Arsecast Extra Episode 702 - 06.07.2026

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0:28Andrew Allen: Wayfair, every style, every home.

0:45James McNicholas: Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra as always with James from GunnerBlog. James, a very good afternoon to you from a... No, good morning to you from good afternoon here. There we go.

0:57Andrew Allen: good morning to you from good afternoon yeah no other way around yes you're you were right

1:02James McNicholas: i was i was both right and wrong it is afternoon here it's morning there and good whatever time of the day it is to uh wherever you are whoever you are whenever anyone's listening they're

1:16Andrew Allen: unlikely to be listening live i would suspect unless they're outside of either of our windows

1:21James McNicholas: Well, mine, potentially, you know, that I'm on the first floor of my house. I don't know. You know, are you in like a condominium on the 78th floor or something like that?

1:35Andrew Allen: No, I've moved now. I'm now in like a basement apartment of a house. Okay. Okay. Below ground. Below ground. Like a mole man. Like a supervillain. or indeed a mole man. A mole man, yeah. How are you doing? I've been in touch with the UK a lot in the last... I know you're not in the UK, but...

2:04James McNicholas: Good save. Yeah, absolutely. That was like top drawer. That was like David Seaman against Sheffield United, that save.

2:10Andrew Allen: It looks like it's in and he claws it out. He just claws it away in the last second. Let's say I've been in touch with people back home, I'll say, in the last 12 hours because of the England match. I had a great many friends and family who stayed up or woke up in the middle of the night to watch that game. Did you see anything of it?

2:31James McNicholas: I watched the highlights of the goals and stuff like that, but it was on too late, like a 1 a.m. kickoff. And, you know, Sunday's a day where you might have a glass of wine or two and a couple of beers, particularly when the weather is warm. So I watched the Norway-Brazil game, but I did not stay up for the England-Mexico game. But based on what everyone's saying, I might have missed one of the games of the tournament so far.

2:58Andrew Allen: I think that's probably right. As always, you've got to be conscious of kind of an English bias in any sort of native reporting. But it was an incredibly dramatic game. 2 a.m. kickoff by the time it actually started. Oh, it was delayed. Yeah, there was an hour's delay. So I imagine it was a body blow to those who were pushing through. Just four more pints.

3:25James McNicholas: I don't know, I'll get the kickoff.

3:26Andrew Allen: Yeah, they forced a couple more down. But I think it was worth it. I think those who did stay up considered it worth it because it was an incredibly dramatic match. I mean, the setting was incredible. Obviously, the Azteca, a lot of history there for England as well. you've got home nation who are going to put absolutely everything into it. And then a lot of on-field drama in major incidents, you know, red cards, penalties, England scoring twice in a minute. It really, really did have everything. So yeah. I mean, my feeling this morning is probably it's the most memorable England world World Cup game, possibly since 1998 in Argentina.

4:11Andrew Allen: Like in terms of it sort of being a spectacle and something that will live on, I really think it is. And sad to see Mexico go out on the one hand, because I think they've been great and, you know, they bring so much to the tournament. But a really, really good result for England. And not one I particularly anticipated. I mean, I always looked at this route for England and saw them having to play at the Azteca in the altitude against a good Mexico team and thought maybe this is where we become a cropper. So, yeah, intrigued to see where we go from here. Well, it will be Norway, won't it?

4:52James McNicholas: Yeah, it will be Norway. Yeah, I mean, we were chatting a bit last night before the game and you said you were, you know, you thought Mexico might have a good chance in this one. I mean, let's do what we do every week, it seems, on every episode of the podcast. Declan Rice watch. After being in terrible pain last week, according to Thomas Tuchel, he played the full game. There was a clip due in the rounds because I get the highlights from the soccer subreddit, right? And it just has all the various clips and bits and bobs. I particularly enjoyed the Mexico coach shouting at Anthony Gordon. And he went, Gordon!

5:31James McNicholas: And Anthony Gordon turned around, he went, fuck you. And then just burst out laughing. I thought that was brilliant. But there was a clip right at the end where England are obviously camped in their own box. I think Mexico have a corner right at the death. There's all this injury time. I looked at the stats after the sending off. It looked like Mexico had something like 84 % possession, 10 shots. It was backs to the wall stuff from England. And they get the ball clear. and then the final whistle goes. And the title of this video is England Players React at the Final Whistle. And I could see Declan Rice and I was expecting, you know, the full platoon fall to his knees, just exhausted after doing another like 90 minutes, you know, half an hour, 40 minutes with 10 men, you know, after all the issues that he's had.

6:22James McNicholas: And what does he do when the final whistle goes? he breaks into a massive sprint and runs towards the halfway line and then you know has a big jump in the air to celebrate that this man is just unstoppable either that or those epidurals are

6:39Andrew Allen: pretty effective um yeah he uh it was back to all stuff as a as a connoisseur of center half play you would have been, I think, delighted to see that Dan Byrne made two headed clearances from the edge of his own penalty area that both crossed the halfway line. Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, it was kind of incredible, sort of Alamo stuff. But yeah, Declan Rice, he, I think I saw Tim Stillman maybe tweet this rather succinctly, that he did what he has done for Arsenal in the last few months too, which was kind of find the reserves to do just enough to ensure his team got the result they needed. Like it wasn't necessarily Declan Rice at his free-flowing, pain-free best, but it was sufficient.

7:33Andrew Allen: And he was, you know, it was kind of, it was a Bellingham night really for him. I mean, he was the outstanding player and scored the first two goals. But Rice certainly played his part. But Kairosaka played his part as well. Got an assist. A really nice assist, wasn't it?

7:51James McNicholas: Yeah. Yeah, very well done. And Bellingham is just, you know, I know there's always discussion around him and debate around him, but I think he is a game-changing player. He is one of those guys, isn't he, that when it really goes for him, it's so eye-catching and he's got the ability. He's got the ability to finish, you know, two goals in a minute. It's sort of like that time he scored against Spurs, if you remember the Fabregas goal straight from kickoff, where I think Mexico got caught in the ball and England worked it forward very, very quickly. And Bellingham scored. I mean, to score one away from home at the Azteca, given all the talk about altitude, I did enjoy all the journalists going for a run and saying, it's very hard to run at this altitude.

8:38James McNicholas: I enjoyed that.

8:40Andrew Allen: Yeah, that's very funny. Camille said to me, I was telling her about the altitude, And she was like, well, I've been to Mexico City and I was fine. And I was like, were you playing elite sport at the time? She was like, no, I was just on my holidays, but I didn't have any issues. I was like, I don't think that's the same.

8:57James McNicholas: Yeah, there is probably a little more effort required to run around a football pitch for 90 minutes than go from taco bar to tequila bar to whatever.

9:06Andrew Allen: But Declan Rice's lumbar spine, I think is probably in about the same state this morning as Harry Kane's voice. Have you by any chance seen Harry Kane's post-match interview? I have.

9:18James McNicholas: It was very, very, very, very funny.

9:21Andrew Allen: He didn't have a great voice at kickoff. Do you know what I mean? Right. He's never been a particularly compelling speaker, but by full time, my word. It was very funny. All right. Yeah.

9:33James McNicholas: You know, he'd obviously been doing some shouting and cajoling and what have you, you know. Yes. It's why. You sound like an old squeeze box. Yeah, something like that. But, you know, listen, we've all been there. We've all been out in the football. We've all, you know, shouted and screamed and sang songs. And then the next day, your voice is not what it was. But, yeah, that was very entertaining. I mean, have you any other sort of observations about England, the England team? You know, this is a big win. It really is a very big win. And I think Norway will be a big test for England as well because we can talk about them now in a minute because I thought they were really, really good against Brazil.

10:11James McNicholas: still but you know it's a it's a real confidence booster isn't it because people were talking about this one as like well you know it could be the end of the road for england mexico are doing well they've got to play at altitude you know all this sort of stuff but they came through it in you know very admirable way especially when you consider you know playing for so long with 10 men and i i don't know what you will talk about red cards and stuff in a minute um i can't imagine 10 Downing Street are going to be on the phone to Johnny Infantino to get Gerald Kwanzaa reinstated for the next game.

10:46James McNicholas: But I don't really think he can have any complaints about that red card.

10:50Andrew Allen: No, no. And actually, I did think most of the major calls were sort of right. The Kane penalty concession was, you know, is that the sort of incident where a VAR is required to intervene. It was very, very, very subtle. But by the letter of the law, yes, he does kick through the guy's leg. The Kwanzaa one, yeah, he's out of control and he's very, very high.

