Arsecast Extra Episode 649 - 20.07.2025

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0:42Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra. Not with James from Gunnerblog because James from Gunnerblog is currently either en route or just landed in Singapore this Sunday morning. So, stepping into the breach to fill in for this early edition is Phil Koster. Good morning, Phil. Morning, Andrew. I am not en route or on the way to Singapore, unfortunately. But I'm happy to be making my Arscast extra debut. Yes. Because I've done lots of bits and pieces with you over the years. But this is the first time doing this. So, yeah, big shoes to Phil. Be nice to me, people. It's a big one. Yeah, it's early on a Sunday.

1:22There's not a huge amount going on. So we'll do our best to muddle through everything as best we can. You mentioned Singapore. I'm heading out there tomorrow. But the team went yesterday. A 30-man squad named lots of people who you would expect to be on the tour, a couple of people who aren't on the tour, a new signing who isn't quite official yet, Christian Mascara, Nani Madweke giving some time off. any hot takes on the 30-man squad that we've seen? Not particularly. I think there's a few young players I'm excited to see. I think Marley Salman is a really promising young player. Obviously, we know about Andre Harrenman-Anous, who's been around the youth teams for a little while as well.

2:09He's a kind of forward striker who looks interesting. Nice to see Declan Rice back as well, because obviously he's joined the group quite late. So, yeah, I would have liked to have seen maybe a centre forward on this trip. But look, maybe that will happen a bit later down the line as well. Mosquera, but I'm not going to be too upset about them not being there officially straight away because things can happen and negotiations delay and things get stuck and all that stuff. So yeah, I'm just kind of excited to watch Arsenal, to be honest, because I was quite burnt out towards the end of the season and it was just a bit like, oh, I'm ready.

2:45I'm ready for this to be done and over and finished. But now the games are there. I'm like, hmm, BC Milan, Spurs, hmm. You know, so it's a nice... I can live without Spurs. Yeah. Well, if we beat them, then it's fine. But, you know, it's fun. It's pre-season's fun, right? For sure. I mean, I really haven't watched any football at all this summer. Like nothing, which is good. It's sort of refreshed my... Refreshed, recharged my batteries, if that's the way to put it. But, yeah, I really haven't watched anything. So I am ready and I am ready, even if I'm slightly, you know, playing Premier League teams in preseason.

3:23I'm not a big fan of that. I don't know if it's old fashioned or if it's just, there's just an edge to those games that there doesn't necessarily need to be in preseason, you know? Agreed. Particularly, well, Spurs, obviously. I never like playing Spurs and I want as little Spurs in my life as possible. But Newcastle, a really physical side as well, who've given us some problems over the last couple of seasons. And there is a physical element to their game. So you sort of worry about, I don't know, I worry about Bruno Gimaraes snapping one of our guys in half in a preseason game while he gets away with it scot-free.

4:01And we have to deal with a guy who's going to be injured for like eight months or something. But that could be me just catastrophizing a little bit, worrying a little bit too much about this kind of thing. I don't know how you feel about that. No, I agree. To be honest, I remember the days of looking for online streams when we were playing a Bavarian XI of part-time accountants and stuff like that. And Thierry Henry was just scoring outrageous goals and looking for a match report somewhere or somebody who knew a fixture or a result. I do think this is just the way things are going now. People still need the glamour and the high-profile fixtures and the high-profile players all the time.

4:42And I think as well for the fans who don't always get to see Arsenal, whether you're in Asia, the Far East, Australia, America, maybe one day they'll end up in South America. Who knows? It's just a nice experience to have because obviously they are miles away, hours ahead or behind. So I completely get it and understand it from that sense. And also money don't stop, you know, marketing doesn't stop. So there's always this need to fill tournaments and champions cups and Aldi cups and all this stuff. So I just think it's where we are now in football, to be fair. And Bavarian 11s are a thing of the past, unfortunately, where you can just scoot through in second gear and bang one into the top corner with nobody bothered.

5:26So, yeah, I do get it. But also when the game starts, I'm a bit like, let's see how they get on because it's a test, you know, where maybe it wouldn't have been before. Yeah, there's a more competitive edge, of course. I think you're right as well. The commercialization of preseason is a thing now. There's no two ways about it, that it is a brilliant opportunity for fans across the world to see the team in person, which, you know, many of them, most of them will never be able to get to London and get to a game and get a ticket. So it's brilliant in that respect. It is just that sort of familiarity breeding contempt a little bit with regards to Premier League opposition.

6:03But look, we'll live. It's not really the biggest problem in the entire world. you know you I'm going to sort of punctuate this one with a little bit of with a few of the questions that we get you mentioned Marley Salmon who is a 15 year old defender it's a big leap for him obviously to make it from the academy to the first team Max Damon there as well who's also 15 a player who people know a bit more about than Salmon for example because he has been touted as the next big thing and we had a question from James Finnamore who's on Blue Sky nice he's at jumbino.bsky.social he says not in any way to doubt their talent but does thrusting 15 year old kids into fully professional environments make you uncomfortable at all and i do think this is a really interesting subject or discussion because you know there is we heard even like last season ethan wanari was not able to change in in the men's dressing room because there are issues regarding age and safeguarding and things like that so you've got But two 15-year-olds, leaving aside the pressure that sort of must exist for someone like Max Downman because he's been hailed as this new wonder kid of the academy and everyone can't wait to see him play.

7:16And listen, you can go back years and years and years to find similar names coming through the academy every generation, every generation, every generation. There is that player who people go, he is the one. He is the special one, the chosen one. but you know that aside you know their age is an issue or a consideration I'm sure it's something that Arsenal have taken into account so I mean how do you view it on a like a footballing level also the the human level if you like it is an interesting one isn't it because if you think back to to when you were 15 and what you were doing I mean you're in year 10 in England anyway by by all means you're doing GCSEs not even your final year of GCSEs so it's really first of all amazing and the credit to them and their talent that they can even be considered for a for a preseason tour like this I know the games aren't exactly high quality competitions but it's it's it's incredible so for both of them to even be considered is amazing I do I do feel it's a little bit strange but I I'm very aware of what the landscape is now with with reporting and football and young players especially and I'm someone who's been very invested in young players I love that sort of development aspect of football I've helped run a website and a magazine that focus is on young players but there is an alarming level of information out there now whereas maybe even five years ago we wouldn't have known about 15 year olds who are breaking through but you can't keep secrets anymore because people are so switched on social media is there for everybody scouts are becoming more and more prevalent and it's not just scouts who go to the games and maybe have a word with their parents you can get why scout footage people who watch the games online you know all of this is available to us now we wouldn't have had this before so i do think there's a little bit of there's a need to be careful with them and about them but i'm I'm 100 % sure that the club are taking the right steps to do that.

9:18I think we're very switched on now when it comes to how we manage our young players. I mean, even last season, the clamour for Ethan Ranieri to play when Martin Odegaard was injured was huge. And I think we managed him very well in that period, even though people were thinking, why can't he play? He's in this position for a reason. We've sort of kept him over Fabio Vieira and prioritised his development. Why can't he be the guy to step in? But I think we saw that you need to manage them physically, mentally. And I think they'll just be kept behind a little bit, maybe for talks and sessions. And I think also what's nice is for them to be together because they'll be experiencing similar things at a similar age.

9:59So it is a little bit strange, I have to be honest. And I think even down the years, we've had players like Gideon Zalalem and stuff like that, who is maybe one year older, maybe 16. But either way, an amazing opportunity. And I think the club are very keen and aware to kind of keep them protected, keep them safe and kind of just let their football do the talking, which is what they should be doing. Yeah, for sure. I think these guys, you know, will play a bit of under 21 football next season, playing the under 21s, which when you consider their age, 15, 15 years of age is, you know, is significant in its own right.

10:34You know, there was a point I was going to make, which I can't quite remember now. I mean, there is probably as well a need to demonstrate to these players, you know, these really highly talented young players, because there's, you know, a lot of talent at underage levels. But maybe with the pick of the bunch, because of the football landscape now, because of the way clubs will try and, I don't want to say nick players, but there's money out there at academy level that there wasn't necessarily in the past. And players can be lured away in all kinds of ways. Or parents. Well, I was going to say, yeah, the parents are also incentivized to tell their kid, listen, you don't want to be at Arsenal.

