Gab and Juls Show: The World Cup Final is Set!

22:32There were no patterns to their pressing whatsoever. It generally looked like, oh, this is something that we've seen people do on television. It's something that some of us do in our club sides, but it doesn't look like anything that they had actually practiced together. And for me, the difficult thing is, if you're Duchamp, we've been here before. This is the third time in three years that he plays De La Fuente. Obviously, they lost in the Euros, right? in Berlin, I think it was, or Munich, sorry. Then they had that crazy Nations League game where at one point they were losing 5-1, 5-1 to Spain.

23:07And even if they came back, I think it was 5-3, 5-4, right? But even then, you know, if you're 5-1 down, something's going wrong. And then you go in, and again, you're unprepared. And even what you said before, I'm going to push back a little bit on that. 65 minutes into the game, France have taken two shots, and the XG is 0.04. If you have the better players, and I don't want to do combined 11 here because there's no point, but because France would absolutely dominate that, right? If you have the better players, you want to create a situation where your better players are getting on the ball and taking more shots.

23:40And that wasn't happening at all.

23:42Julien Laurens:Yeah, I agree. I agree. I think outside of the fact that individually, some of the key players, like Olisse, like Dembele, I mentioned them already, were just not there. They were just not there. They just disappeared. I think sometimes I saw Michael Olisse hiding from the ball, which I never thought I would see. I saw Rodri having an incredible game, of course, and putting Olisse in his pocket like rarely we've seen before. Same for Correa when Olisse went on the right-hand side anyway. The lack of plan B is obviously crying out in here. But the fact is those players who have been so good in this tournament just had no answer to what Spain were doing really.

24:23Julien Laurens:And I think that's really embarrassing. It's a reason, I think, to be worried for France, even for Zidane not coming in and Deschamps leaving and whatever Deschamps legacy is. You know, I don't think he's one for now anyway. But what is Zidane going to be able to do with this very, very talented generation? It'd be very interesting to see. I wonder, because, look, if Deschamps were here, he would say, like, Jules, come on, man. Like, I reached the European final in 2016. I won the freaking World Cup. I lost another World Cup because Colomboani missed, essentially, right? I mean, and I did it my way.

25:05I did it by being, I started as a defensive coach. I was always a player's coach. I had my guys who I trusted, like Rabiot this time around. I got criticism. I went through it. I fought them all. I delivered silverware. And now when we had more attacking players, I decided to be more attacking. I convinced Antoine Griezmann to play midfield, and he performed brilliantly for me. I did all these things. So is it fair for you to accuse me on the basis of this one game? I mean... Like, what are your feelings now?

25:36Julien Laurens:Because you're getting... You are paid to coach this team to get results. And what happened before is part of history. It's part of legacy, but not his performance now. But we could argue the fact that over the 14 years, in the end, there's one World Cup to show for it. And this is great. Winning the World Cup doesn't happen every day. I understand that. But you had so many talented players in your squad year after year in all those tournaments and probably should have won more. And his conservativeness or conservatism, sorry, and his defensive-minding philosophy, and I know in this tournament it was a bit different, but in this tournament I think he said, okay, I've got at least a gift from the gods of football.

26:15Julien Laurens:I'm going to let them fall for play. And in the end, as you said rightly, without the ball, there was not much. and with the ball, when you played against a really good team, there was just not enough from that front four either. And that's it. This is it. This is Deschamps' legacy in here. Should he have one more? Probably. He still did really, really well, but he also had a hugely talented squad, tournament after tournament after tournament. We're going to talk about Zidane when he gets appointed, but just as a preview, I was thinking about this. There's a part of me that says he and Zidane, to some degree, have had similar influences, coaching-wise.

26:50Right. Italian influences, to put it very, very bluntly. Similar styles in terms of we were superstars. We played in the same team. The team comes first. They're very player-centric in their approach. We saw that from Zidane at Real Madrid. Zidane hasn't coached in five years. And the year before that, he didn't do very well at Real Madrid. He didn't win anything, right, in the 2021 season. Is there a risk that, I mean, we just don't know. But what does your gut tell you in the sense, is he looking at Deschamps and saying, this is how I want to do things differently? Because when your only experience working in football is around Madrid, it's almost like you're not working in football, right?