11:17James McNicholas: Was the referee a bit of an issue in the game? Because I did see people talking about that a bit. Or was that just because of, you know, when you're down to 10 men and you are playing backs to the wall, it kind of feels like everything's going against you?

11:29Andrew Allen: I think there's an element of that. I think there's an element of that. And, you know, actually it wasn't so much the on-field decisions that were the problem for England. It was the VAR reviews. That was where they were punished most. On-field, the referee did not give a red card. On-field, the referee did not give a penalty. So, you know, it was an Australian referee, which I think put some English fans back up before kick-off. I think they were looking for trouble. Jared Gillard, was it? I think it's a really big win. And actually now I look at, you know, I say I thought England would probably go out last night.

12:05Andrew Allen: And were it not for those two Bellingham goals in a minute, that might well have been what happened. I now look at the draw and think, of course, they're hard games. You know, Norway's going to be really tough. And then I think, is it maybe one of Argentina or Colombia in a potential semifinal after that? It's tough, but it's probably the more favourable side of the draw, you would say, at this point in time. So I think they've got a really good chance of getting to the final. I think it's a possibility for them now. So, yeah, very intriguing. But, I mean, Norway would be tough. I mean, Martin Odegaard was pulling out the flicks and tricks, wasn't he, in the last 20 minutes of that game?

12:45James McNicholas: Yeah, I enjoyed this game, actually. I mean, Brazil missed a penalty early on. Bruno Gimaraes missing a penalty with a stutter run-up, which is becoming the sort of the bet noir, or one of the bets noir, I don't know how you pluralise that, of this tournament. There's obviously, you know, one or two that are bigger, but a stutter run-up. He had his penalty saved. I have to say, I will say this, because I want to give Norway credit, because I thought they were really, really good and played the game very intelligently. But I also thought Brazil were fucking terrible. I couldn't really recognize this as a Brazil team.

13:30James McNicholas: Do you know what I mean? And it's not that I expect them to go and have 60, 70 % possession against Norway, because I think that does the opposition a disservice. But I did sort of expect them to have like a period or two within the game where they were on top, where they were dominant. And it just didn't happen. And there was something so pedestrian and uninspired and unimaginative about the kind of football that they were playing. You know, because I think for all of us, regardless of what age anyone is listening to this, you know, you grow up with Brazil in the World Cup and you expect a certain something, don't you?

14:16James McNicholas: you know from the 70s to the 80s to the 90s to the 2000s you know there's flair and there's skill and there's panache and there's a drive and there's a desire to to make things happen and they have some of the best players in the world and have always had some of the best players in the world and this was like this was not like Brazil at all well I mean I I don't wish to be

14:40Andrew Allen: cruel to one of our own. But does it not tell a bit of a story that Gabriel Martinelli basically started in the number 10 position for Brazil in a last 16 game? I mean, he wouldn't get a look in, I don't think, in that position at Arsenal.

14:57James McNicholas: And I don't think he was actually bad or anything. No, he looked right.

15:00Andrew Allen: But I absolutely take your point on that, yeah. But it's not what we associate with the great Brazil teams, is it?

15:07James McNicholas: No, it's not. And yeah, I mean, listen, Lucas Pacita is a decent player, but again, even if he was fit, he's not a Ronaldinho, is he? You know, far from it.

15:18Andrew Allen: But yeah, I mean, when they did carve out opportunities, they came up against a pretty inspired goalkeeper between the sticks for Norway. Nylund, I think, was very, very good. I also think Norway do deserve a lot of credit. I think they've had a really good tournament. And obviously in Haaland, they just have one of the sport's outstanding players. It's easier to say it when he's not wearing blue, I think.

15:46James McNicholas: It absolutely is. And I, you know, I'm in this sort of weird love-hate space with Erling Haaland. You know, when he plays for City and when he does what he does for Man City, it's like, oh, for fuck's sake, this guy again. But, you know, I sort of miss personality to an extent in football. You know, I think players have become a bit more robotic or machine-like, and the game has become a lot more structured and organized. And, you know, the room for expression is not what it was. I think he is one of those guys that, you know, if he's on your side, you're absolutely loving him. And if you're not, and he goes against you and he does, you know, what he does against you, you know, it's easy to dislike him.

16:28James McNicholas: But I sort of, I sort of at the back of it, I do like him a bit, you know. Listen, there'll be people listening to this who don't care for Erling Haaland one bit and probably don't care for me saying that I quite like him. Give me till August. I'll work this one out myself. But I think what is unquestionable is that he is an unbelievable, ridiculous finisher because he was sort of not really involved in the game. I remember checking the stats, you know, halfway through the second half. And I think he, like, attempted eight passes and, you know, was sort of floating about. And then he scores that goal that puts Norway 1-0 up.

17:09James McNicholas: He got away from Gabriel. That's a battle he won in this game. And then the second goal, like, that is, he just makes that look so easy. And it's not. It's ridiculous what he did there. You know, I know he just sort of picked it up and lashed it into the bottom corner, but if it was that easy, people would be doing it all the time. You know, he is absurdly talented and just an amazing goal scorer. So I don't know. This is not an Erling Haaland love. And I think it would be more interesting to talk about Martin Odegaard, who I thought looked a bit more like his old self. And, you know, if I have worries and people have worries about Declan Rice, after all the football that he's played, I'm sort of looking at Odegaard in this tournament and thinking this could be really good for him to sort of go a bit further and get more football under his belt and to regain proper match fitness and form and rhythm.

18:03James McNicholas: You know, he was winding up Neymar, you know, towards the end of the game, flicks and tricks, like he's saying, just keeping the ball really deft bits of control. And, you know, there was a bit where Neymar got a bit cheesed off with him and clattered through the back of him. And Odegaard just sort of rolled over a couple of times and laughed. I want to see that Martin Odegaard more often for Arsenal next season, you know. And I think if this World Cup helps him get there, then, you know, we should be happy about that.

18:32Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think he had a decent game, played well. Has had a good World Cup, actually. Maybe should have done slightly better with the chance that fell his way in the first half. Yeah. It was quite a decent opportunity.

18:42James McNicholas: Good save, but, you know.

18:44Andrew Allen: Yeah, good save. But there's also been a sort of emphatic kind of rebuttal from the Odegaard camp this week about reports of him agreeing a move. Was it to Turkey? I'm not so sure.

18:59James McNicholas: Yeah, listen, we've had one of those transfers go through. Yeah, exactly.

19:04Andrew Allen: Stock clock is only right once. Exactly, once a day. The 12-hour clock. Famously once a day. Famously once a day. So, yeah, for the time being, it really does look as if he's going to be staying at Arsenal and part of plans next season. And we all want to see a better, sharper Martin Odegaard. He seems like one of the few players who could benefit from this World Cup if it helps. kind of tune him up for the start of next season. So yeah, on Norway go, and I agree about Haaland. I mean, that second goal, I think he could barely run by that point in the game. So he just kind of cracks off the shot from the edge of the box and finds the bottom corner.

19:46Andrew Allen: So Haaland against England, who he was eligible to play for, of course, will be an interesting one.

19:56James McNicholas: It will. and Holland, Messi and Mbappe lead the goal scoring charts with seven goals each.

20:04Andrew Allen: Yeah, they've all kind of turned up. I mean, that's one thing you do have to say about this World Cup. The stars by and large have shown out.

20:11James McNicholas: Yeah, exactly. You know, Kane for England obviously scored, I think, six. Six, that is. You know, Zmane Dembele as well with a few goals for France. Hopefully we bid farewell to Cristiano Ronaldo at World Cup. That would be good. I'm kind of looking forward to that one. I'm Team Spain for this one. I know there's an Arsenal contingent there. It looks maybe like Mikel Moreno is the most likely to get minutes in this game. I don't know if he's going to start or not. But, you know, Zubimendi and Raya are there as well. I think we'd all like to see that, wouldn't we? We'd all like to see it. But, you know, if it happens, there'll probably be, you know, somebody calling up Johnny Infantino and overturning the result.