11:27You want to be at Man City or whatever it is, right? Just throwing that out there as an example. Just a random name. Just random name. Yeah. You know, so there is that as well. And I suppose, I don't know if it's real or not, but it feels to me like players are breaking through younger than they did before. and I know there's some sort of outliers and some extraordinary talent. You think of someone like Lamine Yamal, for example. But it does also feel like players are looking to make that breakthrough to first-team football at an earlier age. Like you could say, well, he's only 20. He's only 21.

12:02He's still got his entire career. But, you know, someone like Yamal, who's come through at 17, he'll have four, even Saka, you know, who broke through at a very early age. You know, players want to break through more quickly, and I think there's less patience. So you have to demonstrate to them that there is this opportunity there for them to make that jump. Yeah, I think you nailed it with that last line. There is no patience anymore. And I think people or young players or their agents are ready to take control of their careers more quickly and proactively. There is really a sense of, well, if you're not going to give me what I need and what I want, I will go and find it elsewhere.

12:41And there are, we've seen in the past clubs like Ajax, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, who are happy to be those bridge teams, for example. So if you're 17, not playing at Chelsea, not playing at City, Arsenal, whoever, maybe a top club in Europe, these clubs give you a home. And they say, look, whether we can get you in for two or three years, you can come in for five million quid, and then we'll sell you at the end of your contract for however many millions, you know, 55 million. And I think that's appealing to a lot of players now because they get a small step up, a chance to play football regularly, and then they can go and live their dreams in another way.

13:20It's not just coming through Arsenal and then being there your whole life. There's a chance to really play and experience things. So you do have to be very, very careful because, like I said, there aren't any secrets anymore. So if there's a 12-year-old at Arsenal who's making an impact, people will be watching him, following him, waiting to pounce on any whisper of a contract issue. I mean, even again, to use the example of Ethan, we were quite concerned at some point that he wouldn't be here for the long term. I mean, Chelsea were very seriously pushing, City were very seriously pushing, and he's someone who's been at the club since he was eight.

13:55And it can just change like that in a flash, you know, with a click of the fingers. so again we need to be very secure and confident in what we in what we are doing and striking the right balance between we want to build a squad that is capable of winning things but also fostering an environment where young players feel like they can come through and that pathways aren't extremely just blocked or cut off because I know there was a little bit of that at some point I know Amari Hutchinson maybe felt that his pathway was blocked and Mario Kozio-Duburi maybe Rule Waters as well But I think you can see now in their respective situations, Royal Walters, very talented player, but he's in League One now with Luton.

14:36Koji Douburi was on loan at Blackburn last year. So it's not easy. The step up's not easy, but I think the club will know who they value the most and where they will eventually end up. And those pathways will have been planned out years in advance, you know, in terms of whether they'll potentially break through. So they're not silly. It's also dependent on who's in front of you. You know, if you've got Bakayo Saka who's playing in your position, you're going, I think I might have to go somewhere else. You know, someone like Will Walters. I'm not saying he was going to make the breakthrough, but, you know, we have Ben White ahead of him right back.

15:11And at centre half, I don't think that was ever a consideration. So I think the players have to read the room as well. You mentioned Ranieri. It's not officially official, but I saw Sam Dean report that Ethan has signed his new contract, a five-year deal. There was some, not concern, but you know, it had dragged on a little bit longer. The negotiations were tough. As you say, this is a really, really talented player, as we all know, a player with huge potential, a player who would have had options elsewhere because of the way the contractual situation works when you sign your first professional contract.

15:47It's that next one, like Myles Lewis-Gelly, where you are rewarded for making that jump, and Lewis-Gelly certainly was, and deservedly so, and I think Wernary deservedly so as well. It was really, really important, I think, to keep him. You know, those two are kind of, I don't want to say they're the new Saka and Emil Smith-Rowe, because it didn't work out as well as we would have liked for Emil Smith-Rowe. But those two were kind of considered side by side. And the same with Weneri and Lewis Skelly, because they've basically come through the academy at the same level and have played together for such a long time.

16:25But great news that we got it done. And, you know, I'm really, really interested to see what next season holds for Ethan and where he plays and what the plan is. Because I know David Ornstein in his reporting on it said there were no discussions around game time, you know, because you can't. You can't say, yes, we will definitely give you 25 starts. You can't do that because it's a competitive environment and players have to earn their starts and earn their appearances. But you have to imagine that there was in the discussions while they were having these negotiations about the contract, some talk of like the development plan and where they see him and what his role is and how they, Arsenal as a football club, are going to get the best out of him as a player.

17:16absolutely and and I'd be I'd be concerned if there wasn't because at the end of the day a player needs to have a vision of what he thinks his career will look like so do his people and then it's up to to them and the club to find an agreement on on where we we both sit so yeah really really pleased because I think like you said this is not only a big club retaining one of their biggest talents it's a it's a message I think to to future generations coming through I even think of Max Dowman as well, who will be inundated with offers. I'm sure about that. It's more, I think, Arsenal place a very strong value and identity on young players and bringing through academy players who can not only come into the club, but really succeed, whether that's been through the years with the Paul Mersons and all of these people, the Tony Adams, and all the way stretched down to recently, even Eddie Nketiah, Bakao Saka, Reece Nelson, Joe Willock, Alex Iwobi.

18:10they can contribute at various levels and times and moments but I think Arsenal place a really strong value on on bringing through young players and it's a really important culture thing you know we need we need that because it helps the fans relate to the group it makes things a bit more special when we win things if we win things obviously and we need stories like this in football I'm sorry this is just what makes it special and the fact that they've both been friends from eight years of age and to come through now 10 years later both being in the first team squad contributing scoring goals it's it's just like what you dream of as a kid and there was that famous clip of of emil smith rowe and saka in the was it the all or nothing documentary where they were both sitting there eating breakfast and saying you know how amazing would it be for us to score against spurs or something like that yeah yeah three one win who's on the score sheet Bakayo Saka and Emil Smith-Rowe.

19:07So it's just like, how does that not put goosebumps on you? It just has, literally. I was just sitting here going like, oh, imagine that. Imagine being a kid. We can live vicariously through them. It's just the most incredible thing. So from a footballing perspective and also a cultural perspective, what it means for the club to be able to retain him is amazing. And I'm really interested to see where he ends up because the thinking is that he'll end up being a more central player, a number eight and number 10 someone who's close to goal you can just sort of cut in and whack shots which I think we saw last year um it's something he does very well but now with Noddy Medueke coming in obviously Trossard Martinelli Saka still there Jesus to come back eventually there's quite a bit of competition there in those wide areas so maybe this is our version of saying look maybe you can have minutes occasionally on the right which you did very well last year but now starts the transition where we'd like to see you in the position that we see you in longer term.

20:06So I think that will have been something for him to consider, but also an exciting thing for us to consider as well because there were moments last year where I didn't think he was ready enough to do the Odegaard role, but maybe it's going to become the Ethan role now. So, yeah, very exciting. And to have both of them signed up is important because it wasn't just about signings this summer. I think renewals were also very important. And so far we've done Lewis Skelly, Gabriel, Ethan's followed. So yeah, really, really good stuff from the club. Yeah, yeah. Agree on that. There's a couple obviously that people would like to see, but we'll have to see how those situations develop over the course of this summer.

20:45I think it's really interesting with Weneri and Lewis Skelly. For me, Lewis Skelly has kind of nailed down his position. And yet people are talking about him all the time as being like, oh, perfect for left eight. Or he could play the six or whatever it is. and I'm going, well, he's fucking pretty good where he is, you know. Maybe we should just stick with that for a little bit. Whereas with Ethan, it's like, oh, where exactly is he going to play? Is he going to play on the right? Like you say, Madweke has come in, and we'll talk about him now in a second. Does he deputize for Odegaard? Does he take minutes off Odegaard?

21:18Does he start games? People are talking about Eberetje Eze still. What does that mean for Ethan if Eze comes in? You know, we all want Ethan to stay. We all want Ethan to play. but if you bring in an Eze, where does that leave him? Where does, you know, where does that, or how does that change the environment? I've seen talk about Xavi Simons as well. I'm not sure how much truth there is to those stories, but you've got to give that some consideration. You know, if you're really invested in Weneri making the grade at Arsenal, he needs to play. Fabio Vieira was let go on loan last season to create that pathway.

