Gab & Juls Show: Arsenal's Collective Excellence

22:10Julien Laurens:That's a great idea. Alright, one other thing, and this is just the world we live in, Swiss Ramble came out and ran some Arsenal numbers. If Arsenal win the Champions League, they're going to, I think, have the third highest revenue in world football. Even if they don't, it's going to be touch and go. They might break Manchester City's record revenue for a season. $715 million was Man City's mark. and yet most likely they're going to make a loss this season it's not a tragedy I don't think they're going to be in trouble with financial sustainability rules but that is kind of the reality of the situation that you're in where you can go all the way to the final game and the Champions League you can win the Premier League but because of the investment you've made you talked about more investment this summer it's going to be and obviously Gabriel Jesus is going to leave and he's on a big contract.

23:08Julien Laurens:Yeah, for sure. But there's not too much else that you necessarily, unless you say, I'm going to, Martinelli's obviously been mentioned, but there's not too many, unless you want to lose one of your big pieces, there's not somebody else who's going to get you a fee. No, no, there's no big players who will leave, for sure, but for the French players, it's a bit insulting because they're still very good players, but you might get some money there. You got money for Kivio. You will get money for Fabio Vieira, for example. We have a really good season now. But you have to use that money to pay for Hincopje.

23:40Julien Laurens:52 million, they're on the hook for. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But as we know, and I know you did the dump. You must have to prepare because you're so on contract and everything. That's why. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got that. Because they're just. Androberto will have big decisions. Already we're looking at. We're talking about the evolution next season. Yeah, no, no. I know. But the reason I say this is because for me, the decision is do I consolidate this group? and not make a, you talked about a major addition, perhaps down the left, right? I look at this and I say, these are the big decisions you have to make.

24:11Yes, first of all, you have to figure out how you're going to pay for Hincapie. And I think it's going to, I don't think Kivior, well, Kivior's already gone and you got a good fee for him. Vieira, you'll find somebody, but it's not, I think that alone won't cover the cost of Hincapie. But then to add on top of that, there isn't that much room to maneuver. So for me, the question then is, the decision he's going to have to make is, if I ask for a big investment, I'm turning the screws a little bit, am I better off saying, hey, Eze's going to be better, Giocharis is going to grow, Saliba's going to grow, Louis Skelly's going to grow, and kind of consolidate what you have.

24:52I think these are basically the club decisions, right? None of those players you mentioned are going to leave anyway. No, no, but what I'm saying is, you focus on keeping this group and growing it, or do you say, we need something more? Every manager would want something more.

25:07Julien Laurens:They would sign players in the summer, undoubtedly. I mean, even to be fair... Starting caliber players, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, on the left-hand side, definitely, I think, 100%. They will have a new left winger, where again, that's, I don't know, a few of the names that have been mentioned or they've been offered, you know, for Morgan Rodgers to Mika Gotts to those kind of guys, or to Julen Alvarez, who can play wide too. This is the kind of players that we're talking. So definitely there will be a new starter there, I think. Certainly that's the idea. So then the rest stays the same, consolidates, more used to play with each other, automatism, all of that.

25:44Julien Laurens:Relationalism, even if you want, it will be there. But I think they realise that if you want to keep going and have that kind of winning dynasty or how much you can win, it's now. It's not in two or three years' time. You could keep exactly the same squad and go again, sure, and you might win again, some stuff, maybe. But you know you can make this team better and win again with it, for sure. All right, final question. Going back to the issue of the collective, if we had to pick a player of the year early on in the season, there was one game against Liverpool where David Raya made some ridiculous save off of Salah and either kept it a win, otherwise it would have been a draw or whatever else, right?

26:27so it would be coming down last season. And I said, oh, if Arsenal win the title, that is one of those moments. And I know it's silly because there's millions of moments, but in my mind, I look at what Raya has done this season. I look at the fact that in Spain, he's probably not even considered one of the top three Spanish keepers, which I think is kind of silly, but hey. For me, David Raya deserves to be Arsenal's player of the year, but there's so many correct answers to this one. I'll put you on the spot I'm going to guess you're going to pick Saliba

27:00Julien Laurens:Yeah, I just think I hear you on Ryan, I'm with you completely I was at the Brighton game at the home Brighton game and I was sat literally just behind on the angle of the Jacube Minte shot at 2-1 that goes in the top corner and I still don't know how he saved it, but to go back to your Liverpool point, they could have won that game But for me, William, because he's the best defender in the world because I think that Raya was also protected by somebody like him in front of him. I think Rice benefited from Saliba to be that good. I think he's improved on the ball. I think he's just incredible and it's hard because some people will say Rice, others might say Gabriel even, more for the attacking threat too.