20:54Andrew Allen: Let's not forget he was supposed to be suspended himself, I think, for the first couple of games, Ronaldo. That's right. And that was kind of the first major deviation from FIFA. I do have this sort of creeping dread because, you know, the next World Cup hosted, I think it's Spain, Morocco. Is it not Saudi Arabia, 2030? No, that's the one after, I believe. I believe. Let's check this. World Cup 2030. 30 yes it's morocco portugal and spain and there will also be games in argentina paraguay and uruguay what yes it's it's as insane as it sounds to be honest basically from what i understand they awarded it to morocco portugal and spain but they were kind of due to award it to south america So in a kind of gesture to mark the centenary of the first World Cup, they are hosting like a trio of games in South America, including Uruguay, where the first World Cup final possibly took place.

22:03Andrew Allen: Anyway, it's another of FIFA's masterpieces. Loads of bollocks, yeah. But I have a slight dread that 45-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo will still insist on playing up front for Portugal in that time.

22:16James McNicholas: Will be allowed. He'll be allowed play. That's the thing. Like, you know.

22:23Andrew Allen: I know. I know. Anyway, I feel like with this talk of FIFA, we are working our way around to today's other big game, which is obviously the US against Belgium. And the rather extraordinary news, in my opinion, that currently, at the time of recording, which is about eight hours before kickoff, currently Flo Balogun is permitted to play. But as we speak, Belgium are pushing back on that. So who knows where we end up.

22:57James McNicholas: No, I think they absolutely should push back on that. Because this is, I think whatever happens at this World Cup, whatever else happens in the final, this is gonna be the the biggest story to emerge to have happened at this world cup and this is not a world cup that has come without controversy already you know you look at the way the iranian team were treated you look at the somalian referee who was not allowed in who didn't get a visa to get in. There has been, you know, fans denied visas, you know, people not allowed into various countries. I think this is an absolute disgrace. And I just want to say, you know, before we get into the nuts and bolts of this, in no way is this critical of Flo Balogun in any way.

23:52James McNicholas: I feel quite sorry for him, actually, because he has become the centerpiece of something which is just so brazenly wrong and corrupt through no fault of his own, really. And at this point, it doesn't really matter whether you think it was a red card or not. My personal view is that it was a red card. I don't think the red card was unjustified. It's a bit unfortunate. It's a bit unlucky. But I think it's a red card. And he should be suspect.

24:26Andrew Allen: I do too, by the way, I should just say. I do think we're in the minority on that. I agree. I think he is unlucky, but I think it is – I don't think intent, when you read the wording of the law, intent is not really relevant.

24:41James McNicholas: No, I mean, look at what happened with that Qatari player in the game against Canada, right? So he made a tackle. He got a yellow card. The guy whose name I forget now, and I apologize for that, suffered a really, really serious injury. He had a broken leg, the Canadian player. I should just get his name, shouldn't I? Because that seems the right thing to do. Canadian player broken. If I could type, it would be fucking great as well. Ismail Kone. So he suffered a really bad injury, right? So on the basis of that injury being suffered, the referee was advised to go to the screen and look at the incident again.

25:26James McNicholas: And he was given, he changed the yellow card to a red card. And Kone was given a five-game ban, not just a three-game ban, a five-game ban because of the consequences of that tackle, which, you know, might have been a bit of a reckless tackle, but he didn't mean to break the guy's leg, right? Similarly, Flo Balagoon, they're both competing for the ball. It is unfortunate. He lands on the guy's Achilles on the back of his leg, crunches his ankle into a horrible position. He doesn't mean it, but I still think that's a red card. And I think if that happened to any Arsenal player in any game, most of the people listening to this would say, that's a red card.

26:02James McNicholas: We want to see that punished with a red card because look what he did to Bakayo Saka's ankle, right? but whether you think it's a red card or not whether you agree with me or James or not the idea that this suspension has been overturned because of political interference is just absolutely wrong on every level it completely taints this tournament the sporting integrity of the tournament it's not the only thing as I said there are things that have happened before that have done that as well we have the president of the United States talking in extraordinary terms. I'm not going to play any of it because I don't want to inflict that on anybody.

26:44James McNicholas: But, you know, he says, I know all there is to know about sport. Then says he doesn't know that a red card means a suspension. But he's basically said he called up Gianni Infantino, asked for a review, political pressure was applied, and the host nation have been the beneficiary of an act of just wanton cowardice from Jenny Infantino. Like, he is the man at the top of the organization that purports to love and protect the game of football, and he's actually too cowardly or too supplicant to Donald Trump to uphold one of the basic laws of the game, one of the basic rules of the game. So there are different rules for the United States team than there are for every other team.

27:33James McNicholas: and it's bullshit and it's wrong and infantino is the most pathetic feeble little man and this is a just a disgrace and again this is not about faller and balagoon who i feel sorry for he's at the center of this storm he didn't ask for any of this he was unfortunate in a tackle and now all this is going on like you know the idea that any government any any head of state can change the rules of a sporting uh competition tournament whatever it is for their own benefit in the middle of the fucking tournament just so openly like what are we even

28:13Andrew Allen: fucking doing here yeah it's it's it's a real personally i think it's a real shame i actually feel quite sad about this because um and i think a lot of uh american soccer fans will feel similarly conflicted because against the odds the u.s had sort of managed to be kind of a feel-good host nation story in this tournament um and i think this damages that enormously yeah i think it hugely undermines it and I think the world will go back to their much more comfortable and familiar position of rooting against the States. I think that you've got to remember this incident whether you think it's a red card or not and there are many highly professional respected intelligent people who think it was a deeply unfair red card you know coaches players and otherwise it had been reviewed not only by a referee but by video officials it had been determined to be a red card it's not been rescinded notably the suspension has been suspended by a year so there's no sense of this card being revoked or admitting of kind of wrongdoing by the officials it's literally just shifting the goalposts to allow him to play.

29:45James McNicholas: Yeah, Trump, by the way, saying, oh, this referee is very suspect. You know, what the... I mean, that's awful. I mean, you know... Absolutely. Like, he doesn't know anything about this fucking referee. He doesn't know anything about football. He doesn't know anything about the game or the rules or anything like that. And like you say, the red card has not been rescinded. And I think the mechanism through which FIFA have suspended this suspension doesn't really stack up from what I've read either. You know, it's an arbitrary decision. Infantino is doing Trump a favor. That's what this is. And this is a relationship, I think we can say, that, you know, if you were trying to plead innocence, would not stand up to any scrutiny.

30:33James McNicholas: You know, FIFA taken, I think The Athletic did a big piece on this before the World Cup about how FIFA have offices which are more or less unmanned in one of Trump's buildings, right? They're paying rent for offices they don't use to Donald Trump. That's essentially a bribe. This man, Infantino, invented a peace prize because Trump was sad that he didn't get the Nobel Peace Prize. So he invented his own peace prize to give to him in a ceremony that has copperfastened this relationship between Infantino and Trump. So even if they, there's no plausible deniability here, you know, you could not convince anyone that this was not Infantino doing Trump a favor because he was asked.

31:26James McNicholas: And whether you think there might've been anything more nefarious about, you know how it was asked or how it was presented to infantino that's irrelevant you know he lie down with dogs you get fleas and and this is just a disgraceful disgraceful situation yes and and

31:42Andrew Allen: you know plausible deniability is not really part of trump's uh modus operandi is it i mean everything's pretty flagrantly open and i think unfortunately this this probably is exactly what it appears to be um and and listen it's not to say the tournament had been perfect until this point you know you bring up issues around immigration and i think some of the officiating as well in games is certainly open to to question or debate fuck that france paraguay game what the fuck yeah exactly but um in a lot of respects you know i talk about the big stars turning up i think the football really, really has delivered.

32:22Andrew Allen: And I think the US have been a really positive football story within that. But this really, really, really, really takes the sheen off it. And it stinks, to be honest with you. Yeah. It stinks.

32:36James McNicholas: What do you make of Maurizio Pochettino, by the way? Because I think, you know, I read Thomas Tuchel. I read Stolbeck, the Norwegian coach, if I'm pronouncing his name incorrectly. I apologize. And they're saying, this is bad. you can't do that why don't the rules apply you know i saw bradley barcola get a yellow card for nothing the other day in a france game uh michael olise got a yellow card for nothing declan rice apparently got a soft yellow card early on in the game last night like uh tuchel's point is well where does it stop like you know i think mauricio pochettino's credibility as a football coach is hugely undermined because of the way he responded to this you know um i think we can all understand he would want his star striker available for a game like this a round of 16 game in the world cup right against belgium against is a really tough game but i also think if you have any integrity both personally and within the game of football itself you have to say that the mechanism through which this has happened is just fundamentally wrong.

