliant.

53:05Andrew Allen: And we see a sort of humanity to the players and an emotion that we wouldn't otherwise get. What I suspect will happen, and the reason I'm not that enthusiastic about it right now, is that we just get something that's incredibly sort of tepid and an interview that players effectively want to avoid.

53:26James McNicholas: Yeah, it feels very much to me, I'm sort of on board with you here, it just feels to me like a further dumbing down of the way football is covered and TV companies or people making decisions at these TV companies kind of want these soundbites, the things that will go viral, the things that will generate clicks and generate outrage. And they sort of think that most football fans are complete idiots. And I don't think that is the case. And it's a shame, really, that there isn't greater thought given to more intelligent covering of the game. But then maybe that's not what most people want. I don't know.

54:07James McNicholas: It's just, I don't really see what we get from it, you know?

54:10Andrew Allen: Well, like I say, hey, I think we'll get a handful of viral moments, basically. And that's probably what makes it worthwhile.

54:17James McNicholas: For them, but not for...

54:18Andrew Allen: Well, I don't know. If they're not at our expense, we might enjoy them.

54:23James McNicholas: Inevitably, though.

54:27Yeah.

54:28James McNicholas: There will be something.

54:31Andrew Allen: Here's a question from purse89 on Discord. And purse says, or Percy, I'm not sure how it's pronounced. Do you think the Berta method of negotiating multiple deals at once could actually end up being negative over time? I get the perspective that we need a backup in case the first choice doesn't come off. But we're essentially leading at least one other club and player down the garden path. Do we risk other clubs and players not taking our interests seriously as they can't be sure we value them as our top target?

55:04James McNicholas: I don't know about that, to be honest. I don't know. I mean, again, we're circling back around to the Sesco-Jokeres thing. And in the absence of any information, we're sort of creating our own. Like, I know that from what you've reported and what has been said, that there is interest in both those players, but to what extent that is applicable to other transfers and other positions. I don't think, for example, that when we were doing a deal for Christian Norgard or Kepa or indeed for Muscara, if he's the guy that we want, you know, Berta is going, right, this is the guy we want. I'll just go over there and have a random negotiation with some other club and some other player.

55:57James McNicholas: I don't think he does it for all of them, you know?

56:00Andrew Allen: No.

56:00James McNicholas: So maybe it's applicable to this striker one. And maybe it might be something that bites us in the arse with the agent of Victor Jokeres or Benjamin Sesco at some point in the future. Like if they have other players and Andrea Berta gets involved and he's like, nah, I'm not fucking talking to you after what you did.

56:21Andrew Allen: Yeah, that's possible.

56:22James McNicholas: You know, but I don't think generally speaking, it is a scenario that will play out too often, you know?

56:29Andrew Allen: yeah i think i suppose not to critique the question but it says do you think the burtah method of negotiating multiple deals at once if you want to get into the semantics of it is he negotiating multiple deals or is he scoping out multiple deals at once you know um and is that different from how other sporting directors operate yeah good question um i do get the sense that he is a little bit more of a plate spinner than edu um and he's someone who does seem to kind of let's say explore every option um and that's why you know a lot of names are being linked with Arsenal this summer. And a lot of them, you're like, well, yeah, there is some truth in that.

57:23There has been a conversation or a meeting

57:27Andrew Allen: or a discussion about the possibility. But does it ever get to, you know, submitting an actual bid or talking numbers on a salary? I think that's a different thing. Could it come back to bite us? Maybe, like you say, like, I think... You know, there's a very good chance that Sporting or Leipzig are pretty unhappy with us come the end of the window. There's a chance that certainly an agent or a player is going to be unhappy with us. But I guess that's a risk Arsenal are prepared to take. And they probably feel like they are big enough, you know, that they can take that on. And we don't know as well what Berta's vision is for his next 10 years of his career.