27:45Julien Laurens:You might want to go for, I don't know, somebody else maybe. But for me Saliba. I was thinking of like Saliba Howlers this year and the one the only one that comes to mind is and I think it was in the Champions League semi-final that back header where then it was in the Champions League yeah yeah yeah he flexed it there's the one against United there's been a couple there's a couple but like the fact that like we remember them tells you kind of I think all you need to know about the season is that

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30:14Julien Laurens:Yeah, they were far too good, far too strong for a little Freiburg. We like it. Freiburg have had a great history. It's a great story again that they reached the final. They've got some really nice players, but I don't think they could have matched Aston Villa and the team that they've had suddenly on the deck. Two great goals to start with. Morgan Rodgers again scoring the third one. Well done to Unai Emery and everything. 44 years they were waiting for a European trophy after the 1982 European Cup. scored in the final in 1982 no Peter Witts Peter with okay 30 years since they waited for they were waiting for another trophy it was incredible really achievement from Aston Villa and Tammy Abraham who only become the second player to do all the European trophies oh tell me tell me yeah who's the other one I do not remember and that's on Palmieri of course I mean I should know Champions Champions League, Europa League, you know, UEFA Cup, Cup Winners Cup, or now Conference League if you want, and even the Super Cup.

31:16Julien Laurens:So let's see if Tammy can win that as well. Gab, you've been telling us all season long, what a great job, Runa Yemmri has been doing Aston Villa, this is his fifth Europa League. And I've been doing it grudgingly. So he's been in six finals. Of course the only coach to beat him in a final had to be Italian and is? Yeah, Maurizio Sarri. Maurizio Sarri, very good. only one coach has been in more European finals than him. Of course, he has to be Italian too, and it's... Absolutely. Trappattoni. Giovanni Trappattoni from Cusano Milanino, which is where my mom's side of the family are from. Other fun Emery facts.

31:50And I think this is weird. As you know, I think Emery's kind of voodoo, and I say this not just because he kind of looks like a baby vampire. I don't know how he does it in such difficult circumstances. I've been saying this all season. But I think there's some sort of nominative determinism here because he's won his Europa League with Sevilla. He's won them with Villarreal. And now with Aston Villa. No, no, you joke. You joke. I want some nerd. I want Ryan O 'Hanlon to calculate the statistical probability of this happening because I think, I don't know how else you can explain this. He does not have a big squad.

32:28He finished in the Champions League spots this season. He has some good players, but I don't know. like our Pau Torres and Esri Kansa. Do we think that this is... How many defensive partnerships are better this season?

32:40Julien Laurens:They're internationals for the country. They play for Spain and for England. I know, but you say like if he had a random team with no... All starting 11, play for the country. I know, but they still play for the country. I'm not doubting that. I'm not doubting this, Jules. But you look at the injuries that he had. Remember, you're like, oh, if Abubu Kamara goes out, then everything falls apart. Well, he's been out and things didn't fall apart. It's been a tough season in the Premier League for them, to be fair. Bro, they're in fourth place. No, no, I know, but we know. They're ahead of Liverpool.

33:13Julien Laurens:They could not win the first 10 games of the season or something. And not just that, they lost Monchi over the summer. We were talking about Monchi, Monchi, Monchi Magic. They're under a UEFA settlement agreement because they breached Renegade Fair Play. I don't know if this gets them out of it, by the way. I think they may have to sacrifice somebody this summer again to work in those circumstances and to do what he's done, obviously it's a no to the player. Morgan Rodgers is my player this season in the Premier League. You know that. But I think it's, you know, you had Watkins. Watkins seemed to go off the boil early in the season.

33:42Then he comes back. I mean, it is really a masterpiece. As I said, I'm not Emery's biggest fan. No, I'm with you. I think he deserves it. But for his competence, he's not going to win Manager of the Year anywhere other than in Birmingham. Yeah, yeah. But he should be in the conversation.

33:56Julien Laurens:Yeah, no, for sure. Tottenham lose away to Chelsea 2-1, which means it's going down to the wire, Jules. Yeah, it will go all the way to the end of the last game of the season. They will be at home to Everton. They just need a point to stay up in the Premier League. West Ham will also be at home against Leeds United, who have nothing to play for. Everton can, you know, I don't think they have much to play for. They need a miracle, really, to qualify for the Conference League. So both teams are home against nothing to play for. You would think that Spurs would get at least a draw. I think Spurs will win.

34:30Julien Laurens:I think West Ham would win as well. They just come up short. Yeah, and Chelsea were not good again. I know they won, but not a good performance. But they had to win, really. Reports of Italy say that Max Allegri will stay at Milan with expanded powers, even. A new contract and possibly Leon Goretzka coming as a free agent from Bayern Munich. Gab, you must be delighted. Yeah, come on. Goretzka, Rabiot, Modric midfield. How about that? I hope these reports are wrong. I don't see they're also saying he's going to get a raise as well I mean he's going to get an automatic extension if they qualify for the Champions League which they haven't done yet it's going to come down to Sunday but yeah I think this is all kinds of silly I think this story comes from Allegri's camp to turn the screws a little bit on Uncle Jerry I hope that's the case but who knows stranger things have happened now we celebrated Arsenal but this is made possible of course because Manchester City drew 1-1 at Bournemouth on Tuesday night a game in which they were frankly comprehensively outplayed Erling Haaland snatching an equalizer deep in injury time.

35:31Jules, I was not expecting to see Mateo Kovacic starting 364 days after his last league start. Is this going to be chalked up to one of those Pep overthinking things?