33:48James McNicholas: And for him to sort of come out and praise FIFA for doing what they've done, I think is really shameful for him as well because every other coach that I've read and anybody withstanding in the game has called this out for what it is. It's just wrong and corrupt. and yeah I think I think Pochettino is uh is stained by this as well yeah I think it's really

34:18Andrew Allen: disappointing that he's just come out and said I think he said we celebrate this decision at a time when everyone else is in the game is kind of querying the integrity of the competition uh I think that is disappointingly narrow in its focus um yeah so I it's it's I mean it feels a Belgium are now kind of appealing, but there's not really any formal precedent or structure for that appeal. So interestingly, Belgium's statement about it said, we will continue to fight this over the coming hours, days, weeks, and months. So I think that suggests A, a realism about the prospect of this changing again before kickoff, but B, kind of implies this could go all the way in terms of sort of court of arbitration for sport or whatever it might be.

35:11Andrew Allen: Like this could get big. And the outcome of this match between the US and Belgium, and we talk about asterisks a lot in the Premier League when it comes to Man City, could have a pretty big asterisk against it. And again, I think that's such a shame because Balogun's a good player and he's important to the US, but this is not an outstanding Belgium team. I think there's every chance, especially with the home crowd behind them the US could have beaten Belgium without Balogun and I think they would have earned enormous credit in doing so and now it just feels like if they do and god forbid Flo Balogun scores in this game which sort of feels crushingly inevitable doesn't And yeah, I just, I think it's going to provoke absolute uproar and quite right.

36:07Andrew Allen: I mean, Belgium must be furious.

36:10James McNicholas: No, they must be and they should be. And I think, you know, anybody, anybody who loves the game of football, and we all know that you have to sort of close your eyes or stick your head in the sand sometimes, or you're dealing with levels of moral compromise or cognitive dissonance, whatever it is, right? We all do. We have to do it to varying degrees with our own club and have had to do it with some of our own players in recent times, right? We all understand that. But I just don't understand how anybody who really says they love football is justifying political interference in a decision like this.

36:51James McNicholas: You just can't do it. It doesn't matter if it's fucking Donald Trump or Keir Starmer or fucking whoever. It should not happen. It's wrong and nobody should accept it. You know, and the idea that you can compromise yourself to the extent where you go, well, this is good for my team. I'll allow this. You know, please just, you know, think about what it would be like if the shoe was on the other foot. You would not be accepting of something like this at all.

37:22Andrew Allen: That's quite right. And I think this World Cup, like all World Cups in recent history, to be honest with you, did involve, did come with some degree of kind of implicit moral or ethical compromise, you know, that we always knew that was going to be part of this World Cup. And people say, oh, you've got to separate politics from football. And I think that's almost impossible to do most of the time. But I understand the principle. but then what do you do when politics and politicians are interfering directly with sporting matters? Like that, that for me crosses a red line. And that's what UEFA said this morning.

38:03Andrew Allen: I think this crosses a red line. So yeah, I feel shit about it, to be honest with you, Andrew. I feel like it's such a shame and it compromises the tournament.

38:17James McNicholas: 100%. 100%. I don't know that we really need to add any more to that, to be honest. Yeah, it is a shame. Maybe not unexpected as well. But, yeah.

38:32Andrew Allen: I mean, I think we all expected it before the tournament. And then as the tournament's gone on, the president's kept an unusually low profile in football matters. But that's all just changed.

38:46James McNicholas: It's gone now. It is gone now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, listen, we'll see what happens later on in that game. Spain, Portugal later, USA versus Belgium.

38:58Andrew Allen: Leandro Trossard, by the way.

39:00James McNicholas: Well, yes, Leandro Trossard. We should touch on him because the news is, as we said, the stopped clock was right once a day. When it comes to transfer rumours that emanate from Turkey, Listen, we've been doing what we've been doing for a very long time, a very long time. And, you know, the transfer rumor industry has grown a lot over the years. But I think if you were to sort of look back on it, Turkey were ahead of the game. They were ahead of the game. It was just like, there is no player that we will not link to one of our clubs. And there is no player at one of our clubs that we will not link to a club in the Premier League or La Liga or wherever it is.

39:48James McNicholas: You know, the hit rate, with all due respect to our Turkish friends, has been negligible down the years. Sure, sure. It's been negligible. So when I saw these stories about Trossard and Besiktas, I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it sort of sounds vaguely plausible, but, you know, then the stopped clock was right. And Leandro Trossard looks like he is going to be going to Turkey for a fee of around 20 million euros.

40:17Andrew Allen: Yes, the transfer rumor was an invention of the Ottoman Empire, I believe. Yeah, it looks that way. I mean, certainly there's an agreement on a price between Arsenal and Brasicidas and personal terms are being discussed. I don't think they're final yet. I saw Fabrizio saying that Brasicidas might even fly out to the US to do that bit with Trossard in person. It looks as if he's off. And it was interesting. I mean, a year has passed. I've done two Leandro Trossard sort of transfer stories a year apart 12 months ago. I did the one about the pay rise. Oh yeah, that was all your fault, yeah. That was my fault.

41:05Andrew Allen: Well, there was an explosion of sort of anger and disappointment and frustration. I think presumably because people felt, oh, this means we're not getting the signing or signings that we want, which didn't really prove to be the case in the end. We did go on to sign loan board players. Um, but this time saying that Fee had been agreed, there was a huge outpouring of kind of, I think sadness really. Um, and sort of love for Leo and his contribution. Um, yeah. And that seemed to be pretty much across the board. You know, I think everyone, should he go, will feel pretty sorry to see him go, even if they think it's the right thing.

41:48James McNicholas: Yeah, you know, I remember when you wrote that story, and I remember writing a blog about it and trying to sort of rationalize the idea of like, well, why are you giving him a pay rise and not an extension? And I think, you know, what people maybe didn't take into account was the idea that last summer, we got Miles Lewis-Galley and Ethan Warneri to sign new deals. And those were not necessarily bargain deals, right, when it came to wages and stuff like that. And my contention was that, like, if you've got a player like Trossard who's delivered for you consistently, and all of a sudden two breakthrough kids who absolutely deserve their new contracts, there's no question about that, are sort of, I'm not saying they're on a par or parallel with him in terms of wages.

42:34James McNicholas: I think a way of managing your squad is, you know, recognizing when somebody has made a big contribution. So even if you don't extend their deal, a pay rise might be something that they've earned, you know, on their own merits, but also because the pay structure has changed around them. You know, if you're the senior guy and two young guys come into your office and they're earning more than you or, you know, the same as you, you're like, what the fuck is going on here? So I was all right with that. And I think over the course of this season, he had a big lean spell, unfortunately, but also scored six Premier League goals, made six Premier League assists and contributed to Arsenal winning the title.

43:16And I think when you go back to January 23, it was January 23, and there was the whole Mudrick thing was going on.

43:26James McNicholas: And, you know, Arsenal were prepared to go very, very far to sign him, certainly financially in terms of the fee that was being bandied around. Arsenal were prepared to go there. Thankfully, they didn't or couldn't because the player was moved to Chelsea and that deal didn't happen. but you know if you can in hindsight say you know what we dodged a bullet there and maybe it was a bit mad that we were looking at mudrick at 100 million pounds or close to whatever that price was i think you have to give arsel credit for the way they pivoted from mudrick to mudrick to trossard rather um yeah you know what a quarter of the price and we probably got three or four times the output that we would have from Mudrik.

44:15James McNicholas: I think he's been an absolutely fantastic signing. I think he's been one of our better technical players. I think we've often talked about him as being one of the best finishers at the club. And in terms of pure value for money and what he's delivered for Arsenal, I think it's been excellent. I think he's just been a really, really, really good signing.

44:38Andrew Allen: Totally agree. Totally agree. I think he's probably one of the best signings of the Emirates Stadium era, to be frank, in terms of pound for pound, what he's delivered. Speaking of pounds, what do you make of the price? I mean, a lot of the correspondence I've received since then has been people saying this feels like a low price.

44:58James McNicholas: But I mean, he's 31, isn't he? So, you know, he's heading into the September of his career. 32 in December. Before the year is out. Yeah, exactly. You know, so I don't think it's terrible.

45:15Andrew Allen: 12 months left on his deal as well. Yeah, exactly.