58:23Andrew Allen: We don't know if he wants to be at Arsenal for 20 years, you know, like Arsene Wenger or something, or if he might see this as, yeah, I'm going to go into Arsenal and do three years. And if I piss a few people off, so be it. You know, I don't know. So I don't think it's a huge worry. I think some people are going to be annoyed and there's probably going to be some recriminations but I can't say I mind too much if Arsenal get the right deal at the end of it then

58:57James McNicholas: who cares yeah once we get someone in now please anyway what about this one just a slightly follow up given that we're talking about strikers Chris Arsenal on the discord he says with Calvert-Lewin available as a free agent would you be tempted to bring him in as a backup striker once a prolific forward and good in the air? Or do you think we should stay well clear based on his injury record over the last couple of years?

59:21Andrew Allen: I think I'd stay well clear. There was a time, if you can believe it, where instead of Jokeres and Sesko, we were debating Vlávic, Izak and Calvert-Lewin. Not that long ago, Andrew.

59:38James McNicholas: No, it's true. I liked Calvert-Lewin as a player. I think he's a good player, but the injury record is too problematic for me, to be honest.

59:50Andrew Allen: I think so. I think, what age is he now? 28.

59:54James McNicholas: I had a look.

59:54Andrew Allen: 28. Yeah. I mean, I think he's an interesting signing for somebody on a free. You know, I think someone will take a punt on him because a fit and firing Donick Halbert-Lewin is a really, really good Premier League striker. It feels like a kind of Fulham signing to me. It does, actually. Yeah. Yeah. They're quite opportunistic at times in the market, and this might be the moment. Or, you know, yeah, I could see him going in as a backup at a bigger club, you know, a Newcastle or something like that. I could envisage that. But have Everton considered signing him? It'd be good for them. If they can get him on a free, you know.

1:00:41Andrew Allen: Yeah. big summer signing. But no, I don't think Arsenal should look at that. I think I'd rather have, like as my third choice centre forward, I think at this point in time, I think I'd rather have Mikel Marino than Dominic Havert-Lewis. Right.

1:01:00James McNicholas: Well, you've also got Gabriel Jesus as well.

1:01:02Andrew Allen: Don't forget, at some point. And we're hoping we'll have Havertz plus another. So I'm not even sure there's really a need for us. No, I'd agree with that. Assuming we get the nine.

1:01:15James McNicholas: Hasn't happened yet, by the way. Has it not?

1:01:17Andrew Allen: No, I don't look. Are you checking? Have you got alerts on for David Ornstein on Twitter? Yeah. Or indeed, hand of Arsenal. Oh, yeah.

1:01:28James McNicholas: That man is having a stormer this summer. Fair play.

1:01:31Andrew Allen: The ITK of the summer. Fair play. Did the AFC bell ever go away? Or did the bell just transform into a hand? I don't know. Listen, let's talk about something that's not strikers. Okay. John Larkin. Is he a poet?

1:01:49James McNicholas: Philip Larkin. Philip Larkin. That's the they fuck you up your mum and dad guy. Must be his brother. Yeah.

1:01:57Andrew Allen: John Larkin says, goodly morning, gents. They fuck you up, Sesco and Jokerez. No, The Athletic reported. Oh, God. Oh, no. Oh, no. Never a good start to a question. The Athletic Sports we're prepared to wait to see if Rodrigo becomes available or not Olivia Rodrigo

1:02:23That is true

1:02:24Andrew Allen: we did report that but I think we did also say not indefinitely Anyway would you rather we took a punt now on say an Eze and get him signed and settled in rather than risk risk rather than run the risk that we wait for Rodrigo all summer and then he decides to remain in Madrid. And this was partly just a way for me to bring up Eberichi Eze, because I love him so much.

1:02:50James McNicholas: Give me Eze, please. Over Rodrigo? Yeah, yeah. Well, we know your opinions on Rodrigo. Yeah, I know. Listen, it's just my own personal preference. So you'd love Eze, would you? I'd love Eze, yeah, sure. I find it difficult to see how exactly it would work or how precisely he would fit into the team based on Mikel Arteta's preferences, right? And the way he builds his squad. But as a player, how could you not want that kind of skill and excitement, that slightly maverick quality that we've talked about quite a bit, haven't we, over the last couple of years, that maybe that's something that Arsenal could do with?