27:29It's really not international football because it's a completely different universe.

27:32Julien Laurens:I was told he was really happy by how France turned into a more attacking team, really, which I think probably suits his style. Although, again, in terms of style, I'm not sure what the Zidane style really is because we saw a very pragmatic coach around Madrid with a lot of success. so it'd be very interesting to see what he does, what system, which players and we would have time as you said Riley to do that in September, October when he gets his first game in charge but I was just disappointed by the lack of reaction and the passivity really from Deschamps in the semi-final because although Spain were the better team and there's just nothing to take away from them they were great, France just never played their game and I think that is to That is on Deschamps.

28:18Luis de la Fuente, the guy who looks like a middle school science teacher, once again delivers. And I want to say something which I think is really relevant here. And maybe in some ways is part of the narrative. Let's go through the Spain team one by one. A goalkeeper, Unai Simon, who most people don't want because they don't think he's the best Spanish keeper and who's coming off a rough season at Atletico Bilbao. Or right back in Pedro Porro, who, you know, his team literally nearly got relegated and people in England thought it was a bit of a joke. Pao Kubarsi, great player, but you know what?

28:57He's a teenager, spent the entire year running back towards his own goal with the Barcelona high line. Emric Laporte disappeared to Saudi Arabia, comes back to Atletico Bilbao. Atletico Bilbao does nothing. I didn't even notice he was there. Cucurea, not offered a new contract at Chelsea. Okay, he's coming around Madrid. he's going to be fine, but it's still Cucurea. Rodri, not a good season from him. Still, the aftermath of his injury. Fabian Ruiz, also coming off an injury. Remember when he came back? Every week, he's like, oh, look, he's going to get back in the Paris Saint-Germain team. It took him a long time for Luis Enrique to trust him.

29:31Dani Olmo, phenomenal player. I think Olmo's arguably been Spain's best player at this tournament. He's another guy. At Barcelona, he's in and out of the team, right? Yeah. and then Alex Baena in and out of the Ligue 100 he loses his spot to freaking Thiago Almada and then up front Oya Sabal as a winger who spent his entire career very very good he's playing centre forward not a great season certainly not in La Liga you know how many goals from open play he scored this season? nine this is your prolific centre forward so you look at this and I'm not minimizing these players these are players who are very technically gifted who are brilliantly put out there by their coach and many of them I think approach this World Cup as a chance to kind of right their seasons like my season for different reasons didn't go great and I have maybe the mental energy, the physical energy I have a drive that's there Cucuré of course, another terrible season at club level with Chelsea of course and I think that matters And I think Luis de la Fuente channeled that so well.

30:40And maybe the one guy, we mentioned Yamal, who, of course, is so important, maybe there's something in it that we're not seeing the Yamal of Barcelona who dominates games. We're seeing the Yamal, maybe of the last Euros, who kind of runs up and down the wing and is almost a cog in a machine.

30:55Julien Laurens:Yeah, I just think the collective is their strength. It's wonderful what they've built. I mean, like, I've got so much time for this kind of football, obviously. and then we go more and more and we see with PSG and Luis Enrique towards that kind of winning football a football where the individuals don't do everything anymore that is very much your collective that's your strength together so if Pedri comes out of the team and Fabian comes in he brings something to the balance of this team you could play Bayern on the left hand side when he's not really a wide player but more of a 10 but he's still efficient because within that system and within that collective Everybody finds their place.

31:34Julien Laurens:And it's great. And it's very difficult to do at international level because you just don't have that time to work with those players. But maybe the fact that a lot of those players play in Spain too, maybe that helps a little bit. I don't know. But certainly they have that in them to play in this kind of system. And it works. And it's great. And that's why they won this game. Because they were far more of a team and a good team than the French. Yeah. And obviously, as I think most people, if you're watching us know, Luis de la Fuente has worked. There's no many of these players since they were kids.

32:01having been a long-time guy at the Federation. He's got special relationships with them. I think that really matters. I just find it interesting that in this World Cup, when we were all looking for narratives early in this tournament, and we're like, oh, look, Haaland scoring, Mbappe scoring, Messi's phenomenal. It's the World Cup of the superstars. We're just waiting for you. No, no, no. In this World Cup of the superstars, of the individuals, it is actually the ultimate collective, which I think we can say it now, has probably produced the best football top to bottom. Yeah. All right. You know what's coming up next.