21:54I love Eze, by the way, and I think anyone who listens knows I like him, and what an addition he would be to the squad. But there are consequences of signing every player. So it's going to be very interesting to see how it plays out. Maybe we learn a bit of something from preseason, the games against Milan and Newcastle next week and then the North London derby in Hong Kong the week after. You know, how the players are used, where exactly they're used and that might give us a bit of a hint or a bit of an indication. Maduweke, since the last podcast, has become officially an Arsenal player. It's a deal that's sparked a lot of conversation, but he's our player now.

22:37I think whatever reservations people might have had about the price, whatever reservations they have about signing another player from Chelsea, I think the player absolutely deserves a clean slate, right? So if you want to scrutinize the money that's spent from an accounting perspective, if you think it's impacted any other deals we might do, that's an issue for the higher-ups, right? For the manager, for the sporting director, for the board. What's been very clear is that Arsenal have, you know, publicly and sort of behind the scenes got the message out that this guy is not like just a backup player.

23:16When he's linked, you're thinking, yeah, he's kind of, you know, backup for Bakayo Saka. but Arsenal are making it clear that's not the case. We had a question from Nishant, who's at Nishant Gunner 10. He says, what's your prediction for which position Maduweke plays more matches in, either as a starter or a sub left wing or right wing? It does seem like he's going to be an option on both sides. He referenced that in his interview, in his first interview. He says he doesn't care where he plays. He just wants to, what did he say? I want to look at the fullback in the eye and then just nail him, which is, you know, exciting stuff sometimes from a player.

23:58But, you know, it does sound as if they are looking at him as somebody who can play both sides. Yeah, that's the plan. And I think even Arteta's quotes were very pertinent. He said, Nonny is an exciting and powerful young player with his performances and numbers in recent seasons being of consistently high quality. He is one of the most talented wide forward players in the Premier League. So that's someone who's pretty sure about what he's seeing, what he's signing, what he's bringing to the club. Or certainly in terms of the message that he wants to send to people aware perhaps that there might have been some reservations about this particular signing.

24:40Yeah, very pointed. And I think your mileage may vary on the player, but it seems like the club and those who are making the decisions at the club are very sure about him and his talent. So yeah, you're completely right. Any issues there were with the signing need to be put to one side now. And there's quite a reluctance to just wait and see sometimes in football. And that's my message with Madueke is that you can have your reservations about price, about his ceiling, about his quality, about the signing, where we've got him from. I share some of those as well but also I can I can see why he would have been a an appealing or attractive option to the club because we are sometimes quite blunt as an attacking force we can be quite predictable at times if if someone's not on their game i.e saka and then we're quite easy to defend against in a low block or a mid block and I just see Madueke as someone who is ready to try things a bit bring a bit of chaos some unpredictability someone who can play both sides with a lot of pace and power um and those players are quite difficult to find so if they've if they've identified him as as the option um look come in and show us what you've got man because at the end of the day if we're proved wrong or if someone who has reservations is proved wrong it means he's done a good job so yeah this is the moment where you're you need to be ready to eat humble pie because at the end of the day that means he would have been a success so yeah he's He definitely comes in with more questions than answers.

26:12But the more I've kind of looked into it, I've read about him and his numbers and what he could potentially bring to the group. I know we got a good reference from a couple of the boys already in the squad, like Saka and Rice. So we needed something extra on the wing because we had Ismael Khabie on the bench last year, Kieran Tierney playing on the left wing against Real Madrid, Nathan Butler-Oyadeji on the bench, Raheem Sterling, who was basically a net zero when it came to any kind of output, goals and assists were just impossible. So the fact that we've sort of been a bit proactive and gone for the guy that we need who can play both sides, hopefully I'm happy with it.

26:51And I just think he, maybe this little bit of separation now between him and his holidays, not going on the tour. People can forget a little bit if they're a bit angry or frustrated, but we're quite fickle as football fans. So the minute he puts the shirt on, he'll be supported. Well, yeah. I mean, I've made this point before. I think, you know, some of the reaction, while I completely understand, you know, debate and conversations and discussions over players and transfers and deals. That's what we do as football fans. It's what's interesting about the summer. Completely get it. I'm not saying people can't have an opinion about these kinds of things.

27:28Of course they can. Everybody can. And they're entitled to those opinions. Sometimes, though, it's about how you express that opinion. And I think, you know, some of the online reaction has gone a bit too far. Whereas as soon as he steps onto the pitch in an Arsenal shirt, you know, when his name is read out at the Emirates when he's making his debut, he'll get a lot of support. And then it's down to him to produce and to perform on the pitch. And like you, I really, really hope he does. Because, you know, if he does, the humble pie will taste good. You know, there is a need, as you said, to bolster the wide areas.

28:05Maybe he wouldn't have been first on anybody's list of wide players to bring in this summer. But a bit like the striker situation, I don't think there's a massive market out there, certainly, for players who've moved around. Yeah, he's our player now. So let's see what he can do. And that little two-week break he'll have now, the club told him, go on holidays. you've been away at that ridiculous Club World Cup thing. Go wash the stain of that. Wash the stain of Chelsea off you. Come back fresh. You know, reborn to be an Arsenal player. It's quarantined. Yeah, exactly. It is medical with people in a hazmat suit around it.

28:51Speaking of the striker thing, it's been basically a week since we heard any significant update about Victor Jokeres. I went to have a look at the Portuguese press this morning. I know there's a discrepancy, a wide discrepancy in some of the reporting. Ebola, I don't know if that's super tabloidy, medium tabloidy. I don't know what their reputation is like. I'm sure somebody who lives in Portugal or Portuguese listeners can tell us one way or the other. But the headline is, Sporting, Jokeres deal at risk of collapse. Even the father cries. and they go on to say sporting is adamant about 80 million euros to let the goal scorer leave Arsenal are showing no signs of actually reaching the Lions target the strikers family is devastated believing that given everything he gave he deserved a different approach from the club even his father is crying I mean how do they know his father is crying what's where is that coming from It's his dad, like that TikTok guy, you know, the guy who does all the sad scenes and he's just like, no!

30:02Until such time as this transfer is done, he's like on his knees, no. It's weird reporting, but it is a bit strange, isn't it, that we haven't had anything new on this, particularly given how much it was suggested that Mikel Arteta really, really wanted Yacquerez on the tour to Singapore and Hong Kong. It is very weird, especially because a lot of the reporting earlier this week seemed quite conclusive, quite definite. I was just expecting a sort of player travels to London for medical and for this to be wrapped up and agreed before the tour. So this is normally where James might drop in a couple of nuggets of information that he'll have.

30:40Obviously, I won't have those. But some of the reporting around this deal has been very funny, to say the least. I mean, we've had him breaking up with his girlfriend because he doesn't want any ties to Lisbon. Then we had the furniture moving scandal. CNN. What was that Wednesday? It was on CNN. CNN reporting that his sofa's getting in the back of a removal truck. Now we've had the crying dad. I mean, what's next? A dog that comes out with an exclusive. The sadness in his eyes. Let my dad leave. Just really, really strange. I mean, maybe they just have a permanent GYOK cam set up in the corner of his living room and they can see everything that's happening.

31:22But he's not even there. His furniture's gone. Where is he? He's just eating his dinner in front of the TV with nothing else in the room. Yeah, he's just sitting at like an Ibis hotel outside Lisbon Airport, like in this terrible room, just waiting for somebody to give him the green light. Yeah. I mean, I think we spoke about it a little bit before and said sporting are well within their rights to be a bit difficult because at the end of the day, he's their player. He's made things a bit difficult by going on strike. He's made his feelings very known about wanting to leave and join Arsenal. So I can completely understand the optics of sporting wanting to dig their heels in a little bit and stand strong and stand firm.

32:02They do have previous for this. We've seen it before in a Pedro Porro deal to Spurs that was kind of off and on, then off and on again. We saw it with Bruno Fernandes. They kind of said that the deal had broken down with Manchester United and then two days later it had gone through. So they do have previous. and we know that Sporting, even though they're not one of Europe's giants, can sort of stand firm and are ready to be that club who are a bit difficult. But I am a little bit concerned at how this is developing because there hasn't really been an update. It's been a lot of clubs are still in negotiations.