1:03:32James McNicholas: Yeah, give me that. Give me that. I think he's a great player. I really do. But it would be a very expensive deal. I think, though, given that there is potentially interest in him from elsewhere, do we have a responsibility to him as a human being to save him from going somewhere that he might ultimately regret?

1:03:54Andrew Allen: Yeah. I mean, he's an Arsenal fan.

1:03:56James McNicholas: Yeah. Wow. We can't. It's almost a humanitarian project. That's exactly it. That's exactly it. You know, we need to do the right thing here by Berese.

1:04:07Andrew Allen: Hopefully the Arsenal Foundation can chip in to this charitable cause.

1:04:11James McNicholas: That's it. That's what we do. Forget the Arsenal Foundation and running a fundraiser for them. Forget the refugees in their refugee camp. We're raising money to buy a Berreise. We're rescuing. We're rescuing him. It's necessary. Seriously, though, no, I would love it. I think he's just such a good player, and I think he would actually bring quite a bit to this squad and this team. But, you know...

1:04:39Andrew Allen: Any concerns on the age, Andrew? He was 27 yesterday.

1:04:44James McNicholas: No, no. I mean, we bought Mikel Moreno last summer. He was 28. True.

1:04:51Andrew Allen: It feels quite old in footballer terms, but I was reminded on a phone call this morning that he's one week younger than Art de Rocher, which that feels mighty young to me. That's the yardstick by which we measure Arsenal transfers. I think so, yeah. I think in Andrea Berta's office, there's a big poster of Art de Rocher on his wall and all players are judged by which side of the de Rocher curve.

1:05:15James McNicholas: Pre-art or post-art. Exactly. That's exactly it, yeah. Now, I wouldn't worry about that at all. I think we're in a phase, if that's the wanky way of putting it, where we need to win now. Like next season, we need to win things. We need to win something, don't we? So I would be quite happy with that as a signing.

1:05:36Andrew Allen: And what would he be? Is he a left winger?

1:05:39James McNicholas: I don't think he is. I know he can play there, but maybe he gives you a different option out there.

1:05:46Andrew Allen: He plays there for England a fair bit.

1:05:47James McNicholas: Yeah, he's played there for England, but I think where he does his best work is more interior. I mean, he's a left eight. He could easily play there, play as a false nine or behind a striker. You could easily see him in there rather.

1:06:00Andrew Allen: I mean, he ticks two boxes. I mean, he could be, you know, people, I know there are people who want a winger, but they also want a creative midfield player.

1:06:07James McNicholas: Yeah.

1:06:08Andrew Allen: He might be both those things.

1:06:09James McNicholas: I mean, could he, could he, you know, be an Odegaard alternative as well? I know he tends to play more from the left and Odegaard's a bit more right leaning, if that's the way you want to put it. But yeah, I think he could bring a lot of quality and depth to this Arsenal team. I don't expect it to happen, by the way. I don't know if you've heard anything, but it feels like a long shot. But even just seeing his name mentioned is heartwarming to me. Yeah. I can picture it.

1:06:45Andrew Allen: Listen, we've just spoken about Andrea Berta. Spinning plates and what have you, I would be amazed if Eze's not someone that's been discussed because he's a quality player.

1:07:02Andrew Allen: I, on a personal hunch level, I don't know that I see it happening. I would love it.

1:07:15Andrew Allen: It doesn't feel very Mikel Arteta. He doesn't feel very Mikel Arteta to me.

1:07:21James McNicholas: No, I know what you mean.

1:07:22Andrew Allen: Bit too fun, maybe.

1:07:26James McNicholas: He'd be having a great time at Glastonbury. That's all I'm saying.

1:07:29Andrew Allen: Oh, really? No. I think Declan Rice was there. I saw a picture.