35:41Julien Laurens:Well, I was surprised like you, Gabi. And for me, so I was going to say that makes sense. If he thought Bournemouth are home, again, they have to win to stay in those Champions League position, hunt, all of that. Very aggressive press, the best press in the league. the most intense team so I want a passer and you want a press resistant more than a passer a press resistant guy so Kovacic you can give him the ball usually he's very good against the press the problem is there was none of that from Bournemouth it was a very medium block they were waiting for them on the halfway line so then you have Kovacic in there and Kovacic is a bit lost completely and he's not fit and he's not fit probably certainly not much I think he's fit not much fit absolutely and for me to leave Sheki on the bench for a game like this if you wanted Kovacic okay find a way of playing Kovacic but don't push Shecky on the bench because that was really embarrassing find a way to play Kovacic means drop would have meant dropping Rodren Silva or put Silva wide if you really wanted yeah I suppose you could because Seminole was not very good at all either once again no yeah I I think he's going to look back on this with a lot of regret because you know what like maybe Arsenal would have won the title anyway but they still have to go out and perform with the Champions League in the back of their minds and everything and the bottle and all the stuff.

36:59And yeah, you threw it away there. Yeah, I agree.

37:01Julien Laurens:And on Monday night as well, Gabby, the Daily Mail reported first as definitive the news that Pep is leaving at the end of the season. Then most of the media confirmed it within minutes, including the ESPN website, of course. Pep simply said he would talk to the owner and I don't think he was too happy that the story broke like he did. I think he wanted to keep it for Sunday. So look, we've all been saying this because this is what everybody's been told that he was leaving, but it was never confirmed. I think you have a right to go and go out, especially after what he's done on your terms with you dictating this.

37:37The Daily Mail said sponsors have been attributed to, they didn't just say, oh, look, we've heard these rumors are so long. There's no firm denial. Let's run with it, right? They said some sponsors have been told that Pep is leaving. doesn't fully add up to me because why does the sponsor need to be told that Pep is leaving also most of your sponsors are Abu Dhabi friends anyway like you can you know however Pep should have had the right if anybody at Manchester City told the sponsor this they should find out who it is and discipline them because it's not fair to Pep could he have played this differently could he have come out should he have come out two weeks ago and said hey guys I'm leaving I don't know weeks ago and even now saying well i'll talk to the owner i'll be really curious i'll be i wonder he surprised us in the past what if he changes his mind all right okay all right you got that on video i don't know i don't know what to think anymore frankly about this situation right what do you mean hey i i cannot believe somebody in manchester city would screw him over like this by telling a sponsor we were told that is being back in march already that but we weren't told

38:45Julien Laurens:by Manchester City. That's the main thing. He was known by everyone. I'm even surprised he took that long to come out. So why didn't Pep just come out and say it? He should have said it. Maybe he thought he could keep it until the end. You don't keep something like this. It's not possible. And I think and he said it had zero impact on the players. I don't know if it's true and every indication I've had from the people who have access to the players that I talk to say that he never sat down with the players and said hey I'm leaving. No he told them after Monday night. I would feel a little let down as well.

39:16Yeah, maybe. But anyway. Jules, here were some words that I never thought I'd say. Bournemouth can still qualify for the Champions League.

39:23Julien Laurens:Yeah, they need a bit of help from Manchester City on one side and Liverpool on the other side because now that Aston Villa have won the Europa League, that means sixth place in the Premier League can qualify you to the Champions League. So Bournemouth right now. But for that, they need Aston Villa to finish fifth. Not fourth, but fifth. And right now, Villa are fourth. So they need to lose a city and Liverpool to win at home against Brentford to overtake Villa. So Liverpool will finish fourth, Villa fifth, and that fifth place would mean that sixth place would qualify Bournemouth or potentially Brighton.

39:57Julien Laurens:Even they're still in a sharp foray for the Champions League. Bournemouth would need to win a draw against Forest. They can even lose as long as Brighton don't beat Manchester United. Yeah, exactly. But one of the two. But for that, Villa have to lose and to finish in fifth place. Speaking of Pep, is he really being linked to the Italy job and would you like him to take over the tele-jump? I don't know what he'd be like as a national team manager. I don't know that that's his forte, in part because of decisions he makes in one-off games and he doesn't have a chance to work with the players, but obviously far better than what we've had.

40:29Yeah, yeah, yeah.

40:30Julien Laurens:It's not hard to do. I think right now it's looking increasingly like Antonio Conte with Roberto Mancini as the alternative. June 22nd, elections for the FA. I think things will become clearer after that. Jules, we have a decision in the Spygate case. Wow. Southampton are out. O-U-T out. They were thrown out, and then they had their appeal, which somehow the appeal, they wrapped everything up in one day because it's so important to have everything done by Saturday. You can't mess with anyone's schedules. So stupid. Anyway, it's going to be Middlesbrough facing Hull on Saturday for a place in the Premier League.

41:05Julien Laurens:Yeah, I think a lot of people call for it. You might find it a bit severe that they get chucked out because they spied on the training two days before the game against the first leg against Middlesbrough in the semifinal. They admitted to have done it before in two more occasions. There's a lot of stories going around, stories telling us, for example, that the analyst that went spying was sent spying before... William Salt. William Salt before another championship game where he actually disguised himself and dressed up as in the colours of the team where that championship team was training, which was on another training ground.