32:37They're sorting out the add-ons. It's like a 2.5 million thing about this and 1.5 million about that and how easy they are to achieve. and based on ex appearances. So I think it's clear that the lawyers are working long hours, day and night, to try and get this sorted. I'm sure Arteta will be making his input heard as well. Andrea Berta will be there chatting with their president. So it's just very bitty and sort of gritty and hard. And it's perfectly normal when you're thinking about the sums that are involved because every euro counts in moments like this. and Sporting will have said, look, this is the most prolific striker in Europe, technically, based on the numbers.

33:19We want full value. So it's a shame that he's not there to fly off with the squad on tour. I'm not super worried about it falling apart. I'm sorry to his dad for crying. But I think it will get done eventually, but it just feels like Sporting are like, well, you fucked us around a little bit, so we're fucking you around a little bit and that's it. Yeah, I can't really believe it's just about, some of the reporting in midweek said, it's about the final$2.5 million and how easy that is to get paid. It has to be a bit more complicated than that because, you know, if you're squabbling over that pittance of a fee when you've already spent or about to spend$200 million during a summer, like I get it.

34:06You don't want to be pushed around yourselves. You know, as a club, you want to be seen to be tough negotiators, et cetera, et cetera. but it's got to be something a bit more complicated than 2.5 million i mean let's imagine that somehow there's a an update today or something like that do you think there's scope for him to to join the tour or would it be too complicated at this point you know he'd have to come to london he'd have to do the medical he'd have to get all the bits and pieces signed Would he be better, you know, sorting out a place to live and sorting out his furniture? Who knows where his furniture is as well?

34:44I'm really worried about his sofa. Yeah, somebody, please think of the sofa. You know, where is the furniture? You know, the sooner he gets involved with the group, the better. But is it maybe, you know, does it ask a bit too much physically of somebody to go to Singapore, then go to Hong Kong, then come back and deal with all the travel and the jet lag. I don't know. I mean, we don't know what's going to happen or when it's going to happen, if anything is going to happen on this one before we turn our attention elsewhere, maybe. But you'd have to think they've come so far down the road with this one that it's just got to get done sooner rather than later.

35:23I would be amazed if it falls apart now. And I know football can throw you surprises and shocks, and we've seen that happen how many times with transfers down the line where even media has been done and for the moves not to have happened. But I think this is just a matter of time, really. And if we do get him signed within the next 48 to 72 hours, I wouldn't be surprised at all if he heads out on the tour. I mean, this is the signing, the striker signing, the big one that Arsenal fans have wanted for the best part of three years now. And there's just no way he's not going to head out there. I mean, if it was like a 21-year-old midfielder from Belgium who had maybe played at the under 21 Euros, I could perfectly understand why they would stay and stick around and sort of get settled in in London and do their bits and pieces there.

36:12But if there's any way to get Jokeres out on the tour, he'll be there. So, yeah, just I don't know. I don't know what's happening. It's so difficult because one newspaper will say one thing, another will say another. Then you're not really sure on the reliability of the Portuguese papers. And then we get the information on the English side and there'll be some people saying one thing, another saying another. So it's just the landscape now of transfer reporting. But along the way, someone will know and hear something, which is what I think we saw earlier on in the week when everyone just agreed on that.

36:46what is it 63 and a half million plus 10 million euro transfer fee um that everybody went with so it's obvious that they knew um but regardless of what it is holding it up whatever those installments are the add-ons the terms um it's just developing a bit slowly at the moment which is a shame but i i'm not really at the point of nail biting yet i i'm just maybe more with a tummy feeling if that makes sense sure sure yeah just sort of low level anxiety versus like yeah that's like outright panic never hurt anybody yeah yeah um well look we'll we'll just have to wait and see what happens there it's i think the ideal obviously would have been to get it done before um before the tour but i think as well there's probably an element as you say of sporting making life difficult in order to get the best possible deal for themselves and for their club.

37:43I mean, the reporting in that one about his dad crying is also talks about how he's refusing to go back and won't turn up for training and all of this kind of stuff. So, you know, it's gone from being a bit protracted to a bit of a saga now. You know, we've, for the most part, I think, avoided transfer sagas this summer. We've got our deals done pretty quickly and efficiently. You know, Martin Zubomendi agreed back in March. Even if that felt long being announced, there were other reasons for that. But the deal was done. Norgard done quickly. Kepa done quickly. Mosquera seems to have been done pretty routinely.

38:28Who am I missing? Madweke. Yeah, again, you know, it went from like interest to pretty much done very quickly. So this is the only one that's been a bit of a saga this summer. And that's probably going to be testing for Andrea Berta, who I imagine has had to stay behind in London and not go on the tour to help get things done. Look, all I can say is he'll be happier for it because wearing a suit in those conditions would not have been fun for anybody. And I can only imagine Andrea Berta in a suit for the rest of my life. I don't think he wears normal clothes. I think he'll just wake up in a suit and go to bed in a suit.

39:07And a thousand pound belt. Yeah, exactly. That he gets in the picture. Yeah, it's a bit of a mess. And I think sometimes this can happen. And I think Arsenal in general are a club who don't really get involved in these style of negotiations. Even when things drag on a little bit, it's all very amicable. Talks are in a good level with the other club. I mean, even Mikel Moreno last year, how long did those talks rumble on for? But the whole reporting was that the relationship between Arsenal and Real Sociedad is good. It's just about finding a good deal for both parties. So, yeah, this will be a big learning curve for the club.

39:45And for him, it won't be the first time he's done this, by the way. For Atletico Madrid, I think of the Antoine Griezmann deal. there will be loads of loads of little things like this so yeah let's just wait and see hopefully hopefully he will be an arsenal player soon because like you said i think we've come so far for it to break down on a small thing like 2.5 million in add-ons would just be crazy um so that's just why i don't see it happening there is some there is some suggestion that sporting are in the final stages of bringing in a replacement as well um am i right yeah it's called a striker from Almeria.

40:23Luis Suarez is his name, I believe. I really think so. There you go. I think so. Not that one. They don't want the one playing for Inter Miami, that's for sure, because his knees, man, the way he's running at the moment, I think I could give him a game at five a side. So it's just very sad to watch him like this. Although Messi, did you see his assist from last night? No. It was like the classic Messi to Jordi Alba pass. It was unbelievable. Right. Not that I'm staying up to watch Inter Miami, but it just came up on my feed. Like I said, I haven't watched any football at all. Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, and Lionel Messi at Inter Miami.

41:03And Buskets. And Buskets. They got the gang back together. Fair play. Didn't Kieran Gibbs play for them? He did. He was one of the first, I think. Right. Do you know what's interesting? We have the same birthday. Who, you and Kieran Gibbs? Me and Kieran Gibbs, Andrew. When is... I thought Kieran... Look that up for me. Kieran Gibbs, here we go. Oh, no, it's your birthday. So, yeah. 26th September. I thought he was the 28th. Look at Miles Lewis-Gelly's birthday, by the way. Oh, no. Have I got Miles instead? Is this Arsenal left-back heritage? Look at Miles. He's the 26th as well. Me, Kieran Gibbs, and Miles Lewis-Skelly.

41:52Goodness, me. Two great left backs and a fucking eejit. But, you know, there you go. Weird coincidence. Harsh on Kieran Gibbs. I was centre-half, Phil. I was centre-half. Oh, true, true. You didn't invert at all? It depends what you mean by inverting. It wasn't invented back then. Farade forward from time to time. Granit Xhaka's the 27th. So have I been lied to my whole life? Do I not share a single birthday with an Arsenal player? I'm glad about this. Sorry to have ruined your Sunday. I'm going to have to find one now. That's the rest of my day. The schedule's sorted. All right. Well, look, we'll take a little break here.

42:27We'll come back with your questions and more in part two, as we usually do, right after this.

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44:10welcome back to the arse cast extra nearly forgot what podcast it was and this is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you send to us on blue sky at phil costa.bsky.social and at arseblog.com also on the arseblog discord chat server which you get access to if you are an arse blog member on patreon and if you are when we make these new signings phil and i do new player podcasts and we release those a deep dive into the player into the deal the strengths the weaknesses and all the rest so we've been busy enough this summer hopefully a couple more still to come um in the in the weeks ahead so if you want to get on board with that it's patreon.com forward slash arse blog right as you are the guest this is your first appearance phil i'm going to give you the honor of the first question oh wow thank you um yeah this one comes from blue sky and it's from jack at thatjackrice.bsky.social and he says goodly morning gents in football slash afc has there been a change in attitude to loaning players out it feels like now as soon as you've loaned a player out they have no future at their parent club what are your thoughts on this i guess it depends on what the loan is for you know is it developmental if you're sending a young player out on loan, it could easily be a way for them to get experience and come back and break through and learn.