1:07:33James McNicholas: Oh, yeah. He was with some actor guy. Okay. I can't remember the actor guy's name, though.

1:07:41Andrew Allen: Well, I don't know. I can't remember. But I saw a picture. But I think, yeah, I don't necessarily see him as a fit for Arteta and for this system. but that's exactly why I want him if that makes sense yeah I also would love it I think tactically Rodrigo maybe makes more sense Olivia Rodrigo Olivia Rodrigo yes but as a I also think like we've just spoken about Miles and the contract unveiling and how it means so much because he's, you know, an Arsenal boy. And while Lesley doesn't quite have that degree of history with the club, there is a story there and he is an Arsenal fan and a Londoner. And, yeah, I think it would be great.

1:08:43James McNicholas: Did he?

1:08:43Andrew Allen: I think he was with us at some point in time.

1:08:46James McNicholas: A very young age, I think. And then he went on a slightly different trajectory.

1:08:51Andrew Allen: I think that's right. I should just double check. I think when he was about eight or something like that.

1:08:59Andrew Allen: Released by Arsenal as a 13-year-old. There you go. So it would be a beautiful story.

1:09:06James McNicholas: Bring him home. Bring him home. Is it your question? No, you just asked that question, didn't you? I asked that one. I had a question here, and now I can't find it. Okay, yeah, it comes from Joe, who's at jhez1991.bsky.social. He says, simultaneously, the most trivial and important question of the summer. What squad numbers will the new signings take? Whether it's the ones we know are coming in, Zubimendi, Kepa, Norgard, and the ones we think will come in, Sesko, Rodrigo. I'm not going to do it again, don't worry. Yeah. The squad numbers. Yeah, people love a shirt number story. It's one of the strangest things about modern football coverage is just how invested people are in shirt numbers.

1:09:57James McNicholas: Did I see a story last week maybe that Zubamendi was going to take 36?

1:10:03Andrew Allen: I think Charles Watts.

1:10:05James McNicholas: That's where it was. Sorry, Charles.

1:10:07Andrew Allen: Yeah.

1:10:11Andrew Allen: We learned as well that Marsdo Iskele will keep 49. Quite right. Great number.

1:10:20I'm just having a think now about what numbers are up for grabs. Well, five will be up for grabs, obviously, when Thomas Partey leaves. That's true, actually. Would that change to Mendy's plans? Dunno. He wears four for Sociedad, doesn't he?

1:10:40James McNicholas: He wears four. Okay. So he can't have four because Ben White's got that.

1:10:45Andrew Allen: Ten is up for grabs.

1:10:46James McNicholas: Ten is up for grabs. I think if you're the forward signing, it'd be just typical, wouldn't it, for our number nine. The big money number nine is going to come and wear the number 10.

1:10:57Andrew Allen: I think that is the glamour number that's available.

1:11:05James McNicholas: SA10.

1:11:06Andrew Allen: Do you like the sound of that? I like it. Oh, yeah.

1:11:08James McNicholas: Yes, please. 13. What does Kepa want? 13 is available. And 14, because Eddie left.

1:11:21Andrew Allen: Which 13 is kind of your classic backup goalie number, isn't it?

1:11:25James McNicholas: It is a bit. Depends how superstitious the player is, whether or not they take that number, you know? Yeah, I'm trying to think what his number was.

1:11:37Andrew Allen: He was 25 at Real Madrid. Is that available? Was it retired in honor of Carl Jenkinson? It appears to be available. So some players don't like 13. Yeah. So I'd say Kepa 25's got a chance.

1:11:54James McNicholas: Okay. Okay.

1:11:56Andrew Allen: He had that at the Bernabeu. 16 is available, I believe. What about Norgaard? Ethan Winery's going to take 22 next season, isn't he?

1:12:09James McNicholas: Yeah. I think I saw that. Right. Norgaard. I'm guessing 16 for Norgard. Yeah. Because that's available.

1:12:19Andrew Allen: Five for the defender coming in? Or is that too generous for a...