41:43Julien Laurens:So stuff like that, I think they've done it far more than three times, really. And I think for me, I never want to see Tonda Eker, so the Southampton current manager who was behind all of it, who told the analyst to go and spy. I never want to see him coach again. And I think it's the right call that they made. It's a tough call. And then Southampton appealed and their appeal was rejected. Like you said, Gabby, I think it's the right. decision i don't know what you think bro so tonda ecker was uh the assistant coach at genoa and between 2022 and 2024 i think under alexander blessing when they were owned by the lovable 777 group yeah and of course now there's allegations suggestions that he was up to this as well and there's clubs that are mulling legal action there too yeah um he needs to speak he needs to come out and say something yeah yeah the daily mail report that some south southampton players are actually considering legal action against their own club over unpaid bonuses.

42:39Yeah, this seems to me like a stretch. The idea is that they get like£250 ,000 if they get promoted, and this will cost them a chance at promotion. Yeah, which is true. Which is true. It's true. I don't think it's a basis to sue. It seems like a spurious lawsuit, but certainly call out what you know. I mean, our producer Freddie was telling us a story about listening to Flynn Downs on the radio talking about, oh, it's amazing when we trade under Eckert. He seems to know exactly what the opposition are going to do. Well, hey, might these things be related? Neymar has been picked in Brazil's World Cup squad, Jules.

43:14Joel Pedro has not. But there's a place for 19-year-old Ryan. I'm telling you what, rank-and-file football fans did not know who Ryan was 12 months ago. No, that's true. And now he's going to the World Cup.

43:24Julien Laurens:Yeah, amazing. He had a really good six, well, not even six months, four months since he joined Bournemouth for quite a lot of money. He's good at Vashko before, too, but he's 19 years old. 19 years old, yeah, he's great. no Richarlison either no Joel Pedro I think for Joel Pedro this is harsh you see those pictures like you had a whole party set up for him I know the whole family was there unless he's really not fit and he was not in the squad against Spurs for Chelsea and there's something else I think this is harsh and for me he deserves to be there but the big news as you said Gabby is Neymar who spoke to Ancelotti and agreed to a lot of things like you know yes I won't start it's okay I won't suck I won't you know I won't make a mess I won't make a mess so let's see how it happens But I'm happy that he's there Gab, there are developments in the Negreira case In Spain And suggestion Real Madrid President Florentino Perez Could be sued So this is a regional Spanish tax agency in Catalonia And they said Well we've investigated And there's no evidence That we were finding evidence That the money that Negreira received Remember Negreira received Millions and millions Over multiple years I mean, this is a previous Barcelona regime, to act as a consultant to the club.

44:39And the allegations, obviously, in this case, is that he then took some of that money and bribed referees on Barcelona's behalf. Now, I don't know what investigative powers the Spanish tax agency has. I'm assuming they're just a bunch of... Meaning for the police, maybe, or something, no? But surely it's an investigation for the police. You can subpoena people and interview them. I don't think the Spanish tax agency... I mean, I was trying to figure this out, right? Like, they're looking for a paper trail. Maybe, like, the money goes into Negreira's account, and then it goes out from Negreira to a certain referee.

45:12That's all they can look at, right? So I don't think this is that relevant. More relevant, I think, is what Florentino said. It's seriously libelous. It's seriously defamatory towards Barcelona. Florentino, of course, in his meltdown speech a few years ago, he said that he's got a 500-page dossier that he's going to submit to UEFA, presumably because he doesn't trust the Spanish government to go and... Same Spanish government, by the way, that gives him contracts for his real estate company, but apparently they're not good enough to go and judge his investigation, which has been going on a long time.

45:44Fair play to him there. But Barcelona, strong suggestions that they may sue him for libel because this is defamatory. It's defamatory unless you have evidence. And the obvious question is, if Florentino has evidence in his 500-page dossier, why not hand it over to the police first? First and foremost, we're investigating this. With UEFA, I wonder if there's also a jurisdiction issue. As far as I understand it, and I am certainly not a lawyer, but I think UEFA can look at it after the sporting authorities in Spain look at it. and the sporting authorities in Spain look at it after the criminal authorities in Spain look at it.

46:25So I don't even know if UEFA can receive his dossier. UEFA can act if they find that the sporting authorities and the legal authorities haven't taken action. Yeah, yeah. But they're still investigating this. The case is still open. So I don't know. It seemed like he was kind of playing to the audience and didn't really know what he was doing with his dossier. This is just such an ugly story that the sooner it gets wrapped up, as long as it's done in a comprehensive, fair way, I think the better for everyone. I like things my way. My coffee, my schedule, and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self-injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo Pre-Filled Syringe, which contains F-Gartigamide Alpha and Hyaluronidase QVFC.