45:37Because as we talked about in the first part, sometimes the pathway isn't quite there for a young player, but you still rate them highly. It does feel a bit more like, right, we're going to loan this guy out because nobody wants to buy him. and maybe he does well out there and someone will want to buy him. But that's the Albert-Sambi-Laconga paradox, I guess, in that you loan them out, they do quite well, but nobody still wants to buy them. So, yeah, maybe it does feel a bit like that. It's a way of getting players off your books and getting the wages off the books in a market where there is no real interest in the player.

46:19Do you see Marcus Rashford? It's going to Barcelona, by the way. Yeah, and they're paying his full salary, which is a bit of a win for United because he's on big money. I thought it was going to be like a silly deal where they were paying 25 % because they basically did everything possible to tank his value over the last 12 months. So, yeah, they've actually done okay considering nobody was going to pay 40 million or whatever it is they wanted for him. But to lose all of the wages, it's really not bad at all. No, no, no. a loan plus an option or an obligation or anything like that. I think it's going to be an option, which like you said, will just end up with him not being bought.

47:00Unless he does crazy well, which is possible in that Barcelona team. I mean, he did pretty well for Villa. I mean, it just shows you how desperate we were in January that that was, you know, probably would have been a decent addition to our squad. but obviously people would have held their nose and gone Rashford but anyway that's the way it goes hindsight is a wonderful thing right what about this one from Mr Snurb and he says he's on the discord with Zubamendi coming in do you think it will lead to a different more attack focused Martin Odegaard than we saw last year last season Odegaard had to cover back a lot because the guy behind him would start to run out of legs.

47:46As a consequence, will it also give Arteta a bit more confidence to use Waneri in that position? So, yeah, an interesting question about the impact that Zubimendi might have on other aspects of the team. Yes, and I absolutely agree. I wrote this in my sort of player profile. I think we spoke about it on our new signing pod as well. I think Zubimendi gives us a lot of tactical flexibility because he is very much the number six. He's comfortable being isolated. He's comfortable playing on an island. He doesn't need a lot of support around him. He's done it for both club and country now. He's 26.

48:22He knows the role. And, you know, obviously we've had Thomas Partey in the past or Jorginho who are maybe lone sixes on paper, but I think they've still needed people around them to play at their best level, whether that's an inverting fullback in terms of Sinchenko or Myles Lewis-Skelly or Calafuri or someone like that. And then there was Declan Rice dropping in. And we've seen Odegaard drop even towards the centre-backs to get the ball and try and make things happen. So I think with Zubimendi, he's just going to sit there and be like, you know what, lads, I'm fine here. You go and do your things in the final third.

48:57I'll be good here. You can give me the ball. I'll take it under pressure. And I think in terms of Odegaard in particular, we need him closer to goal. I don't doubt that he's got the capability to be a player who can influence the game in deeper areas. I mean, he's got the IQ, the technical quality. I think he can spot a pass when he needs to. But where we want him is in that right half space, linking with Bakayo Saka, waiting for Ben White to tear forward on the overlap. And we need him in that corner of the box where he can sort of link and combine and play those smart little passes through. And that's where we need him really, not in the center circle where he's passing to Declan Rice.

49:36So I think Zubamendi certainly gives us that ability to push forward. He provides the team with a bit of structure. He can even drop in to be a third centre-back at some point. So yeah, I absolutely agree that he'll give us a lot in terms of tactical flexibility and structure because last season was a little bit of a mess when we had to sort of work on the fly due to injuries and suspensions and other things. So yeah, I absolutely agree with that. Yeah, I'm really, really excited to see what this guy's going to bring to the team. And I know there was sort of like this like, oh, Zubimendi, when's it going to get announced?

50:12And I kind of feel a bit sorry for him because he's a really, really good player. And maybe the signing hasn't produced the kind of fireworks you might like or would have anticipated, you know, because of how long it was in the post. But I do think this guy could be really, really influential to our team and to the way that we play. Yeah, the qualities that he has, that Man City wanted, that Liverpool wanted, that Real Madrid reportedly wanted are going to be on display for Arsenal next season. So yeah, really excited. And I really would like to see a return to form for Martin Odegaard as well.

50:51I know he became something of a lightning rod at certain points last season. He admitted himself it wasn't his best season. I don't think it was quite as bad as some people were making out. I think the sort of the overall frustration of what was going on in Premier League terms and the fact that it kind of coupled or was aligned with his loss of form, if you want to put it that way, put him in the spotlight a bit too much, I think. But I think he can definitely do better, certainly in terms of goal scoring. And if you get him a bit closer to goal and get him into those positions, I'm pretty sure we'll see a bit more from him.

51:33So there you go. Yeah, agreed. I mean, I think towards the end of the season, we did see him looking a bit better. Obviously, we don't know what that initial injury was like for him. We don't know the effect it had on him. I think he did lose a lot of power in his game. And I think we saw towards the end of the year, that was slowly coming back. We saw him strike the ball a bit better, a bit cleaner. He scored that goal against Southampton as well, obviously, from the Ozone, as we like to call it, when he's kind of drifting into those central spaces and hitting low drives into the corner. So yeah, I really, really hope that this can be a kind of, not an awakening, but just something that frees him up a little bit.

52:12And obviously he will have played with Zubimendi before, Pharrell Sociedad as well. So maybe that little sense of muscle memory can come back and we can see the best of both players. So yeah, really excited about what Zubimendi will bring. All right, your question, I think. Yeah, it's me. It's my turn. Again, I'm going back to Blue Sky. This comes from RohithJ at thirdworldecon.bsky.social. And he says, what kind of problems do you anticipate, if any, when we introduce chaos into our game model a la Eze, Simmons, Giochoresh and Madueke? How do you think Arteta will handle players who like to freestyle?

52:48I mean, is that what Giochoresh is? I mean, we're buying him in the full knowledge that, you know, he does what he does in that center forward position. I'm not sure that's chaos per se. Madweke maybe a little bit more free-spirited than some of the players that we have. I'm on board with it, you know. I don't know if we're going to get an Eze or a Simons. Players like Rice and Marino, for example, and even Kai Havertz to an extent, are, you know, they're good at what they do, but I don't think they bring that chaos or that kind of unpredictability. and I do feel like that's maybe something that we have missed and could do with a bit more of at times the question I suppose is like is that what Mikel Arteta really wants I think that's the crux of the question you think he's going to have to wrestle with some of his his intuition and his instinct to kind of let them be a bit more expressive be a bit more off the cuff where we know that normally he prefers a bit more structure and control I think he's going to have to be because I think if you look at the seasons where we've done well

54:09he'll point to the fact that we scored 90-odd goals or whatever it was in the season that we were just pipped to the title, right? So goal scoring wasn't really an issue for the team that season even if the football felt a bit more structured a bit more prescribed a bit more built on the foundation of defence but last season um we missed some of that and i think when you look at some of the games where we've fallen down where we haven't quite made the breakthrough those frustrating games against villa or everton or fulham you know teams that i'm not saying we have a right to beat but i think we probably have within the squad the capability of beating but haven't for whatever reason is it because the structure wasn't right?

54:52Is it because the structure that we use has caused us a problem? You know what I mean? I remember the game against Fulham away last season when that was 1-1, right? We thought we'd won it, but there was an offside. Saka had a goal disallowed for offside. Maybe we're thinking about that game a bit differently. And I remember Arteta being asked about Fulham playing with a low block. That's not how Fulham play. They don't play like that. They don't set up that way. But what Arsenal did force them into that. Right. And that was what Arteta's point was after the game that, you know, the way we played forced this team to adapt within the game to try and withstand all the possession that we had in their half.

55:44But then it's like, do we have enough to break teams like that down? If as a consequence of the way we play, we force them into a low block, are we sort of playing into their hands in a way? So how do you deal with that? How do you counter that? And I think kind of the only way is sort of a bit of individual expression. Or you do something which I think would be even more against Mikel Arteta's instincts, which is to say, here's the ball. You have the ball. And then we'll see what we can do when you come forward and we'll try and hurt you in transition. That's another element of our game, which I don't think is as effective as it could be, right?