1:12:23James McNicholas: Could be too generous for a young player. You've got to earn your low number, I think, a little bit. Unless you're like a big money signing, you know.

1:12:30Andrew Allen: Is there anyone who might get five who's already on the books?

1:12:35James McNicholas: No. Who would change? I don't think so. Califuri's 33, isn't he? That's a nice number for Califuri, I think. Unless he wants, you know, a proper defender's number. He doesn't strike me as the type, really. No, no. Like you could make a nice logo out of 33 or something, you know, for your Italian leather bags. Sure. The MLS 49 brand. Yeah.

1:13:00Andrew Allen: It's probably already in the works. That's how it goes.

1:13:03James McNicholas: So 14 is available. Like if you're a striker coming to Arsenal, whether it's Sesko or Jokarez or Eketike.

1:13:13Andrew Allen: I don't think you want 14.

1:13:14James McNicholas: That's what I was going to say. That's a big number to carry at Arsenal, isn't it?

1:13:19Andrew Allen: I think that's the nice thing about 10 is that like the expectations on that number are a bit different. You know what I mean?

1:13:26James McNicholas: Arteta spoke about that though, didn't he? With Smith-Rowe, he said, you know, fair play. He really went for it with that number choice, but there's a heavy burden that comes with being the number 10 at Arsenal. 14's up for grabs.

1:13:39Andrew Allen: 16's up for grabs. 17 is Zinchenko. Could be up for grabs. Yeah.

1:13:45James McNicholas: 19. Trossard is 19. 21. That's a decent number. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he could go. So. Yeah. I don't know. I'm not sure. There's a few. There's a few there.

1:13:58Andrew Allen: But it looks like 36 Zubomendi, yeah.

1:14:01James McNicholas: If you were the striker, let's just pretend we exist in a world where you are the guy. after the whole summer, Andrea Berta says, nah, we've got to sign Gunnar Blaggis, the striker. If you were coming in, would you back yourself to follow in the footsteps of Thierry Henry and Eddie Nketiah? Or would you think, hmm, that's too big a burden to carry. I've got enough pressure on me as it is. I need to score enough goals to help Arsenal win the league and the Champions League. I don't need everyone going on and on Not about the number I chose, the number 14. Even if, in the grand scheme of things, it's really not that big of a deal.

1:14:40James McNicholas: Unless, of course, we're talking about William Gallas and the monstrosity of him wearing the number 10 shirt, which is just an abomination, a crime for which somebody must pay still to this day. But apart from that, you know, shirt numbers in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big a deal.

1:14:57Andrew Allen: Yeah, it's not that big a deal. One thing I would say is Sesko wears 30, doesn't he, for Leipzig and has worn that, I think, for the last five years. Right.

1:15:08James McNicholas: He can't carry the burden of Raheem Sterling.

1:15:15Andrew Allen: Well, it is available. So who knows? Maybe he would stick with it. Yeah. I hope not. You know what I mean? I want first-team players to be taking lower numbers as a rule.

1:15:30James McNicholas: Sure.

1:15:30Andrew Allen: Happy to make an exception for 49. All right.

1:15:34James McNicholas: Your question.

1:15:36Andrew Allen: My question. Hale and Harula says, Goodly morning, gents. It's been all quiet on the Jakub Kivior front. If he wanted to leave Arsenal, if Arsenal wanted to sell, do you think we would have heard more noises by now? Is it possible he'll stay another season? I think it'd be great news if he stayed and a very positive reflection on the club.

1:15:58James McNicholas: Hmm. I did think with the Mosquera news that that might just open the door for Jakub Kivior. I suspect it's quiet around Jakub Kivior because that's kind of how it goes with Jakub Kivior. He's not really a big high-profile player, and I don't think he's somebody who does a lot in the media and he's not on social media. He might be, but, you know, he seems a fairly low-key kind of guy, right? And it's not the sort of deal and transfer deal that is going to spark loads of back pages and that kind of stuff. But I did think with Muscara that maybe it might suggest that Kivior could go because I keep coming back to this.