45:17James McNicholas: I think it's about right for a club in Turkey to buy a player from a Premier League club at 31, nearly 32 years of age. I think it's all right. I think that's sort of the bigger question for me is like, what are Arsenal thinking now in terms of how they replace him? We've talked about Christos Solis, of course, who's the Greek international from Club Bruges. What's interesting to me is that there is a, like if you were going to do, you know, those videos you see all the time on YouTube where somebody's doing like a tier list. You know, they'll rank the best Italian coffees and they'll do like a tier list or the best fucking burrito sandwiches or whatever.

45:59James McNicholas: I think if you were doing a technical tier list at Arsenal, Trossard is in the top tier. And I do worry a little bit at times that technically we're, we're, we lack a bit sometimes. And Trossard had loads of that, you know, skills and quality on the ball and vision and the ability to, to deliver both in finishes and final third passes. So I do wonder, you know, how if Solace is part of the solution, how much we're going to miss the technical quality of Trossard.

46:37Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think that's a good point, especially when you compare us against, for example, Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final. You know, the level of kind of technical security that they have in their front six or whatever. It's a step on from us, for sure. I mean I personally think it's the right thing to do to sell Leandro Trossard now if you have that opportunity I agree I think if you trust your recruitment and your kind of squad management and you have a chance to get some money back on a guy at that age with that contract situation I do think you take it but yeah I think the question of how you replace him is really interesting I mean, my suspicion is it will be solace.

47:25Andrew Allen: It's not quite a like-for-like, but there are some parallels there.

47:29James McNicholas: It's not a get out of your seat and jump up and down signing either, is it? I mean, to be fair. But nor was Leo, to be fair. Nor was Trossard, yeah. Nor was Leo. Yeah, anyway, listen, I think it's, you know, he's been brilliant for us. He's helped us win the title. He can go off to Turkey and earn a few bob in the final few years of his career. Because I think the tax rates there are a lot lower for footballers than they are in the UK.

47:56Andrew Allen: And that's what's in it for him. You've got to bear in mind. I mean, he's got 12 months left at Arsenal. Presumably he'll be offered a three-year deal, a minimum. Very good money, favourable tax, like you say. Beautiful city to live in as well. So, yeah, I think it probably makes sense for everyone. And I would expect this to progress once Belgium finish their World Cup campaign.

48:25James McNicholas: Okay. And who knows when that might be. Just one quick one before we go into the break. There was a big sort of brouhaha since last we talked about the 16-year-old from Leicester, Jeremy Munger, who looked like he was going to be joining Arsenal, but Arsenal have ended up being gazumped or however it played out by Manchester City. some suggestion that we sort of dilly-dallied on the deal. I, you know, here's my thing. I can't get too worked up about not signing a 16-year-old, really. You know, I'm much more invested in what we're going to do to bolster this team over the next two or three years.

49:06James McNicholas: So I'm not like furious or angry, but is there anything about that deal falling through that on a wider level might concern us or should concern us about the way Arsenal are operating in the market?

49:21Andrew Allen: Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I think if there was more happening in the market, there probably wouldn't be quite so much focus on Jeremy Monger. You know what I mean? It's almost crazy the degree to which he's been spotlighted because he's a player not involved in the World Cup. And so there's been quite a lot of reporting and talk around him, which, as you say, for a 16-year-old, he's unusual. And again, I did see a couple of reports or tweets citing a hijack of Jeremy Monger, which again, I'm not sure his language should necessarily apply to a child. But there you go. I think I saw in David Ornstein's report, he kind of cited that the price got away from Arsenal and they kind of stepped away.

50:04Andrew Allen: I was a little bit surprised by that only because I think you spoke to most people around the deal or who knew the player. and there was an expectation that it would end up costing between 10 to 15 million pounds to get him out of Leicester. And I think City ultimately are paying something like 12.

50:23James McNicholas: And just to clarify on that, when you say like 10 to 15 million pounds, that's not like 10 to 15 million pounds directly to Leicester City in terms of a fee. That's like the overall package in terms of what you've got to pay the player, the agent, all of that.

50:39Andrew Allen: I think that was the fee. I think it was 10 plus two was the fit. Right. Okay. So it's not inexpensive. For a 16-year-old.

50:47James McNicholas: Yeah, that's, you know.

50:49Andrew Allen: Yeah. But this is a guy who, for Leicester, he's a first-team player. I mean, he's played half a dozen Premier League games at the age of 15 when they were last up. And he made 30-odd appearances for them last season in the championship. So it's not like someone who's only ever been in the academy. It's a guy who's playing senior football. So it's not an unreasonable fee for a player of that kind of potential, in my view. I wonder if maybe where this has got away from Arsenal is more on the personal terms side of it that you mentioned. We know City have got a few quid and I'm sure that, you know, they will have made quite an aggressive pursuit.

51:35Andrew Allen: I think they came in late as well. So Arsenal probably had established a lot of the parameters and the groundwork.

51:41James McNicholas: As we found out with Eze, sometimes it's easier to be the gazampa in this situation.

51:46Andrew Allen: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Once all the hard negotiating has been done. I also think we've got to weigh the Mareska factor in this. So Enzo Mareska had been the coach at Leicester. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Munger in that time. He'd been part of first team training. they have a relationship so i think that may have swung it and who knows what assurances he might have been given about pathways and all sorts of other things i'm like you like i can't get too exercised about about not signing jeremy monger truthfully six months ago andrew i didn't know who jeremy monger was um but i do think we are an interesting moment in the window where

52:36Andrew Allen: options in the market are beginning to kind of be allocated you know like players are sort of making decisions about where they want to be next season and when your recruitment style is very based around kind of keeping multiple pans on the boil simultaneously there is kind of a tipping point where I think you have to start committing. Sure. And I think we're about there. Do you know what I mean? I sort of think my sense of the market is that this is probably the point where players want a degree of certainty, like not necessarily wanting a deal done, but at least for themselves making their decisions and making their commitments.

53:26Andrew Allen: And that requires commitments on the part of the club too. So the big targets, I'm talking about people like Morgan Rodgers or potentially Bradley Barcola, Bruno Guimares. I feel like we're at a point where, yeah, Arsenal need to know and those players need to know that that's the plan. so yeah I think I think in terms of actual progress on deals I think that will be limited certainly in the public domain until the World Cup is through but yeah I'd like to think that there'd be sort of significant movement and decisions and calls being made behind the scenes and who knows maybe something like the Trossard deal is what precipitates a bit of that you know maybe we see a replacement come in and the dominoes start to fall yeah Yeah, I'm certainly not panicking or anything at this point.

54:26Andrew Allen: I don't think there's any need. I think it's still early. But I also think what you don't want is to be trying to keep multiple options on the go and then find them suddenly disappearing off the mark. Sure. That's what you don't want.

54:40James McNicholas: What's that sound? It's Andrea Berta spinning plates like crazy.

54:48Andrew Allen: It's plates crashing all around. Yeah, and now all the plates are on the fucking ground.

54:52James McNicholas: Anyway, we'll see what happens. I think you're right. You know, World Cup is still a factor in all of this as a few players gone out and gone home and probably need a bit of rest and recuperation before they make decisions. So it might be a few weeks. But to keep people interested and excited about transfers, we did promise to do our transfer predictions. Yes. So I think... Will we do that in part two? We'll do that in part two. We're sort of light on questions this week, you know, because it has been relatively quiet. So we'll take up a chunk of part two with our transfer predictions and some of your questions right after this.

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57:16James McNicholas: Welcome back to the Arse Cast Extra. This is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you send to us on bluesky at gunnerblog.bsky.social and at arseblog.com. Also on the Arse Blog Discord chat server, which you get access to if you are an Arse Blog member on Patreon. John, tell me the truth. You've spent all week at the whiteboard writing on your predictions. No, that's not right. I've got to go back to the drawing board on this one. And, you know, you've just put so many hours of effort and work into all of this. Isn't that right?

57:53Andrew Allen: Yes, that's right, Andrew. or and the listener can decide i was reminded of the fact we even had to do this on the discord approximately eight minutes before recording

58:08James McNicholas: i know one of those two i know which sounds more plausible to me and a man with your work ethic and commitment to the job would surely not have fallen uh foul of just forgetting all week long and then remembering at the last minute you know and certainly that that definitely didn't happen to me until you reminded me just before we recorded either um but however we've done it we've done it how how do you want to do this like are we going to do ins and outs are we going to like tot tot up the money like i haven't gone big on sort of you know when it comes to ins i haven't really gone big on um names as much as positions like i think we know maybe one of the names for sure beyond that you know there's still a lot of plates spinning as we heard in part uh part one and then in part two obviously we know who might leave so we can try and apply some value to those

59:07Andrew Allen: yes i think let's do it like that should we do outs first i think okay let's do outs first as We just discussed Trossard. I've got Trossard on there.