56:24Absolutely. You know, when we do have the opportunity to break from deep, like we've got a goalkeeper who can deliver the ball with his hands and with his feet to players 60, 70 yards down the field. But do we do enough with that? So does someone like Jokeres address that to an extent? I think he probably does because if you look at the way he plays and the way he runs in behind, he loves that. That's, you know, his bread and butter. He absolutely loves that. You know, do we have enough pace to stop us overthinking? Like sometimes we break and then we just overthink it because we don't have the pace to be, to make that move decisive.

57:05Does that make sense? It does, yeah. If you've got the super pace, there's only one thing that you're doing. But if you're sort of caught between like, can I beat this man for pace? Or will I cut back inside and try and find a power? Oh, I cut back inside, I've got tackled, the players have got back, and now the counterattack is done for. So I think those are maybe some issues that we are looking to address with Madueke, who is really quick. Yacores, who's very fast and very direct as well. I think Arteta's saying, these are things that I need in my team. And I think the evidence of the summer in terms of how we play.

57:41And even going back to the Zubimendi question, do we get the ball forward more quickly with him in deep positions? I think we do. He doesn't take as many touches, for example, as a Jorginho or a Partey. Like he will get that ball forward more quickly and that allows us to cause the opposition more problems and stretch them. And even if you consider the signing of Norgard as well, Brentford are a very vertical team. They like to break in transition quickly with Mbamo, Wisser, Kevin Sharder, all running in behind. So maybe that has been a pointed sort of aspect to our recruitment this summer is that we're looking to be a little bit different, a bit more chaotic, unpredictable, because you're absolutely right.

58:19I think we needed to power up in attack for a long time now, not only in terms of personnel, but in terms of how we threaten people and how we threaten defenders. And it's been too easy for teams to put three players on Bukayo Saka and leave one person on the left-hand side, whether it's Trossard or Martinelli or whoever, because they know that they're not going to threaten. So they're comfortable leaving them in a 1v1 battle because Saka is the danger. And they just put three players on him every game and then it's up to him to do something incredible and magical to break the deadlock or to score the opening goal.

58:53And that can't happen. I mean, if you think of City, for example, we maybe fall into the trap of them being boring and death by a thousand passes. And, you know, once they get the ball in the half, nobody touches it for the rest of the game. But who have they had in wide areas that have been ready to change the game? It's been Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez, Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling. You know, even Kevin De Bruyne is a game breaker like that. He's not a typical number 10 who, in the Raquel May mold, for example, he's very much power, shooting, final ball. So these are all players who can do the individual things as well as the collective things.

59:31And I think that needs to be our goal, our ambition, is that we can have the structure and the solidity without it coming at a price of our overall attacking play. So that needs to be the balance. Because I think that first season we were looking to win the title. we were so exciting and free-flowing and we had players flying forward at any moment all the time Martinelli running in behind Saka and then we sort of found a balance in the second season and then last year we really reverted to maybe too much focus on the dual winning and the set pieces and the margins that way so it will be interesting to see how Arteta recalibrates again if that's the right word yeah the thing about it is as well is that we are a known quantity now the first title season nobody really expected that from arsenal second season we built on that and and obviously came very close but we are a known quantity now and and teams pay a lot more attention to you they pay you a bit more respect you know and that's part of the challenge of management for for michael arteta speaking of challenges of management here's a question from tom canton of the Gooner talk.

1:00:39And Tom says, after signing Mosquera and Jokeres, just going to check, have we signed Jokeres? No, yeah. He says, Arsenal will have two players for every position, not including Jesus, plus potentially an Eze and the likes of Zinchenko, Laconga, Vieira, etc. Which two players, or three, if the Eze equivalent or Eze or an equivalent arrives, Are you leaving out of the old Trafford squad if everyone is fit, as we hope? Yeah, all of a sudden we've got options, Andrew, which is a very strange concept for this team, apparently. Yeah, well, I'm not going to say all of our business is done, but most of it's been done.

1:01:27I think the last few bits, obviously, Mosquera, that seems like a formality. And obviously, we've spoken about Giocares as well. But now the focus needs to switch to outgoings. And I think this is, again, where Berta needs to kind of stamp his authority on the team, because I think I'm maybe not as down as others were on Edu. And I think a lot of that maybe came out in the wash afterwards when we realised how things were being run. The moment he left was a bit strange. He left us in the lurch for that January window a little bit. But I think where Andrea Berta can really prove himself now is what we do in terms of sales and outgoings.

1:02:06And I think there are absolutely candidates for Arsenal to make some money this year. And I look at Oleksandr Zinchenko, big wages, a bit injury prone. Maybe we'll have to sacrifice a bit of our pride on that one and say 12 million. And you can take him, you know, what has he got a year left on his deal as well? So we really don't have a lot of leverage there. Sambi Lokonga, can we just say 8 million there? 6 million. Rhys Nelson, does anyone want him for 10 million? But slowly, those fees add up, right? And this could be important if we are looking to go again in terms of another forward player, another attacking player.

1:02:44I think it's quite clear that Fabio Vieira doesn't have a future at the club. The writing was on the wall last season, to be honest, when he got bosched aside by a 17-year-old, which I don't think is too difficult to do physically because a light breeze can knock him over. But it's just, yeah, I think it's quite clear who's in the plans and who's not in the plans. So, yeah, really excited to have some actual talent on the bench for a change, because I think it gives you options in games against a tired defence. Do you want to see a Victor Giocares coming on, for example? Do you want to see a Maduweke coming on?

1:03:19I think that gives you another dimension. You can power up in a different way. You can move Saka central. You can put other players in different positions. So, yeah, in terms of who's going to be axed from the squad, very much those names. I'd expect Zinchenko to be gone. Jesus is still a little way away, I think, from returning. More or less, it's going to be October time, maybe back in training. So we'll have to wait a little while for him. But Sambi, Vieira, both gone in my mind. I mean, they shouldn't be at the club next year. And there's probably a couple more that I've missed out as well.

1:03:52But there are options for Arsenal to make some cash this year. Even a Jakub Kivio, for example, could be available now with Mosquera coming in. And we just have to cross our fingers with Calafiore that he can play more than 45 minutes without, you know, something going wrong. But I think we do have options to make money this year. So now I'm sort of laser focused on what Berta can do in that sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is still a big squad, isn't it? And there are going to be, you know, if everyone is fit. And that is probably the biggest if that there can be around this Arsenal team. I was watching, I was watching the, or not watching, but I was looking at the Arsenal website earlier.

1:04:33And the picture of the guys lined up before they were going to Singapore. Yes. And there's quite. Before they get in on the plane. Before they get on the plane and there's like a few of them wearing kind of the tights. Tights? Is that the right way of putting them? Leggings? Yes. Yeah, the leggings. Leggings. The sports leggings. Sports leggings. Tights is fine. No judgment here. But, you know, Havertz has got them on. Trossard has got them on. You know, players who may be a bit susceptible to injuries. Zubamendi's got his on. You know. maybe it's just personal preference i don't know but maybe it's like those deep vein thrombosis socks that you wear on the plane yeah could be could be um but yeah keeping everyone fit is the first challenge and if we have everyone fit and we have to make a tough decision about one player or a couple of players who don't make the trip to old trafford then I don't really have any issue with that.

1:05:39I really don't. I think that's kind of the ideal situation. And I said this on Friday on the podcast, you know, it really is a season where Mikel Arteta needs to use the full extent of his squad as much as possible, you know, to keep everyone fit and keep everybody engaged and interested and to give us options and to help us, you know, for some of the more difficult games, have our best players in the best possible condition. you know for some other games it's not that you don't take them seriously but you know you you use your squad so uh can i tag a question on yeah um this comes from phil costa at phil costa.be um do you i've seen a bit of a narrative developing about our signings this summer and that we haven't really improved the starting 11 um a lot of these signings are potentially coming in to be a bit more depth focused sure you know filling up the squad putting some strength on the bench to to power up giving us maybe other options in key areas do you feel like that should have been the priority this summer to kind of build up the the quality of the squad or do you think it was a moment to maybe identify two players and say bang 80 million on a striker bang, 80 million on a central midfielder and maybe 60 on a left winger and that's it?