1:16:47James McNicholas: You know, what does he want? you know what does he want from his playing career and i think the end of last season demonstrated that he can definitely play for any premier league club really or most premier league clubs if he wants to stay in england and that his performances you know in europe will have caught the eyes of clubs in europe you know in the champions league he did pretty well so it's that combination of his stock being really high for him on a personal level and also his stock being quite high for Arsenal if they're looking at a squad player who might go somewhere at some point is this the right time for both player and club to do a deal which sees him go somewhere to play regularly and Arsenal you know get a good chunk of money because his stock is really high you know And we've often talked about, haven't we, the best time to sell a player is maybe a difficult time to sell a player, where you can still envisage a role for that player at your club, but you come to a decision that this is the right time to do it, rather than in 12 months' time where if Kivior or if Gabriel, for example, is fit for most of next season, he's going to play most of the games and certainly most of the important games, at which point Kivior's stock is slightly lower.

1:18:07James McNicholas: maybe the options aren't open to him to go and play somewhere so it feels to me like the right time as i like kivior by the way i think he's done well i think he has a a good squad role but for player and club is now the right time and i kind of feel like it is and if you're bringing in another young defender that might just suggest that the the summer something will happen this

1:18:30Andrew Allen: summer that's my gut feeling on it anyway okay i'm not so i i listen i really don't know um it has been quiet but you're right he's not exactly a a marquee name so sure maybe you know we're a bit less attentive to it than we might otherwise be um i think i think it really could go either way i think he could i could see him staying and being the first choice backup for gabrielle and playing plenty of games. Or I could see him going and those minutes falling to Riccardo Calafiore. Or one advantage of Mascara is genuinely that he can play both sides and has played both sides as a centre-half. So I'm really not sure.

1:19:13Andrew Allen: I guess it depends on if a buyer comes forward that he feels is the right step for him at this point in his career. Because he won't want to go just anywhere. Like he'll, I think after his performances at the end of last season, and he'll have his sights set relatively high. So, you know, he's going to want to go somewhere of decent standing, where he's going to play lots of minutes. Is a club going to come forward to meet Arsenal's asking price? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

1:19:42James McNicholas: Yeah. I mean, how old is he now? 25? 25. Yeah. 25. So he's 25. So, you know, he's at a point in his career where, look, not everybody can be a first-team player. everywhere, right? But I think he's good enough to be first team player somewhere. And I think, you know, you remember what it's like when you play football yourself, you always want to play. You know, that is the thing. You always want to play every game and every minute of every game. And you can accept your role within a squad like Arsenal. When there's somebody like Gabriel, it's a big opportunity for him when he signed, he was only 22.

1:20:18James McNicholas: It's a big step up from where he, where he came from. But now, you know, you're going to want to play. You're going to want to play. So that's kind of where I think it might go.

1:20:29Andrew Allen: Yeah. And if I was the sporting director of, you know, any club outside the top five, maybe, in England and a host of European clubs who was looking for a centre-half, particularly in that sort of narrow pool of left-sided centre-halves, I would have Jakob give you a list. What about this?

1:20:50James McNicholas: We had a couple of questions about Ethan Warneri. Yeah. King Thierry on the Discord. Do you think there's any merit to loaning out Warneri for a season? If we do all the business we expect, it's hard to see him getting regular minutes in a consistent position. There was another one on Blue Sky from Mudo.bsky.social. Is there a world where we should consider loaning out Ethan next season? He's extremely talented, but lacks repeated intensity and stamina, which reminds me a bit of Emile Smith-Rowe, which is normal at that age. The only way to improve that is lots of game time, a season with Cesc or Cuesta, maybe.

1:21:28James McNicholas: So a few questions about that and what the future holds for him.