32:37Quick Hits. We're going to be back in a minute.

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33:32The Gab and Jules Show is presented by Gusto. All right, enough Spain. How about some quick hits instead? Let's go, Gab. We haven't had a show since before the quarterfinal, so Jules, it seems only right that we reflect on the losing quarterfinalists. Let's start with Norway being 2-1 in extra time by England. Jules, it could have been a different story if the only living Sorlo in captivity had simply squared the ball to Erling Haaland before he lost his mojo.

34:00Julien Laurens:Yeah, maybe. That was certainly the right decision to make. He didn't make it. You know what I think about Sorlo playing in that position. So mean. Starting in this team. And again, I think this game showed it really because it was not good again. But hey, I liked what Norway did. Look at the reception. They got home when they came back. Wonderful. They need to build on this now to be even better in two years' time in England because I think they have something quite special brewing there with Solbaken and with this generation. Norway were unlucky. Can we say that in this game? That doesn't mean England were undeserving.

34:32Can we say Norway were unlucky?

34:34Julien Laurens:Yeah, probably. But there's no luck in football. It's just they had strong moments. They didn't take them. And then they paid to see. You know, they, in the end, showed how naive they were at times. And they paid to learn. That's what I was looking for. They paid to learn. And England made them paid. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. Switzerland lost 3-1 in extra time to Argentina, but Gab, it looked like they had the upper hand until the incident between Bril Mbolo and Leandro Paredes. Did that seem fair to you, that red card? Much as I like, oh, Bril Mbolo's crying and Xhaka's throwing his hand in the air and Zacharias going crazy.

35:11Bro, you cheated. You cheated to try to get the guy booked and you got the guy booked. My problem with this rule, perhaps, is if the referee hadn't made a mistake, Mbolo would still be on the pitch. So in other words, if Mbolo had just taken a dive and the referee had just awarded a free kick, there's no way Mbolo would have gotten second yellow. We can quibble about the rule, and I think that needs to be refined. But no, I'm sorry I don't like to see a grown man cry, but you brought it upon yourself. Yeah, absolutely. We were both there to see Morocco lose to France 2-0 in Foxborough. I thought it was really disappointing from Hakimi and mates.

35:51Julien Laurens:Yeah, it was. It was similar. The game plan with no number nine just never worked. I don't know why with Saibari out. Jaime didn't start. Too light. Mohamed Ouabi. That's what Ouabi said? Nah, he wanted to play with a force nine to try to disturb the French defense and midfield and just never worked. And they were never there. Morocco, where France could have scored four or five easily. I think there would be a lot of lessons learned from not just this game, But the whole tournament, where they still, you know, reached the quarter-final, it's not bad at all from Hakimi and his teammates. But they could have surely done better in that game against France.

36:25Julien Laurens:So at least try harder. I think also about Morocco, head held high. Compared to the team that was in the final, the Africa Cup of Nations, I'm not opening the can of worms about whether he won it or not. There's four centre-backs missing, you know, and Aguirre injured. Yeah, yeah. That is a lot. That is asking a lot. Belgium ran out of miracles against Spain and Mikel Marino's late goal. Would the guy better than expected from Rudy Garcia? Overall, I think so. They surpassed my expectations, partly because Rudy Garcia may be handsome and spends a lot of time in the gym. I'm sure he's handsome.

36:58Well, he's very fit. Is he? Whatever. Some people are... No, but this team is a combination of old and of young and not quite ready, and the coaches not particularly good, and you've got Raskin and Mechelet on the pitch with Kevin De Bruyne. I mean, how do these pieces fit? We saw a huge tournament from this gentleman, Leandro Trossard. I think the reaction against the U.S., I think that that was definitely a signature win. And I think they're going to remember that for a long time. Very happy for the big man, Romelu Lukaku, scoring those goals. And, of course, if Thibaut Courtois doesn't get injured, maybe, just maybe, we'll never know.