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48:36Julien Laurens:Shopify.com slash network. Sticking with Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho's likely arrival has many suggesting that Antonio Rudiger could stick around you. How do you feel about this? Yeah, it sounds like another year on his contract. So be linked until 2027 to have a bit of that kind of leadership experience that Mourinho loved. It talks about Bastoni not going to Barcelona because they can't afford him really. And I'm not sure if he wants to go, but potentially joining Mourinho there at Real Madrid to have another centre-back. like he's you know like if he's not good enough or something or we see but yeah rudigo sticking around hey are you good with this i i i think yeah i think he's decent at his age to give him i think yeah i don't think he's been terrible and also there's an issue there with with militao obviously you can't rely on him with his fitness there's an evident leadership issue there because the others are asensio and heisen yeah definitely so i i think it makes sense yeah i agree more For Madrid, Gabi, the deadline for other candidates to file paperwork and challenge Valentino Perez for the presidency in the next election that he called and moved forward is on Saturday.

49:46Yeah, and this is because, of course, when he called that, the rules say that, oh, other candidates have 10 days, not 10 business days, 10 days to go and present this. And as we know, the rules that exist are so limiting that because of this 187 million, 15 % of the club's budget that you need to have as a personal guarantee, Not that many people are rich enough, Jules. It's basically Florentino, Enrique Riquelme, Rafa Nadal, possibly. And that's it.

50:16Julien Laurens:That's it. So Riquelme is saying he hasn't decided yet. He's looking at seeing if he can file the paperwork. Sid Lowe assures us that even if Riquelme runs, he's likely to lose. Personally, I think an election with debates where things can come out in the open would benefit Real Madrid. So if Riquelme can pull the money together, I think it's good whether you like Valentino or not. There's a lot of questions there, and I think it's good that these questions get addressed. Even more Madrid. Dani Carvajal leaves the club after 13 years. Jules, I kind of feel he's not quite getting the send-off he deserves.

50:52Could this have to do with the other Real Madrid, former Real Madrid right-back somehow not liking him?

50:56Julien Laurens:Yeah, maybe. I think I can see what you said. Carvajal and Arbeloa are not getting on at all, obviously. Obviously, Arbeloa had this little dinner party to say goodbye with the love of the squad and Arbeloa was not even invited. Was Mbappe in the game? Yeah. Did he go? Yeah, of course he was there. He was there. He looked lovely. On Tuesday night, I think it was on Monday night. But no Arbeloa because Carvajal obviously doesn't get on with him, doesn't like him, has hardly played, coming back from a serious injury. That's certainly not the last season at the club that he would have loved to or dreamt of.

51:28Julien Laurens:and that's a bit harsh because he's still of those 13 years he's a bit of a club legend I know he's not at the level of Modric or Cristiano or Benzema and stuff like that but he's still a very important part of that incredibly winning squad They're at home this weekend I would assume I would hope Yeah, me too They should As a club you go and you recognise Carvajal and also look, let's face it Carvajal's not going to get booed unlike some other Real Madrid players we can name and if Arbeloa says you say like hey get back in your box. Yeah definitely. The Times report that a public investment of Saudi Arabia are looking to sell about a quarter of their stake of Newcastle to outside investors to help fund the new stadium redevelopment and the training ground.

52:16Julien Laurens:What does this tell you? This tells me a lot. Do you have no money left? Well it's not even money left. They're choosing what money they have left to spend it domestically. Like they said they would. They issued a report and said right this is why remember live golf right yeah yeah where they come out all the money they spunk down that drain right um which by the way that was al-ramayan who's the guy who was because he's a big golf guy that's the guy who's who's the representative um with newcastle i what i think is interesting here too is that as you know um stadium and training ground development infrastructure costs don't count towards financial for player financial stability rules right so they could just write a check for it but they're saying no no we're gonna run this like a real business so we could either borrow the money which obviously you don't want to do or we'll just sell some of our stake to other investors maybe they'll sell it to the Rubin brothers I mean Rubin brothers the Sunday rich list came out these guys are worth billions and billions we're not talking by the way we're not talking like do you need 500 million to redo this right we're talking in the order of the hundreds of millions yeah but they're saying no we would rather bring in outside equity to do this than go and put more money in so i think whatever you think of newcastle we know there's going to be a retrenchment we know the pif has they've always run newcastle as a business and all those people who were being all like oh look it's going to be like man city or parisaz or manmar too this is further evidence not the case and further evidence that the magic money train in saudi arabia isn't going to go on forever they're happy to invest if they can create a business if they can't create a self-sustaining business then they pull out and this applies to you too saudi pro league manuel neuer uh announced that he was coming out of international retirement was like a week ago and presto julian nagelsman names him in his world cup squad for germany jewels yeah it's not surprising i mean i know he's 40 he's still on the back of a very good season domestically with bayern and in the champions league he's made some since he made some neuer-esque he always has that mistake yeah Yeah, always.

54:16Julien Laurens:But he's still Manuel Neuer with the experience, everything. 2014, he was there already, obviously, 12 years ago when they won the World Cup with Germany. So it makes sense, especially when Ter Stegen, you know, had the season that he's had and then the rest, the other options that you have. It's Bowman and Neubau. Yeah, exactly. So you take Neuer every day over them too. It's not even a discussion. I think Neubau's been good. Is he as good as... But it's also like, this is my other thing too with Neuer, right? I'm not questioning his history. Yes, you probably would take Neuer over the other two.