1:21:33Andrew Allen: That's an interesting idea. I mean, the first thing they've got to do is get and sign new contracts. That is of paramount importance. And it's interesting, Myles and Ethan, their whole time at Arsenal, probably their whole careers will in some way feel intertwined because of the way they came up and the way they broke through. It's interesting, isn't it, that Myles is done. He's landed a massive contract. You know, we've probably all seen the phrase, one of the highest paid teenagers or young players in world football bandied around. I believe that is accurate. And he's got all the fanfare and, you know, the club have made a big noise about it.

1:22:22Andrew Allen: And it's all quiet on the Ethan front currently. Now, yeah, I'm just curious to see how what's happened with Myles might impact or influence the Nrenary camp's feeling about their own deal. because the situations are different, right? Miles Lewis-Skelly is at a point where he's become an undisputed sort of first-choice player in Mikel Arteta's XI and Nourneri is not quite there yet. So that's the first hurdle and that still has to be overcome. As for the loan, I suppose it wouldn't be a case of loaning out a player because you don't think they're good enough or because you don't think they're ready.

1:23:10Andrew Allen: But it might be something that you have to consider doing to kind of sate his desire for minutes. Like, you know, if a sticking point in negotiations, say, is like, I'm not getting enough minutes. I didn't play enough in the second half of the season. I need to be playing more. Maybe as a club, you could say, OK, well, sign a new deal and we'll put you in the Bundesliga for a year.

1:23:39James McNicholas: Yeah.

1:23:40Andrew Allen: I don't think that will happen, but I don't think it's a completely crazy idea because he's going to want to play probably more than, if we make the signings we're hoping to make, probably more than we can offer.

1:23:59James McNicholas: It depends where they're going to play him. Yes. Or where they think about playing him. Is he going to remain the sort of de facto backup to Bakayo Saka or is he going to play more centrally, which I think is ultimately where he will end up is a more central player. But at 18, is more time out on the wing beneficial? Does it give Mikel Arteta the safety net, if you like, of having that other option for Bukayo Saka and a player who we know has got end product, Like to score nearly 10 goals, almost hit double figures in your first season as a senior professional is really good going. So there is that there for Arteta to consider when he thinks about how the squad is constructed.

1:24:52James McNicholas: Because, you know, I'm pretty sure first game of next season, first name on the team sheet or certainly one of them is Bakayo Saka, right? Yeah. But as we've seen, there is a need to manage him and his minutes and to have a really decent alternative. So maybe last season is a kind of blueprint for what's going to come for the season ahead. You know, I wouldn't be terribly unhappy if it was one area as the Saka backup. I know we've had our eyes and been linked with a few players who can play on the right wing. Whether that says something about what we want or what the plan is for Ethan, I don't know.

1:25:33James McNicholas: But I think there are still minutes there for him. There are games that he can start where Saka doesn't necessarily need to start. So there is football there for him. But like you said, I think the contract thing first and foremost is the big one, isn't it?

1:25:47Andrew Allen: Yeah. And listen, don't get me wrong. I want him with Arsenal next season and I think he will be with Arsenal next season. But if sending him on loan, and I don't know that's something that he would want, but if that meant that Arsenal stood a better chance of keeping him over three to five years, sending him out for a year on loan where he can play regularly and develop and get all the minutes that he wants and needs, then that's a sacrifice I'd be prepared to make. because I think we need to see what this player is going to become and it will be infuriating if it happens on somebody else's books.

1:26:29Andrew Allen: I think he's really, really exciting. And I do wonder as well that Andrea Berta is a guy who comes from football cultures in Spain and Italy where the idea of loaning players out earlier in their development and then bringing them back or even in some cases in Italy, you know, selling them or doing shared economic rights or things like that and then bringing them back is a little bit more familiar to him. I don't know. It might be a good compromise,

1:27:04Andrew Allen: but I'm sure Mikel Arteta would like to have him at his disposal as and when he does need him. And when we saw last season, there were times where he was turning to him ahead of more experienced players to try and bail us out or win a game. So it's a really interesting one. And my gut says it is futurized more in the sort of central areas than on the flank. But what that means for next season, I don't know.