1:07:01Or did you think that this was a kind of necessary thing that we've needed to do? I think we've needed to do a bit of both. You know, I don't think you can go through what we went through last season and not learn the lesson from it, right? To go into another season with not the required depth would have been ridiculous in my mind. It really would have. You know, the injuries that we suffered last season cost us points, lots of points and lots of goals. And, you know, if we didn't address that, I think we would have been foolish, right? I do get the point about improving the starting 11. I think Zubimendi raises the level for me in central midfield.

1:07:46I think he's a, you know, a starter at most clubs in Europe. And I think we've said goodbye to two aging central midfielders. And we've brought in a guy who's in his prime years and who will, as we said, bring something different to the team. So I think he improves us. I think he improves the starting 11. If it's Jochrez, with all due respect to Mikel Marino, that's an improvement. You know, in the striking position, that is an improvement. And it's also depth. And I get what people are saying about the starting 11. Look at the bench that we had for the game against PSG. Champions League semifinal.

1:08:30I don't want to look. Don't look. Don't look. You know, whatever you think of Madweke, he's a 23-year-old England international with some qualities, some rawness to his game or things that he can get better at or things, you know, as we discussed in the new player podcast, it might frustrate people a bit. But, you know, we didn't have options on the bench. So I think you can also improve your bench as well as improving your starting 11. I think we've done that for the most part this season, you know. So I get it. Like there's more excitement about the big name signings, right? If you go out and you sign a superstar name or a really big name or spend a huge amount of – we did that a couple of summers ago with Declan Rice.

1:09:16Yeah. You know, so you can't do that all the time. But if you're asking me, like, should we have just bought Wurtz and Eketike and left it at that? No, you can't do that either, you know. So I get why some signings at other clubs feel a bit better and feel a bit more exciting. I'm okay with the deals that we've done and the way that we have done them, you know, contingent on us getting the Jacare's deal over the line. Yeah, agreed. I can completely understand why people will want those X-Factor signings, especially in attacking areas. But we had so many gaps to fill that it might just not have been financially possible to get those big guys and nothing else.

1:10:00So it's also been lost in a little bit of the frustration of last season. But our team's really good. Like when everyone's fit, we can beat anybody by quite a considerable margin. I mean, we did during that run towards the tail end of the season previous. That was just the most unbelievable period of football I've seen in a decade. You know, we were steaming through everybody. Five nils, six nils, four nils. And that's with Kai Havertz up front. That's with Martinelli on the left. So I think where we are now, the squad is very difficult to improve upon. It's very difficult to say maybe an Alexander Isak aside or some top quality players aside.

1:10:42that this is an easy position to upgrade. So I think more or less the issue was finding variety, a bit more speed, a bit more chaos in attacking areas where I think we've faltered more than having a lack of quality, if that makes sense. We had another question from Blue Sky from Prashant, who's at prashant.bsky.social. He says, if we sign Mosquera and Yokarez and that ends our summer, How happy will you be with our transfers? I feel we still like the creativity from midfield and on the left-hand side. Like, how would you feel if that was just the end of the business? Do you think the scope for doing something else, is there scope to do an Eze?

1:11:32And if, for example, there is an Eze or somebody else out there, do you think it requires a departure? And by that I mean a kind of significant departure because of where he would, where that player might play, whether it's the left-hand side, whether it's in a more central position, which is where Eze does his best work. like would you sacrifice trossard for an essay would that round out the window well for you do you feel like that's something we're still missing i think we need one more definitely and i think what is nice about essay or even even a shavi simmons for example even though those links feel a bit um agenty at this moment in time is that i think they do more than one thing well you know I would be very happy to play Eze centrally.

1:12:25I would be very happy to play Eze on the left. I think he could play even potentially closer to goal if we're looking to chase a game in terms of someone who's ready and willing to shoot from those areas. So if it's just Madueke and just Giocares in terms of our attacking signings, I would feel a little bit underwhelmed because I don't know if we've done all that we can to really bolster our options and improve our options. And I think you're right. If there is someone else to come in, a departure makes sense. You know, whether that's a Trossard or even a Martinelli, I'd obviously prefer Trossard to go because I think there's still scope for us to squeeze some juice out of Martinelli.

1:13:08I think he's had a difficult time recently, but there's a player there, in my opinion, and whether or not we can put up with that for another two seasons or another three seasons, I don't know, but I think he's earned at least next year. So for me, Trossard is the obvious candidate, but again, it's about where the market is for him. I know that Bayern were linked with him, Fenerbahce. It does seem a little bit strange to me that the talks around his contract of, well, I was going to say slowed down, but they've evaporated. They've disappeared. We don't know anything about that anymore. I know he changed agent as well earlier this year, so maybe there's something linked with that, although I think his previous agent was unwell or some of the talk about that was that he was unwell.

1:13:52So yeah, I do feel we need something else in central areas because we're very functional. We're very functional there. I think of Marina, I think of Rice, I think of Havertz dropping in there. And I think especially on the left-hand side where we maybe don't have the improvisation, the guile, the creativity, just to have someone in those half spaces. I would be a bit disappointed if we leave it at this, because especially with some sales, for example, if we can generate 50 million pounds, that's a very nice number for us to maybe go back in and see what else we can do. So, yeah, in my opinion, we need one more.

1:14:29And for me, Eze is almost killing two birds with one player because he can do a couple of different things in different areas on the pitch. Yeah, I'm aligned with that, I have to say. I think, you know, like I said, I like what we've done so far. I like the business we've done. I think it's pretty smart. I think we've addressed the issues. But just to give us that extra push, something a little bit different, whether it's from the left or a bit more internal, I think is required. It's always felt to me, and certainly when you read the reporting around Arsenal's transfer business this summer, It's always felt to me like there were going to be two segments.

1:15:13Maybe this first segment is dragging on a bit too long because of the Yokeres thing, which they would ideally have done by now. But you get to mid-July, you've got your bits in place, and the market runs until whatever it is, September 1st or August 31st. I don't know when the window closed. Is it one of those weird ones like September the 3rd? I think it is the 1st of September, although I'd have to double-check that. When does the transfer window close? This is very professional of us. Yes. First of September, Monday, first of September at seven o 'clock.

1:15:50So that's still, you know, five, six weeks for things to happen. And so much in transfers is contingent on what happens elsewhere. Dominoes start to fall, don't they? You know, a move here means a move there. And a guy goes here and a guy, and then there's some money sloshing around. And then all of a sudden a guy you didn't really think would be available could be available. So I feel like the second part of the window from an Arsenal perspective was always going to be a bit opportunistic rather than part of the main plan, if that makes sense. So we'll just have to wait and see. Yeah. Yeah. So there we go.

1:16:28Was that my question or was that your question? I can't remember who asked. I think it was your question. It was. It was actually. Yeah. So you've got one. So I'll head to the Discord now because I've neglected it a little bit. And I've lost it now, but there was a question, a bit of a humorous question. I'll try and find it. And it was along the lines of who do you think is going to set the precedent for the most ridiculous yellow card and what are they going to do to get it? It depends on what the new rules are, right? What is the new thing that they're going to introduce at the start of the season and all of a sudden players will be getting booked for it.

1:17:06Like, you know, you can't touch the ball, can't delay the restart, kick the ball away, whatever it is. There is the goalkeeper thing, isn't there? Like goalkeepers, if they don't release the ball inside eight seconds, the referee can give a corner. Yes. So yeah, the goalkeepers are going to have to be pretty on their toes for the opening couple of months of the season because if that's the only new implementation, then that's what referees are going to be. There'll be a hyper focus on it. Yeah. You know, will the referees be standing there as soon as the goalkeeper catches the ball going one, two, three, four, five.

1:17:45Howard Webb in the, in the stands with his stopwatch. Yeah. Book him, book him. Yeah. Yeah. How quickly, how quickly do they count? Do they do the one, 1 ,000, two, 1 ,000, one Mississippi, one Mississippi, two Mississippi. I like it. There'll be some fucking Michael Oliver, Michael Oliver, as soon as David Raya catches the ball. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, back corner, from which the opposition will score and Mikel Arteta will go absolutely crazy and Cabriolainza will run onto the pitch and loaf Michael Oliver. So I don't know who's going to get booked, but I presume whatever shit is going to happen, based on what we know so far, we don't know if there's going to be any other new rules or new regulations that referees will be told to keep an eye on, then it's got to be the goalkeepers, right?