54:52But when he plays Sir Bayern, he's playing for a team that has 70 % possession. The ball's at the other end of the pitch. And so he has to stay alert the few times that the other team breaks through, right? Which has been suggested in the past. That's why the mistakes he makes is that it's actually difficult to stay concentrated when you're so far away from play for so long. with Germany at the World Cup, at this World Cup, with his team, the way it's built, I don't know that it's going to be like that. So it's going to be a different skill set, a different experience. I just hope this doesn't turn into an issue for Nagelsmann.

55:26Because Nagelsmann is so straight edge that once he's there, he's still going to make decisions based on form. And if once he's there, he decides, okay, Neubel's going to start or Bauman's going to start, and then Noy's like, well, why did you call me then? You know what I mean? There has to be a clear pathway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jonas Urbic, by the way, going along too as a practice goalkeeper. Yeah, Portsmouth have done the same. I think that is the plan B in case in the build-up to the first game, you can still make changes.

55:57Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nagelsmann says, yeah, you know what, Manny? No, you're not going to start. So you've got the Urbic one. I think Nogu is still much better than anybody else to start. I could agree with you. It matters what Nagelsmann thinks and does in the moment. UF have announced plans to revamp the Nations League and the World Cup qualifying gap. They must really like the Swiss model. What's happening? I think this is weird. I'm not sure this makes sense. This still has to be approved by the executive committee, but it is kind of a rubber stamp at this stage. So basically, for the World Cup qualifying, they're going to have a big Swiss model with 36 teams in League One.

56:39you're going to have three pots and you're going to play I think two games against the top pot two games against the second pot, two games against the third pot so we all understand this now because we see it in the Champions League and then there's going to be a pathway and then they'll have a big ranking at the end and then there'll be a playoff pathway for some teams as well as teams that do well in the, let's call it the minnow group, the other 19 countries that aren't going to be in League One. Hopefully Italy qualifies for League One. I don't even know at this stage. I can kind of live with that.

57:17National League, I don't understand at all. So what they're going to do is they're going to have three leagues of 18 and pots again. Oh, and one of those leagues is going to be 19 and you're going to play five games. But you're going to play five games against people at different levels. Personally, I liked it the way it was now.

57:34Julien Laurens:I thought the idea was to keep teams of the same level playing against each other to make it more interesting instead of some of the friendlies that we used to see before where a top team was battling a smaller side. Yeah, well, I thought so too. This is going to be a little bit different. The bottom league, you're going to have obviously a lot of variance in there because you're going to have Andorra with, I guess, number 37. and number 37 will probably beat up Andorra. I don't know how much Andorra is going to improve there, but hey, I hope they did their numbers correctly. Casemiro is a free agent this summer, but he keeps getting linked to Inter Miami, Jules.

58:17Yes. But the LA Galaxy have his discovery rights, so we'll have to make a deal. You love those discovery rights. I love the discovery rights.

58:24Julien Laurens:You know exactly what I was going to say, Gab. I love them. I love how it works as if you had to discover Casemiro. Really? Who that? Who does he play for? Which country? I mean, we said in Miami that Busquets leaving have left a big hole in there, although they're doing really well so far. Rodrigo de Paul. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Although he plays a bit more on the right of the midfield three. So he could go there. I mean, LA Galaxy is probably very appealing to him as well. I don't know where he would want to play between the two if he had the choice. But yeah, you... Inter Miami, according to this.

58:58Julien Laurens:Well, yeah, Inter Miami, according to this, you're right, yeah. So, you know, we see. I'm always amazed of like into Miami, just finding the money to Sainz and Messi and Suarez and DePaul and even Busquets and Alba before and Casemiro. It's great, but I think it's good for MLS. And the Italian guy, the guy bright. Yeah, yeah, yeah. True, yeah. That's true. FIFA expected to ban the pre-revolutionary flag of Iran inside stadiums at the World Cup, Gav. Does that make sense to you? This is a big call. So this is basically the flag that they had until 1979. it's when the Shah of Iran was in charge it's essentially the royal flag if you live in London near the Iranian embassy like I do, you see this flag all the time because there's protesters or waving at people who are against the current government in Iran which of course is the Islamic Republic government FIFA will ban it because they're going to say it's a political symbol i think it is very much a political symbol and if fifa are going to stick to the rules they're going to ban it it was also banned in cutter big difference in cutter obviously is that in cutter it's a lot easier to ban stuff yeah the u.s has very clear first amendment protections they may not apply inside the stadiums but you could have a situation i mean there's a huge iranian community in the west i think it's fair to say i mean they were compared to like the cubans in miami i think 98 of them um unscientific poll are against the current government of iran and they probably have many of those flags at home um you know going back to when grandpa moved so i don't know how this is going to work out i don't know how problematic it's going to be you can add it to the long list of cans of worms that iran are going to have to face that fear They're going to face that the U.S.

1:00:53is going to have to face. But, yeah, if they're going to apply their own rules, this is a political symbol. And it should not be inside the stadium. Oh, oh, oh, O 'Reilly. Check engine, ABS, or maintenance light on. Take the guesswork out of your warning lights with O 'Reilly Veriscan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE-certified master technicians. And if you need help, we could recommend a shop for you. Ask for O 'Reilly Veriscan today. Oh, oh, oh, O 'Reilly. Auto Parts.