37:37We'll have to extra time. Yeah, we'll never know. We'll never know. All change in the Manchester United midfield. Ederson won't be coming, apparently due to medical reasons. It's weird, too, that Atalanta's director of football is the guy who was the sporting director at Manchester United. John went there before. But sure, just a coincidence. But Jure Thielemans, speaking of Belgian stars, a guy who had a good tournament, he's on board after United paid his£35 million release clause and Andres Santos confirmed, who you like more than I do, confirmed on Monday.

38:05Julien Laurens:I seem to be the only one who likes Andres Santos, to be fair, because I think there's potential there. and he's only 22 years old, so there's a massive room for improvement and maybe the£48 million that you paid for him is a bit too much. I get that, but I still think there's a really good player in there somewhere with the right coaching. And let's see if that player is there with the right coaching and if Kari can coach him well. For Tillemans, I think it's a great group. One of the signings already of the summer for me to get him for that cheap. I know he's 29, so maybe a little bit older than what they would have liked, but he's the perfect player for this team.

38:40Julien Laurens:He was very good. Aston Villa, he's been very good in this World Cup. He has a few more years ahead of him. Without a doubt, I think for me, he's a great, great signing. We'll see how cheap it was when we get more details, I think, about the size of his contract. But yeah, the real Telemans is special. And I think it's going to be a big boost for them. Andri Santos, a fit Ederson, I would have been happier with than most of these, than both of these. Meanwhile, Aston Villa, Looks to seal Johan Mozambi's deal from Freiburg for around 60 million euros after he had been strongly linked with Newcastle.

39:15I feel bad. Newcastle has been super active, chasing everybody, and then they miss out on everybody except for the Toure guy. I think Mozambi is very raw. He really impressed me at the World Cup. We saw from Freiburg, we saw a guy who is a phenomenal athlete, who thinks about the game well. I don't think technically he is where he should be yet. And I think players can improve technically until a certain age. And he's got that room for improvement. If you're going to bring a guy in, we know that they have to sacrifice. I'm assuming he's not making a lot of money because this is a big transfer fee.

39:50It is. And obviously they're under serious. We have to really turn the screws on them because they're overspending. So it shows that they're still willing to compete. We'll just see if somebody swoops in at the last minute because it's been one of those summers. More outgoings at Villa. Luka Dean could be joining the European champions after Paris Saint-Germain met his release clause of 10 million.

40:14Julien Laurens:Yeah, I mean, it's not. Could be. He will be joining PSG, even with a mistake against Spain. He still won them. He went from 24 hours where he had his dream move back home because he's obviously from Paris, and same with the wife and the kids, etc., etc. And then 24 hours later, he made that mistake that cost France massively, but they wanted him as a backup. He's 33 soon as a backup to Nuno Mendes. He accepted that. He knows he's still going to play enough to probably keep his place or certainly around the national team if Zidane wants him back. Obviously, we still have enough game time to enjoy the season or the two seasons to come.

40:49Julien Laurens:With PSG, I think it's a smart signing with a release clause that he put himself in the new deal that he signed with Aston Villa a year ago. So if he comes in to be the reserve left back, what does my friend Lucas do? I mean, that's a good question. He would be the reserve of Paco, left-center-back, even more than what he was. Or maybe he could join his brother. Maybe he could join his brother in Saudi Arabia. That's true. Paolo Maldini, the new technical director of the Italian FA. Gav, you might soon have a new coach as well. How long have we been talking about Italy's new coach? There's all these steps to go through.

41:21Let's go with Paolo Maldini first. He's a phenomenal ambassador. He's one of the good guys in the game. He doesn't like just being the ambassador, and that was one of the issues at Milan. And because it's the FA, because it's a very political situation, I wonder how much power he's going to have. Equally, bro, you're not the coach. You're not buying and selling players. So by definition, he's going to have less power. But even then, weirdly, he feels the need to bring in a consultant. And it's our friend, Leonardo, who I like a lot. To me, it says that you're going to have somebody who's going to be more about empathy and hugs and cuddles because that's what he's all about.

42:00Leonardo did some great things as director of football. He also did some very bad things, some very stupid things that didn't work out as director of football, as Paris Saint-Germain fans know very well, right? Yeah, long suspension for barging into a referee. Among other things. But the four-man shortlist, apparently, now. So Conte Mancini, I think, are still very much the frontrunners. But again, because it's political and it's Italy and we're the country of Machiavelli, it's getting a little complicated because people are talking, what about Pep Guardiola? He says he wants to come back to Italy to coach.