59:16James McNicholas: Right. I also have Trossard on there.

59:18Andrew Allen: 17 million pounds. I've called that fee.

59:22James McNicholas: All right. Well, I'm going in euros. I'm going in euros. Okay, fine.

59:25Andrew Allen: That is your currency in fairness to you. Given that I am not in the UK. You're not. You're not from the UK. As we established. We finally established. Phew. Oh, what?

59:37James McNicholas: Yes. I also have Trossard for, well, I have 20 million because that's, you know, basically what you reported. So thanks for doing that for me. I have Norgard as well. I have like 3 million euros for Norgard.

59:55Andrew Allen: And this is quite fitting, really, Andrew. I forgot Christian Norgard was alive. Yes, and an Arsenal player. But I'll sell him. Will I sell him? Sell him. Yeah. I'm going to sell Christian Norgard. And I think I can get 5 million. Euros or pounds?

1:00:19James McNicholas: Pounds. Okay. You're a better salesman than I am, that's for sure. Okay. By the way, I'm just going to reveal early on one of my sort of key principles when doing this is that I fundamentally believe less happens than you expect to happen in a transfer window.

1:00:39Andrew Allen: You know what I mean? Like, generally, we don't sell as many people as we think we could or should sell. That's true.

1:00:46James McNicholas: That's true. But I think there's some good candidates this season, you know, this summer for departure. Because I also have Fabio Vieira being sold. I do too.

1:00:56Andrew Allen: How much money have you got us getting for him?

1:00:58James McNicholas: Five million euros.

1:01:01Andrew Allen: Bloody hell. That is brutal.

1:01:03James McNicholas: Yeah, well, we're no good at selling, are we? Until such time as we can actually sell well, I'm going to go low, just to be at least trying to be a little accurate.

1:01:14Andrew Allen: You're going to think I'm insane, but I've gone£12 million sterling. Wow. Well, listen, I hope you're more right than I am. What I'm using as a guide is that the buyout we included with Hamburg was€20 million. Now, admittedly, nobody wants to pay that. Yes. Including Hamburg, who quite like Fabio Vieira. But I'm thinking like if we could get 15 million euros, you know,

1:01:40James McNicholas: like that would be okay.

1:01:43Andrew Allen: I mean, five million euros. I'm not saying you're wrong, but it would be very humbling given what we paid for him. Yeah, it would. A real disaster. But then I guess it sort of has been. I've got him too. All right. I've also got Rhys Nelson. Oh, yeah. Yeah. For me, he's in the Norgaard camp of I forgot he existed. I don't think we'll get a fee for recently. I'll have him as a departure, but I've not got a fee.

1:02:11James McNicholas: No, I have him down as no pounds or pence or euros. Nothing.

1:02:18Andrew Allen: Wouldn't even surprise me if he got another loan and another year on his Arsenal contract. Do you know what I mean? Just like some quick fix thing to get him a move. I just can't imagine, with all due respect, clubs lining up to pay a fee. No, I agree.

1:02:36James McNicholas: I agree with that. That's why I think it would just be a free transfer move somewhere. Thank you very much. And I hope he gets, you know, a good move. I have Kepa being sold for 6 million euros. Because I think it's like there's a...

1:02:51Andrew Allen: There's a 5 million pound release clause. Yeah.

1:02:53James McNicholas: So I think that's about 6 million.

1:02:56Andrew Allen: I've got him as well. um let me tell you this i've got ethan ranieri so do i what what what figure

1:03:09James McNicholas: 50 million euros because i had to sort of written down 45 million pounds that's what i've got 45 million pounds so 50 million yeah that's what i've got um is that 50 million euros i suppose

1:03:23Andrew Allen: Yeah, close. You pay commission on it. Yeah. Well, there we go. We're sort of in the same boat on that one.

1:03:31James McNicholas: Yeah. So I think my total is, because that's as much as I've got going out. Oh, no. Sorry. Gabriel Jesus.

1:03:39Andrew Allen: So I've got a bracket around Gabriel Jesus, and I'll tell you for why. Uh-oh. Go on. I'm just, I just don't necessarily see a buyer. like I I remember David did a news story about a month ago saying Arsenal are looking for like 18 to 20 million for Gabriel Jesus I read that and was like they're very entitled to ask for that but I don't see it

1:04:11James McNicholas: like what did we pay for Gabriel we paid 40 million something like 45 million for him in 2022 summer of 2022 but at the time At the time, he had two knees. Well, that's my entire point. He was actually good then, physically. And since then, he's had that terrible injury at the World Cup. He's had other injuries. He had that other big injury, the crucial injury last year. Like, how on earth are Arsenal trying to get anything like 50 % of what they paid for him, given that he is, like, really, unfortunately, badly diminished by injury? Like he's still relatively young, isn't he? He's only 28, 29, is he?

1:04:55Andrew Allen: Yeah, 29 maybe. I think, so what figure did you have against Gabby Jay? Two million.

1:05:06Andrew Allen: Andrew!

1:05:10James McNicholas: Wow. I just saw, you know.

1:05:12Andrew Allen: From like a Brazilian club or something.

1:05:14James McNicholas: Or, you know, a Spanish club or something.

1:05:17Andrew Allen: Two million pounds. I mean you've got to remember whoever takes him has got to pay a big salary that's the problem that's it that's why

1:05:26James McNicholas: I just was like well we're not getting any money for this guy so I just had him down 2 million pounds 3 million euros

1:05:33Andrew Allen: yeah I think my bold prediction is going to be that we can't shift him that's my I'm going to make that my sort of hot sales take so I'm going to he's in brackets he's being deleted from my list. Okay. So my list is Trossard, Norgard, Kepa, Vieira, Weneri, Nelson. And I think that comes in at£84 million, Sterling.

1:06:01James McNicholas: Right. I think I've got, so Norgard, Jesus, Vieira, Nelson is another freebie, Weneri, Kepa, Trossard. So 20, 28, 78, 80. It's going to be about the same. 84 million uh yeah 84 million euros is what i've oh okay so yours is a bit less oh that's

1:06:27Andrew Allen: what makes sense because you've sold everyone for about 4p yeah i know yeah i've i've been as uh we'll be reprising the 20 pound jingle this summer interestingly andrew i'm curious was this an emotional choice or a strategic one but there's no ben white on your list there isn't no

1:06:45James McNicholas: mind no I feel like I don't have enough information at this moment in time to successfully predict a Ben White departure I think that's fair and also you know Jurien Timber's um injured right now

1:07:05Andrew Allen: Ben White has had the summer off I think there might be a value in Ben White at the start of next season for sure yeah I felt like it was over him at Arsenal at various points last season but right now i'm just not so sure um and so on my on my principle of less happens than we tend to

1:07:21James McNicholas: expect i've also got him staying yeah me too at this moment in time however i do have like something like in terms of my incomings right i i've i've broken it down into one of those one of those two of those and one of those basically right um so i think we're going to sign a defender, sort of a righty-leaning, versatile defender who can maybe play center half and who can also play right back. Right. And I've got a budget of, I don't know, I put 25 million on that one. I think we're going to sign a central midfielder for around 65 million. That was the price I put on that. And then we have two forwards slash attacking midfielders So I think Solace is one that we know, which is about 35 million, it seems to be.

1:08:20James McNicholas: And then I've got another one that's sort of between 95 and 100 million. Okay, interesting. And then I think we'll get a goalkeeper for free. Just get some goalkeeper from somewhere. Link with the Leeds. Yeah, go down to Market Road and pick up one of the lads who's, you know. I So that's five players incoming For I think a total of I don't know Close to 200 Million thereabouts 35 is about 65 Yeah over 200 million 210 Something like that I'll do the maths while you're You're telling me what you've got coming in

1:09:00Andrew Allen: So I included Incapier on my list So that's 40 million Nah I think that's

1:09:08James McNicholas: I don't think that's fair Okay. I don't think that's necessary. You know, we know that when that's done.