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1:02:11A perfectly healthy plant that was easy to unbox and ready to go. Every order is backed by their Alive and Thrive guarantee, and you'll get ongoing support from real, knowledgeable experts. They have unbelievable deals on spring planting essentials, and right now you can get an additional 20 % off your first order with the code SPORTS at checkout. That's 20 % off at FastGrowingTrees.com with the code SPORTS. Terms and conditions apply. Again, that's FastGrowingTrees.com, code SPORTS. Jules, you obviously rate Valentin Barco since you drafted him high in the Gabin Jules draft of players born in 2004 he has said adieu to Strasbourg can we assume Stamford Bridge is his next stop?

1:02:57Julien Laurens:Yeah we can and then we can debate if he's the right call or not for him and for the club I think he's a really talented player forget the left back that you saw at times at Brighton, not much or Sevilla that didn't really work out either He's been replaced as a central midfielder and has been excellent in Ligue 1. He's more of a playmaking central midfielder, as I understand. More of a passing central midfielder. Yeah, but from deep, not as a 10. No, no, but that's what I mean. He's a Macalele type. Or less destructive. A Pirlo type. Yeah, yeah, exactly. A quarterback. He's very good with his left foot outstanding.

1:03:33Julien Laurens:He works really hard. He's a very smart player. Chelsea might be a bit too high of a step up. you know, Andres Santos, for example, was one of the best midfielders in Ligue 1 and the adaptation in the Premier League and at Chelsea was a bit more difficult, although we expected it. I think it's the same for Barco, but I think he's a great player to have in the dressing room and if he grows nicely and if he works, you know, well with Xabi Alonso, I think that could be great. I think if you Xabi Alonso and you look at his profile, you think, yeah, I want him in the squad. I don't think he will play every single minute of every game, But I think that's an exciting prospect to have.

1:04:10Julien Laurens:And if you Barco and you can work with Xabi Alonso at Chelsea, you said yes every day too. So let's see. I'm trying to game plan this out. So if you add him, and obviously Chelsea, we know they're going to have financial stability issues and whatever. We don't think they're going to be in Europe. If Enzo moves, if they have to sacrifice Enzo, as a lot of people expect, does it does your midfield core then would be caicedo andre santos barco and one of lavia and desugo i mean i presume yeah i guess so you're not playing james even if you want to move him there and play him there it just seems like it's it's quite a lot of play but his profile is definitely more playmaking yes then then and he's left footed which neither of the others are.

1:05:00Julien Laurens:So that's something to consider. I think he will be very interesting too. I don't know if he would be a success. Could we see him rip up the script and play him as an inverted right back coming inside? It could be anything with Xabi Alonso, yeah. We're not even sure how Chelsea are going to play. What formation is he more of a kind of Real Madrid back four formation, by a Leverkusen back three formation. So we'll have to see. But I think it makes sense. And he comes from Strasbourg so you can just give it a pocket money and then he will come over. Well, actually, this works in Chelsea's favor because from a financial stability perspective, any transfer between Strasburg and...

1:05:36Because Strasburg, well, they haven't qualified for Europe this year, have they? No. But still, when they go back, any transfer between two related clubs now is treated as zero.

1:05:46Julien Laurens:Yeah. So that's why Chelsea can't sell players to Strasburg this summer to balance the books, but also means that I can take players from Strasburg and not pay anything for them. Yeah, exactly. UF have issued a lifetime ban for former Czech Republic women's under-19 coach Peter Vlasovsky. Gab, this is a horrible story. It's a horrendous story. It's a criminal story. I believe he's been criminally convicted. He was the under-19 coach. It raises a lot of issues of safeguarding. He basically hit a camera to film his players in the dressing room. Some of those, incidentally, because it's the under-19 team, some of those were actually minors.

1:06:25women under the age of 18. I think even if they hadn't issued a lifetime ban for him, it's obvious that nobody would ever employ this man ever again. He needs to serve time in prison, in my view, and he obviously needs psychiatric help. And let's also hope that women who were affected, women who were just as important, women who were affected are getting the support that they need. John Stones, also a free agent this summer. He's being linked to a number of clubs, including Bayern, where he'd be reunited with Vincent Kompany. Do you like this, Jules?

1:06:59Julien Laurens:No, I like everything to do with John Stones. And I know injuries are a problem. And if you sign him now and give him a two-year deal at 30 or 31, there's a risk. I get that. But there's also a wonderful player. If he's fit and when he's fit, him and Kompany go back a long way. Obviously, they like each other. They trust each other. And I think it would be a great option to have, not as a starter, obviously, in this Bayern team, but maybe to have in the squad. I like this. What I would do is say, hey, John, you've made a ton of money. I'm going to pay you a base salary and then like a pay-per-training-session type deal.

1:07:38And I think Sons would get it. He would accept just to be part of it. But I think the big plus here is, I mean, if I look at the current core of Bayern centre-backs and I ask you, who is the best passer of the ball in there. It's probably Jonathan Ta, head of Upamecano and Kim, but it's none of these guys. It's not really their game. So you have a different profile. Now, Bayern normally play that way, but in certain games, I think it could definitely help you. So I think he can make a contribution on the pitch as well.