42:32Yes, he wants to coach Brescia. He doesn't want to coach the national team. So they're apparently going to go for him. It's not going to happen. And in the name everywhere today is Pirlo, who feels very left field to me, doesn't seem to be on a par with the other two. My hunch, it's still going to be Conte or Mancini. It's just going to take a while to get there because that's how we roll. Flo Balligan has spoken for the first time about his suspended ban following the red card against Belgium. Jules, what do you have to say?

42:59Julien Laurens:Yeah, I thought he was really honest in his opinion and his view of the whole saga with his red card and everything, saying that it was a distraction, saying that I put a lot of pressure, extra pressure on the team. This is everything that we said for days after or before the game against Belgium. That extra pressure, I think he was quite kind actually to say extra pressure on us when he also meant a lot of extra pressure on me to come back to this team and deliver and be good. And it felt like the savior. Oh, it's okay. Balogun can play. So now we're going to beat Belgium and we're going to win and win this World Cup.

43:36Julien Laurens:And for a young player like him, certainly that doesn't have that kind of experience at international level because that was his first World Cup. I think it's a lot to take. I think this whole thing was an absolute mess. It was a massive mistake. Balogun himself didn't ask for any of this and he should have never been put through this like the rest of the team. I already blasted the USSF about this, about the way they handled this. I'm not going to go back there, but I will mention one other thing. If you read the reason he was banned, obviously part of it is for the red card. Part of it is because he comes back out after he was sent off.

44:06And that is what earned him an extra day. You've got staff. You've got people there. We've seen this at other clubs. You have people whose sole job it is to make sure that players who are sent off do not come back on the pitch. What, did they all just forget about Balogun? I mean, I think he wanted to shake the hands of the referee, but yeah. But there is a way to do that. And you know you risk suspension. I don't blame Balogun, but other people should have said, wait. Or go to the referee and say, hey, if he comes out, are you okay? If he comes out and shakes his head, he's being honest or whatever.

44:39And then the referee wouldn't have put it in his report. It's just common sense.

44:44Julien Laurens:FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Sorry when I see his name. He's also a member of the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, has had an ethics complaint filed against him. Gab, what is this all about? Well, it's the same stuff. It's a political interference because of the story that, you know, he got a phone call from the president of the United States. And even though he says he took the phone call, he says, like, look, I have nothing to do with overturning the suspension. I can't help you there. But they want this to be investigated. He already has an ethics complaint about political interference with FIFA, coming, of course, from the Norwegian FA, at least Clavnes, over the FIFA Peace Prize.

45:24I know, it sounds ridiculous. I mean, that's a lot. But I think there is a chance that this might go further. Because obviously, the FIFA Ethics Committee, while it is an independent committee, we've seen how, you know, they move in biblical time. They're extremely slow with everything. maybe by design, some people might say. IOC, they don't really need Johnny there. I mean, if they want to appoint serious people and investigate this seriously, they have the power to do that. It's not going to mean that he's going to stop being FIFA president or anything like that, but he can get some censure.

46:01It can certainly hurt him if the IOC are serious about this. Mason Greenwood defended budget for 39 million euros. It's all done, Jules. considering that everybody knew that his club needed to raise money very very quickly and considering that his toxicity means there's not too many other clubs he could have signed for I think Marseille should be very happy with the amount of money they got

46:23Julien Laurens:maybe but they're not they're not they wanted more money than that because in the end of those 30 39 million euros 12.4 million are going to go back to United because there was a close in the contract so in the end it's not much left for Marseille compared to what they bought him for Arjetafe. And again, there was amortization. He stayed two years. He had two really good seasons, even if he's very difficult to work with. Sometimes Atletico Madrid were very much in the running. There was a time when Greenwood would almost chose Atletico instead of Fernand Baccia. The problem recently, as we were told and we reported on our website, was that for two days, he went AWOL and Diego Simone tried to reach him, sending messages, calling him, and there was just no answer.