1:09:14Andrew Allen: It's only useful in terms of the net spend and the ins and outs because it is very much this summer's money. Okay. Well, fair enough then. Fair enough. The whole deal was structured in that way, you see. Right. So that's about 40 million quid. Then I've got Morgan Rogers. Right. You're welcome, everyone. and I've put a price on that of 110 million. It's a lot, isn't it? It's a lot, but with Villa wanting 130, I think we will be tipping over 100 if we want to do it.

1:09:51James McNicholas: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so.

1:09:54Andrew Allen: I've got Bruno at 65 million, so that's your central midfielder at 65. I've got Solis at 35 million. I've got a keeper at 8 million. And I can't guess what keeper Inyaki Kanya wants. He'll probably bring back Matt Turner. I don't know. It'll just be some bloke he knows from years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. A guy from the Greek fourth division that he had on loan at Brentford for a week.

1:10:29Andrew Allen: and then I've called it there and I've called that 258 million of spending which is a hell of a lot of money but I like you so I've got a bracket on this one too and it is for a sort of it's actually a kind of centre-half-y full-back-y player like I you know somebody like an Esri Konza or somebody like that, you know, somebody who can play centre half, can play full back, is that sort of very physical profile, can rotate in and out. Somebody like that is, that's my sort of hincapié deal for this summer. Sure. Like it might be the extra one we do that we have to find a way to afford somehow. But for the time being, I'm going to leave that off.

1:11:24Andrew Allen: But I share your suspicion that it's in play.

1:11:29James McNicholas: Yeah. Just reading Iñaki Kanyas after a goalkeeper called Pablo Manos. Okay. He's from Villafranca. Brilliant. Is that exciting enough? Is that a good enough window for the champions? I had quite an interesting discussion with Art on the Arsecast on Friday. And my sort of contention was, like, maybe Morgan Rodgers is that player, but it doesn't quite do it for me. You know, I like him. I think he's a good player, but it doesn't quite do it for me, you know, in terms of, like, the statement signing. You know, the one where, as champions, you go out and you say, this is the fucking place you want to be.

1:12:11James McNicholas: You're a brilliant player. You want to play for Arse. You want to play for the champions. we're going to get to the Champions League final again we're going to do it this is the moment you know where you go out and you get that kind of like whoa fuck that guy you know in some respects the sort of the signing that makes you feel a bit like Ezzer did last season

1:12:29Andrew Allen: the shirt name and number that everyone's going to want exactly

1:12:33James McNicholas: and I know there was a very sort of specific set of circumstances and everything else but you know I'm not saying I have any right to feel underwhelmed if Arsenal go out and spend£220 million in the transfer market this summer. But I just sort of, I'd love one of those signings that makes you go like, oh, like Mufasa, you know. Do you know what I mean? And it's not there in those names. It's not there in those names for me.

1:13:08Andrew Allen: That's interesting. I would have thought that Morgan Rodgers would have tickled your Mufasa bone.

1:13:14James McNicholas: Yeah, I like him. I think he's good. But, you know, listen, I could sit here next summer and hopefully I'm eating the biggest slice of humble pie that ever existed. But, yeah, just, you know, just doesn't quite tickle my Mufasa.

1:13:34Andrew Allen: What about, can I just ask sort of out of curiosity, like what about Bradley Barclay? If you're weighing, you know, because I think you've got two players there who would cost north of 100 million.

1:13:46James McNicholas: Yeah.

1:13:47Andrew Allen: If you're weighing Rodgers against Barcola in terms of what they offer and what they would bring to this team, where do you sit on that?

1:13:55James McNicholas: I mean, I think Barcola is a bit more like that for me, but it might just be because he's from France and we're signing him from PSG. and there's a sort of not quite familiarity breeds contempt when it comes to Premier League players, right? But, yeah.

1:14:13Andrew Allen: Do you think Barclay's more what we need? That's my slight thing. You know, when I look at the team, I'm like, what do we really need? What we really need is someone to play off the left, in my view.

1:14:24James McNicholas: Yes, and somebody with real pace, which I think he has. And I know he can be a bit hit and miss, But, you know, if we're replacing Trossard with Solace, like we didn't talk about Gabriel Martinelli at all. Oh, yeah.

1:14:42Andrew Allen: Well, I see him staying as a number eight now after his positional conversion with Brazil.

1:14:47James McNicholas: Yeah.

1:14:48Andrew Allen: He's the left eight we've been looking for. Now, I just think... Like, I don't think he'll go. Do you know what? No, I don't think so. Well, we just did our predictions and he wasn't in there.

1:14:59James McNicholas: Yeah, he wasn't in there. I mean, I guess it's not impossible, but like...

1:15:05Andrew Allen: We've got an option on the deal to add an extra year. So he's got 12 months currently, but we can stick another 12 months on that. So there's a bit less urgency than with Trossard and because of the age as well. I think his versatility is really helpful if Miklarteta is prepared to kind of embrace that. yeah I have him staying I have him staying too so then maybe

1:15:35James McNicholas: maybe sort of you know if you have a Martinelli for the left and I know there are people out there who would be you know very keen to see a different pacey player on the left than Martinelli you know

1:15:50Andrew Allen: yeah it's a really hard one I mean if I was sort of doing my dream summer

1:15:58Andrew Allen: I'm probably less convinced we need Bruno like if we could somehow pull off Rogers and Barkley I don't think it's particularly realistic but if you could that would feel like you've really refreshed and strengthened the forward line

1:16:16James McNicholas: I mean the elephant in the room here for me is you know Declan Rice could absolutely be the six that Arsenal need. And maybe there is an argument that given how much he's played and given the burden that's on him, if you have Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice, your focus should be on more craft and more...

1:16:46Andrew Allen: You've got Maslow Eskele as well.

1:16:48James McNicholas: You've got Maslow Eskele, yeah, don't forget about that. And Mikel Marino, who's not necessarily a deep-lying midfielder in that way. But I do wonder if, you know, do you think there's an argument to be made that for the sake of Declan Rice's hamstrings and spine and neural bits and bobs, that him as a six, in kind of the same way, Mikel Arteta moved back from being, you know, a very creative number 10 to being a deep-lying midfielder at Arsenal, that kind of base of the midfield trio. is there an argument to be made that that might benefit Declan Rice as well as like in inverted commas solving a problem and allowing you then to you know potentially go and bolster the squad in in a different way as you say let's say Rodgers and Barclays as unlikely as that is but in terms of the profile of the players that's maybe where your focus could

1:17:48Andrew Allen: be yeah it's interesting because Rice kind of made that transition in the course of last season didn't he? I mean, I remember going out to Atleti for that game and he was almost playing like a third centre-back at times in passages of open play, dropping really deep. And whether it was by necessity or design, that kind of happened. And yeah, I think maybe that could spare him his legs. I mean, I guess the argument for a signing like Bruno is what sort of physical state is Declan Rice going to be in come August and but I yeah I have this nagging thing of like well we've spent quite a lot of money on Martin Zubemendy for that job you know um if you look at the amount of money Arsenal have put theoretically into the number six position um over the last few years it's it's chunky it's considerable and do we need to be allocating more there?

1:18:48Andrew Allen: I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure. And then it's if Rice is your sixth, does Rodgers become a really interesting option as a number eight? Maybe. Maybe so. So there's a lot of moving pieces, as is always the case with Mikel Arteta and Arsenal Summers, because you're never quite sure. You know he's going to evolve the team, but you're never quite sure in what direction. Well. Apart from the fact that it will involve a left-back. That's the only thing you know.

1:19:15James McNicholas: We resisted. We resisted. saying that we were going to bring in a left back. So there we go. Incapia.

1:19:21Andrew Allen: We got Incapia. Well, that's in in this one.

1:19:25James McNicholas: Okay. Well, there we go. So you're about 220 million as well on the incomings, and I am too. And you're a bit more maybe, are you? I was a bit more.

1:19:34Andrew Allen: I was more like 250.

1:19:35James McNicholas: 250 because you've got the Incapia thing in there as well. And I had to keep a – I was paying a fee for a keeper. Yeah, that's bullshit. Just get some lad. He'll be fine. will we do a few questions um let's do a few questions let's do a few questions um here's one from uh jamo dr jimmy p.bsky.social and he says most if not all the signings made in berta's time with us have been either players offered to us or the financially best deal Talent level seems secondary. Do you think this approach is compatible with what we need to do this summer, i.e. sign ceiling raisers? Do you think that's a fair assessment of what we've done under Andrea Berta?