1:08:07Julien Laurens:The New York Times reports that Commonwealth President and FIFA Vice President Alejandro Dominguez is under investigation by FIFA and has been for more than a year, They're accused with unlawfully taking more than$5 million. Yeah, so you'll remember, obviously, the whole FIFA gate scandal in 2015, the Department of Justice, the RICO statue, Jack Warner, FIFA narrowly avoiding being designated as a criminal organization. So they recovered about$200 million from the many people who were indicted. From all the bribes that they took and everything. From all the bribes, yeah. Which, by the way, doesn't cover the entire amount of bribes that were paid.

1:08:49That was put into a fund, and then that fund kind of went back to the federations, because ultimately said this money belongs to football. So Dominguez, who was a lower-ranking guy in common ball at the time, he stands accused. I want to say he protests his innocence. I'm assuming he protests his innocence. He hasn't spoken about this, but he denies all wrongdoing. he's accused of embezzling and misappropriating about five million dollars of this from the fund from this fund okay now what really bugs me here is that um i don't see how you if there's an ethics complaint against them fifa should want transparency and say hey there's an ethics complaint against this guy especially because it relates to misdeeds that were done before yeah yeah i know he's still in power but you should be transparent about it if you are investigating if your ethics committee's investigating him you what is it like are you under double secret probation as a secret investigation um no you need to come out in the open for it especially when you've got credibility issues because otherwise you set yourself up for situations where people are going to say oh look dominguez just endorsed johnny to run again for another term in 2027 i wonder if these two things are related especially if dominguez was buddy buddy with cheffron and stuff and was kind of against johnny before that now it's his buddy just as he's being investigated i you need to avoid these appearances of impropriety you don't johnny you don't need dominguez and his 10 votes to get re-elected nobody's running against you yeah did you see what i'm saying like i'm not being cynical about this this looks really really bad well done there's a tremendous story by the by the new york times i think it was tarik panja tremendous reporter uncovering this but you cannot have these situations and it's like one misstep after another yeah uh this really really bothers me maybe the guy's completely innocent but you know what the best way to if you're completely innocent have the full investigation put everything out there and say ha look he's being investigated but he can account for every penny and he's fine continue alejandro instead they don't seem to understand this remember michelle kooka kooka boladinga i hope i'm pronouncing it correct sorry michelle uh the lumumba statue from the africa cup of nations yeah iconic going to the world cup as part of congo's official delegation i absolutely love this yeah remember lumumba the

1:11:09Julien Laurens:former president, so he's in the stands standing up in the most elegant suit and just not moving through the hole with his arm up through the whole game. It's incredible. It was one of the stories and one of the images of Afcon, obviously. And for some time, we thought he was not going to go to the World Cup, but now he will be there. He was going to go to the playoff game, but he couldn't get a visa in time. Now he's part of the official delegation. I wonder, is he going to be in the stands or is he just going to be part of the official delegation? No, no, if he has to go, he has to be in the stands.

1:11:40Julien Laurens:Why? Why can't you make him an assistant coach? I would just have him stand next to the bench. He's not in the staff. Who knows? No, no, no, no, he's not in the staff. He's part of that. He would be with the head of the Congolese Federation. This is so awesome. People are going to lose their minds over this. This is amazing. Apple TV are releasing a Real Madrid documentary called The Weight of Greatness next week. It will have unprecedented behind-the-scenes access. Gab, will you be watching? Look, I love Apple TV. I love Only Friends and Neighbors. I'm a big Jon Hamm guy. Also, Amanda Peet is in it.

1:12:11I met many, many years ago. We had friends in common. However, this thing is... The reason I won't be watching this is that to watch this, this is only available on the Vision Pro. Now, are you familiar with Vision Pro? No, no. Vision Pro is one of those some big sort of VR headset type of thing. Okay, okay. That's cool. It's not cool. The Vision Pro has been... Apple, phenomenal company. I own an iPhone. I'm a big Apple guy. However, this is one piece of hardware that they've produced that just were not able to get any kind of traction on. This came out years ago. They keep revising their predictions of how many they're going to sell downwards.

1:12:50I'm not saying it's not a nice piece of kit if you're into that. I just think clearly the market has shown that most people do not want to walk around with this big thing on their head. So they're stuck with it. They've done this deal with Real Madrid. I'm sure it's going to be immersive behind the scenes. It's going to feel like you're sitting there next to Mbappe while he's not listening to Xabi Alonso or whatever. But no, I will not be watching. And the thing is, this thing costs like$4 ,000, something like that. Oh, wow. Okay. So, yeah, I don't know who's going to buy this. It's also unfortunate timing for Real Madrid right now.

1:13:28Things aren't great there. And those behind-the-scenes documentaries, even though we're sure Real Madrid has complete control, so they're only going to show the positives. Still not the best timing. So, yeah. I wish them well. Just devote more money to making good shows, like Only Friends and Neighbors, or the other one, the one with Seth Rowe, the studio. That's another good show. I can highly recommend. Morning show, nice too. There you go. Jules, this brings us to an end, but we've got to come back on Monday. It's the final day of the season in La Liga, in Serie A, and of course in the Premier League.

1:14:01Still some verdicts out there. And of course, the German Cup final as well. Yeah, the Pokal. French Cup final too? Friday night, yeah. Lens, here we go. Until then, love the game. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.

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