1:27:32James McNicholas: Yeah, we'll see. Preseason might tell us a bit. You can't read too much into preseason, but I think we saw last year, didn't we, that Miles and Ethan were very much involved and part of their involvement pushed Fabio Vieira into a position that he didn't normally play in. And then Vieira went and that pathway was created for Ethan. So let's see what happens in pre-season. What about a couple of quick ones just to finish? Gambling Blues on the Discord says, where are those Man City charges at?

1:28:03Andrew Allen: Great question.

1:28:04James McNicholas: No idea. Don't know. Don't know. Your guess is as good as mine. And this one on Blue Sky, MitchTUnit.bsky.social What's your take on reports that Arsenal are in the process of planning an expansion to the Emirates? This would be amazing if possible, but I always thought there were restrictions in place.

1:28:22Andrew Allen: I'm sure there are restrictions. I mean, it's a huge stadium in central London, but I think they're absolutely right to be looking at it. You know, what's possible? I don't know. But as I've said many times, when you go to SoFi and you see what's been achieved there, it's exciting to think about what Arsenal could potentially do.

1:28:45James McNicholas: Yeah, I saw a story last week and it was sort of a mocked up version of what the Emirates Stadium might look like and all that kind of stuff. It looked very futuristic and modern, but the thought that occurred to me, and I don't know if that's just a thing they made up or if that's part of any plan. And I don't know really, you know, to what extent these things have been discussed at board level or by the owners. But what struck me was if you're going to do that to the stadium, we're going to have to spend a couple of years at Wembley. For sure.

1:29:21Andrew Allen: They'd have to find an alternative place to play. And that's really complicated and less than ideal, probably. so that all these factors are having to be considered i think um by the way not so much question but more of a story and i'll be interested to your take on this from christopher sutton jr jr jr jr from the far future he's here at last and they say greatly morning gents not a question but story i had to share after a week without ask cast due to andrew's holiday i was venturing on my own honeymoon as soon as i landed the new arsecast dropped i couldn't go two weeks without an arsecast but how would i find the time on my honeymoon now mark zuckerberg may be a massive no no maybe about it but i won a pair of meta ray sunglasses meta ray-ban sorry sunglasses before i left for my holiday right which include built-in headphones within the sunglasses frame invisible to anyone including my new wife wearing these new glasses i was able to listen to the ask cast wherever i was in the pool driving somewhere at the beach wherever and quite simply there's no way she would ever have known it's not that she would have minded i think she just would have judged why i need more hours of ask when a i'm on holiday and b there's no football and c it's your honeymoon And it's your honeymoon, and congratulations.

1:30:55Andrew Allen: Anyway, he says, would recommend a pair of these stealth glasses to anyone going away with a girlfriend or boyfriend, but who needs to keep up stealthily. Right. Well. Far be it from us to endorse a Meta product. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

1:31:11James McNicholas: And maybe the thing to say is that the basis of a good, long, healthy relationship is being open with your other half and saying, Listen, I love you very much, but I'm just going to put my headphones in for an hour to listen to two idiots talk about Arsenal for a bit and maybe other stuff.

1:31:31Andrew Allen: I think lying is healthier than telling me. But what does that say about my marriage?

1:31:37James McNicholas: Well, there you go. There you go. I've got no comment whatsoever to make on that. Okay. But anyway, fair play for finding a solution. Wouldn't it be amazing if his wife, while he was listening to the RS cast, was doing something else on the sly as well? little does he know i'm just going upstairs with the pool boy i'm sure he seriously though congratulations yeah well done well done on your wedding all right listen we had better leave it there um we've got to get ready for a big week james

1:32:10Andrew Allen: you know all these announcements all these videos time we've all been waiting so long for kappa

1:32:17James McNicholas: you're about to see the best of me yeah oh god i've got flashbacks uh already uh some ptsd there but look it is going to be a busy week have a craig david takular week yourselves folks hope you enjoyed the show thanks as always for listening and we will catch you on the next one bye bye