1:20:24Andrew Allen: Well, we're only really looking at one summer for Andrea Berta, aren't we? One window. We didn't do anything in January. And the job of last summer, I think, was to find a way to appropriately allocate resource in such a way that we could bolster across the whole squad. And I think we managed that and it worked. I mean, you know, they've all got Premier League medals now, so it worked. it was less about the kind of star level signings you know your Alexander Azaks or whatever it might be and more about yeah what can we spend on the centre forward that enables us to also sign a backup for Bakayi Saka for example

1:21:15Andrew Allen: I do think the demands of this window are slightly different and that is why I talk about players like Morgan Rodgers or Bradley Barclay or trying to find a way to land one or two of that sort of calibre of name because I think that's where we're at now. I think we've got the squad. I think we've got the foundation. We're looking for the stardust really and the difference makers and the match winners.

1:21:43Andrew Allen: So I don't know if it's fair to critique Berta based on one summer in which he did the job that was asked of him in fairness to him but it'll be interesting to see how much he's able to evolve and adapt this summer when i feel like the demands are slightly different yeah okay um but it's an interesting question yeah um norwegians oh i thought this was kind of interesting so norwegians were having a lot of fun showboating this is from Mick Atshu, by the way, on Discord. And they say, Norwegian's having a lot of fun showboating in the last 15 minutes of the Brazil-Norweg game. Odegaard bringing out his repertoire of feints, flicks and tricks.

1:22:27Andrew Allen: After Neymar took exception and swiped Odegaard's legs to get himself booked, I noticed in the ensuing melee that Big Gabby actually got involved with Martin. And it looked like he was very clearly and very angrily telling him to stop taking the piss. Should we be concerned about this? Or do you think it'll be water under the bridge when the boys are back at London Colney. Am I reading too much into this?

1:22:49James McNicholas: I think it's just heat of the moment stuff, isn't it? Heat of the moment. Your instinct is to protect your teammate. I mean, I did think Neymar when he came on was just a twat, really. I know he sought out Odegaard afterwards and they had a moment. But, you know, he gave him that sort of bump from behind thing as well. it was just you know the last dying embers of you know his career um in 15 minutes of frustration or whatever it was uh but i don't really worry about that i'm just more happy to see martin odegaard doing that you know that he's confident and he's got the fluency and he's got the rhythm in his game that he feels he can still do that you know um i don't think it's going to be a case that that Big Gabby's going to bear a grudge and take it out on him when they get back for pre-season training or anything like that, you know?

1:23:44Andrew Allen: No. I think on the one hand, I think these little confrontations and scraps probably, it's not beyond the realms of possibility they could happen in a training session at a football club. You know what I mean? Like these are highly competitive people. And in Big Gabby's case, quite emotional people as well. the other thing I think of is I think it was 2006 the incident between Ronaldo and Rooney where Ronaldo got Rooney sent off and then winked at a teammate and it was this soap opera that played out over the coming months what will it be like when they're reunited at training in Manchester and I think Rooney later revealed that basically he and Ronaldo had a conversation in the tunnel after the game and it was totally resolved and there was no, they both understood that they were just doing whatever they needed to do to get their teams to win.

1:24:36And I think I'm right in saying they had a pretty extraordinary season

1:24:42Andrew Allen: playing together the next year. So I think this stuff happens and people move on very quickly. I think footballers get it. And I don't think there'll be any issues or grudges. I didn't see the kind of post-match scenes, but it wouldn't surprise me if, while Neymar was weeping, Odegaard and Big Gabby had a sort of moment of reconciliation. I just think this happens on a football pitch. There's nothing to worry about.

1:25:08James McNicholas: Yeah, storm in a teacup kind of stuff. A Nightmare on Elneny Street asks this. Good afternoon, gents. Is the next evolution for Arsenal to move away from a defined number 10, a left winger and a right winger, but three players playing behind the front man who can occupy any of those positions at any time. I also think it's no coincidence that our top-level youth graduates are players that can play in multiple positions. For example, Saka, Myles Lewis-Gelly, Ethan, Max. I also wonder whether this may ultimately extend to the number nine position in the future and we go with an interchangeable front four.

1:25:54Andrew Allen: Yes, I think that's an interesting prospect. I would say when Kai Havertz plays as the nine, there is quite a lot of interchanging that goes on. He likes to drop deep or drop out to the right-hand side. One player we didn't mention, conspicuous by his absence in our transfer predictions was Julian Alvarez. But, you know, a nine like that would be a game changer for Arsenal, I think, in terms of the sort of combination play that it would offer. I think there is something to this. I think the ability to rotate and interchange positions would make us more dangerous, less predictable. I mean, I've loved probably my favourite individual player, maybe with the obvious exception of Messi, to watch at this World Cup has been Michael Alisse.

1:26:41Andrew Allen: The way that he plays off the right, but cuts steps into the number 10. I just think he's absolutely outstanding. and quite how the biggest Premier League teams allowed him to escape their clutches, I don't really know.

1:26:56James McNicholas: I think he's quite a singular character, isn't he? So he might well have had those approaches and had those offers from Premier League clubs, but said, nah, I'll go to fucking Bayern Munich or whatever. Like he's been, how many times did we talk about him on this podcast as a player that, you know, we would love to see in red and white?

1:27:17Andrew Allen: So yeah, I think when you watch France play, you do see a lot of that interchanging.

1:27:26Andrew Allen: I don't know. Do I see Mikel Arteta really embracing that? I'm not so sure. I think you need the right players and you need to be underpinned by a lot of structure and discipline. But I think it would be an exciting development for this team.

1:27:45James McNicholas: What do you think? Yeah, just maybe to have a little more freedom, you know, and I know without getting into the sort of nuts and bolts of it tactically, you know, the way wide players are told to stay wide, to stretch the pitch, et cetera, et cetera. You know, does it get too crowded if everybody comes central and then all of a sudden your right winger is, oh, look, he's just tripped over Jury and Timber who's also playing in the inside right position. And then your center forward has come over there as well. And it's just, you know, a crowded mess. I think you need a high level of talent and a high level of coaching and intelligence to make that work.

1:28:23James McNicholas: But I think there are always things that you have to look at changing and look at ways to be different. And listen, the big example, wasn't it, was like Zinchenko when he first arrived at Arsenal. And nobody quite knew what to do with Zinchenko until they did. and then you have to figure out something else. So I think a job of a manager is, you know, part of that is trying to figure out ways to make yourself less predictable to the opposition and to find ways to cause them problems and pull their players out of position so the players that you get into good positions can cause them damage. So I thought that was interesting, by the way, when you mentioned Julian Alvarez, Because, you know, just that idea of Arsenal doing something like that in the centre forward position for everything that it would say about, you know, how we've built the squad would be a really fascinating development in the transfer market.

1:29:30James McNicholas: Like, I don't necessarily expect Arsenal to sign a centre-forward. But if they did, I think that would be really interesting because there'd have to be a casualty along the way, I think. But, yeah, like I said, I don't really expect it. But you never know. I guess you never know.

1:29:48Andrew Allen: And would that be – I've just realised I've got to go very shortly, Andrew. Sorry about that. No, that's okay. I was going to ask quickly, would a signing like Alvarez, Would that be in that category of kind of eye-catching signings that you would associate with?

1:30:03James McNicholas: I kind of think so, yeah. It's sort of like, you know, the way when we bought Jose Antonio Reyes in the January of 2004, and he's coming into a team with Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry and Kanu and Sylvain Wiltord and Jeremy Aliadier and Freddie Jumberg and Robert Perez and then it's like we're going to buy this like hot shit kid from fucking Sevilla you know the sort of signing where you go do Arsenal really need that but you know maybe they don't but I'm glad we're doing it because it gives us even more you know and he obviously played a part in helping the team go invincible so So, yeah, that would be a very, very interesting transfer development for me.

1:30:56James McNicholas: So we'll see. If that guy ever stops spinning the plates, maybe we'll find out.

1:31:01Andrew Allen: Yeah, exactly.

1:31:02James McNicholas: All right. All right. Well, look, I'll let you go because I know you do have to go and do your Chicago work and stuff. So to everybody, thank you indeed for being with us as always. Hope you enjoyed the show. Hope you enjoyed the very well thought out and entirely accurate predictions that we've provided. for you. Take it easy, folks. We'll have something for you later in the week, and we will chat to you on the next one. Bye-bye.

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