1:18:36Potentially. Yeah, this came from Katie in the Sunshine Band, by the way. He said, morning, fellas, which player will receive the first never-been-seen-before yellow or red card that makes us collectively exclaim, wait, what? So that was the question. I think it will be a joint yellow card or a double booking between Kai Havertz and Victor Jokeresh, who both take their shirts off. when the other player scores and just go and flex in the corner. Some of those... Some of those fucking... The edited ones with, like, biceps the size of Texas. Exactly. And then, like, Grok, is this real? Is this a real picture?

1:19:18The collective brain rot that we get now. Fucking eyes, like, honestly. Because we've got some pecs to show off next year, Andrew. We've got some six-packs to show off. And arguably that's more important than winning anything in my book. Handsome FC has a reputation to uphold. Forget set piece FC. It's the, we are handsome FC now and marriage FC. Odegaard obviously tied the knot this summer. Ezra, look, just putting it out there. He got married this summer. To Martin Odegaard. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a new thing. You would have thought that would have been, you would have thought that would have been in the papers a bit more, but yeah.

1:19:59So we know that marriage attracts Mikel Arteta like a moth to a flame. So maybe this is just what he needed from Eza, that level of commitment. Yeah. Well, fair play. You know, talk about pushing for a move to Arsenal. That's the fogging of standards. Yeah, that's it. What about this for a question from Peter Hust, who says, Nicholas Bentner has said he thinks Christian Norgard is similar to Arteta, the player with good balance, positioning and ability on the ball. Could this be a reasonable assessment? And what are your general expectations for Norgard this coming season? I mean, look, Nicholas Bendner, do you need a scouting job, my friend?

1:20:39Because that's a very apt comparison. Obviously, we spoke again in the new signing pod about how he started out as a more creative number eight, number 10, and sort of changed his perspective, his role at Brentford under Thomas Frank, who ended up turning him into this defensively-minded midfielder who's now ranking as one of the best in the Premier League, even at 31. So that's a really interesting transition for him in terms of his footballing career. I don't think he has the same level of quality on the ball as Mikel Arteta. And I know he got a lot of stick for passing sideways, but that just wasn't true.

1:21:19I mean, if you looked at his numbers during his time at Arsenal, he was actually like one of the best midfielders in the league in terms of his passing, in terms of his forward passing, breaking lines, things like that. But I think overall, there is a sort of nice comparison about them because obviously this was the last or maybe towards the end of their careers where they have the last chance to get a big move, a big contract, playing for a team in the Champions League. Obviously, we were in a slightly different situation then and we were getting hammered 8-2 around that time. I think he was signing, so it wasn't a super pleasant time for Arsenal Football Club.

1:21:54But I definitely see a few parallels in terms of their character in what they'll offer behind the scenes. I think he obviously comes in as the Brentford captain. So that shows he did have a measure of leadership about him. I think he'll do his best to uphold certain standards on the training ground. I think he'll come in and push people without being a sort of Roy Keane, Matteo Flamini, pointy, shouty leader. I think he's someone who maybe leads by example, how they manage themselves, how they uphold the standards of others. So I'm really happy with the deal. Honestly, it doesn't excite us. Christian Norgard coming into the club doesn't excite us because, again, we need players in our minds who push us over the line for the title.

1:22:38But when you lose Jorginho, when you lose Thomas Partey, two key pillars of the team with, what, 350 league appearances between them. I mean, that's a lot of experience to lose in one go. So we needed to kind of supplement that with a little bit more experience as opposed to a younger six, in my opinion, who would have been learning on the job. And I think that's a difficult position to get to grips with, especially in England where we've seen it before. And you get eaten up. You know, it's very unforgiving. The league is very physical. And if you're not there right away, you can get eaten. So he comes in with a lot of Premier League experience, a lot of know-how.

1:23:18I really like his sort of defensive side. I think he's got a really good knack for getting into the tackle, knowing when to get into tackles. I think he passes forward, which you mentioned earlier, that might be helpful. So really happy. I think for the price that we've got him at, I think he brings us a lot. He's a bit of a safety blanket, a security blanket as well for those early weeks with Martin Zubimendi, who might need a little bit of an adaptation period. So, yeah, I do see a few parallels with Arteta, and he seemed quite chuffed to get it over the line, which is really nice to see. It sure is.

1:23:53Okay, we're nearly going to leave it there, but I just want to give you one more question, also from the Discord, from John Johns. And he says, Who is the returning player, i.e. a player that was in the squad last season that you're most excited to see next season. He says, for me, it's Mikel Moreno. I think he was one of our best players in the second half of the season, both when he played as a striker and in midfield. Him and Zubimendi have an exciting dynamic for Spain, and I'm excited to see how a settled Moreno changes our midfield next season. He is the perfect blend of physicality and technique.

1:24:26But who are you picking? Ooh.

1:24:35I'm going to go for Ben White. And I know he's not really a returning player because he had a really up and down season in terms of injury and being out of the squad. But I'm really happy with Uri and Timber. I think he did an unbelievable job last year. I think it was quite obvious towards the end of the season that he was playing through injury and he even came out and said as much afterwards. But people have forgotten about Ben White and what a fantastic player he is. And I think even when he did play last year, you could see that he was not moving well. You could almost hear his joints clicking and sort of like the tin man.

1:25:12You know, he looked so stiff. He didn't have that pacing behind. I think people were getting in down his side more than we would have liked. And I think it was just clear that he wasn't fit or ready to play. But with a full pre-season behind him, hopefully he would have shaken off the injury. I think he gives us a lot in the final third in terms of his overlapping runs. I think his relationship with Erdegaard and Saka is obviously a really good one that we've built a lot of our success on. So yeah, I'm going to go with Ben White, even though he's not exactly a returning player. No, I mean, that's it.

1:25:47A player who was with the squad last season and you're excited to see him in this new campaign. I'm going to go for Riccardo Calafiori. Good one. I'm hoping he can put his injury issues behind him because I think, you know, what a really exciting player he is. And we've talked about chaos and chaos in the front three. Chaos at the back. Chaos everywhere. Chaos everywhere. He is Captain Chaos. I like it. I think there's a really talented player there. So he would be somebody I'm hopeful can really contribute quite a bit next season. When you think about the amount of football we hope we're going to have to play with Premier League, Champions League, cup competitions.

1:26:30You can't win the quadruple without playing a lot of football and you'll need your full squad. I think he's going to be somebody who can really bring something to this team if he stays fair. I will say, you know, Marino, what John Johns said about Marino and Zubimendi, I'm a little dubious that they'll be playing together a lot, at least initially. but we'll wait and see how it goes. I think Marino is a guy who will give you plenty of squad depth and good options. I think he's a solid pro, a really intelligent, smart player, but I don't see him starting a lot of games next season if everyone is fit and if everyone's in good form.

1:27:13But I think that could be true of quite a few players whose role in the squad is going to be important but not quite as heightened as some other players. So we'll see how it all plays out. Right, I'm going to leave it there. Phil, thank you so much for filling in for James today. Really do appreciate it. Pleasure. And safe travels, obviously, to you and everyone else headed out to Singapore. I'm very jealous. Yeah, I think it's an amazing opportunity for you and a lot of fans to see the team. So I'll be watching from my very humid living room to see Jokeres banging in five goals against AC Milan when he signs on Tuesday night.

1:27:54If you get him in on Tuesday night, they'll have to fly him out super quick. Yes, James and I will... Him in the sofa. Maybe that's the sticking point. I'll only sign if you let me bring my own sofa on the tour. This has to come with me, guys. But it's a fucking sofa, man. The girlfriend, forget it. The sofa, that's what I want in London. Yeah. All right. Well, look, James and I will catch up out in Singapore and bring you a podcast next week. You know, catching up on the tour post AC Milan on Wednesday. So we'll talk about the game and all the bits and pieces that we've seen out there. For now, though, thank you very much indeed, as always, for being with us.

1:28:29Thank you for listening and we will catch you on the next one. Until then, cheers. Bye bye.

1:28:42Hi, Podfans. Max Rushton here from the chart-topping Guardian Football Weekly Podcast. Don't like to crow. If you enjoyed the World Cup with us, you'll be glad to know we're back for the new Premier League season. Expect three episodes a week, questionable predictions, and the biggest stories in soccer from the Premier League to the Champions League and beyond. Watch now on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.