47:07Julien Laurens:from Greenwood. They just didn't know. He disappeared. They didn't know where he went. And in the end, Atletico, I think, had enough of it and got tired of it and just pulled that off the race. So he was just Fenerbahce. He went there. He's got a huge contract, up to 8 million euros a year net. So he's not going to be to blame. I just find it a little bit weird. Not just the fact that such a talent at 24 is going to go to Turkey. Okay, that's fine. Fenerbahce, a massive club. Or seamen went to Turkey too. Yeah, exactly. It's just the way it seems to have happened. It's weird to me. Yeah, my hunch of him going AWOL for two days while Simon was trying to get in touch with him isn't, and maybe I'm too cynical and I've covered the transfer market for too many years.

47:48I don't think this is Greenwood being weird or losing his phone. I think this is some sort of tactical move to try to get a better deal from whatever. That didn't change anything for… No, no, they obviously backfired. They thought they were going to be smart. Nothing happened. But yeah, we saw how that turned out.

48:03Julien Laurens:You have Artur Atta of Udinese, who was one of the best players in Serie A last season and probably in the season before too. And now he's signed for Fiorentina. Are you a little surprised at the price maybe? I am very surprised. Artur Atta, by the way, who is French, but weirdly one of the few French players who's not from Paris. He's from Rennes, if I'm not mistaken. I think so. And then he was at Saint-Etienne or whatever. But anyway, but other parts of France. There's some good players outside of Paris. Occasionally. Occasionally. It's very good. The fee is, it's 30 million euros negotiated by your friend, Fabio Paratici.

48:35And I got a call from an agent who said, well, maybe Fabio Paratici is not that smart because you're going to throw that kind of money. He says, it's 30 million plus up to 10 million in bonuses plus a 30 % sell-on fee. I mean, I'm here for Argentina and look, you're in a situation where who else is going to come? If an English club comes into him, all right, they'll push it to 50 million and you're not going to get him. Fine. Yeah. But who are you competing with here? Yeah, great player. Curious to see what he does. I like this more than the Dragosin signing for Fiorentina. Yeah, of course. Me too.

49:07Yeah, who doesn't? But yeah, I think the masterstroke here is from Udinese. Melvin Malar leaves Manchester United for Chelsea. Jules, how big a deal is this? I mean, talking about Paris-born and bred players, here she is.

49:21Julien Laurens:You cannot go two quick hits without a Paris-born and bred person coming up. What can I say? She was United's best player. She was outstanding, I thought, last season in the league, in the Champions League too. It's a huge signing for Sonia Bonpastor and for Chelsea. There's two more French players there. There's the French staff, obviously, so she will feel at home. I think it's a really good signing and a signing of intent, I think, as well for Chelsea to come back even stronger in this WSL season. That's going to be fantastic when you see the recruitment of the London City Lionesses, for example.

49:52Julien Laurens:So they will have a great team. It's going to be great. Raiding Barcelona. I mean, yeah. Paraguayo, Puteas, Mape Leon, Cadidiani as well. It's going to be great. Mappi, Leon, and Diagne are not done yet. They're close. Oh, pretty much done. Yeah, it's almost done. And it was going to be a great WSL season for sure. Michael Edwards, meanwhile, has left Liverpool. Michael Edwards is most definitely not Paris-Borne. No, not him. He's the opposite of Paris-Borne and Brent. And neither is Mike Gordon, who's taking over his job as kind of chief football officer, at least for now. Gabi, what do you make of this?

50:21Julien Laurens:And what does that mean for our friend Richard Hughes? So, Mike Gordon is obviously essentially the big boss, the owner representative, right? So he's doing the function. To me, what it means is the narrative that came out there was almost that Michael Leibold tried to distance himself from all the signings, most of whom didn't work out. So I'm like, oh, look, it's all Richard Hughes, but I'm going to go and buy another club. Everything that's being fed out of this club is that Liverpool need to add a satellite club, need to have their own version of Strasbourg. Otherwise, they won't be able to compete post-Brexit.

50:53I don't buy it. But I think he's gone because people held him to account for the signings that didn't work out, for the team that, I mean, I've said all season long, that wasn't built. There's too much change too quickly. Maybe not what Arnestlott wanted, whatever. And it seemed that a lot of the blame fell on Richard Hughes, who is still around and is still doing stuff. So I think he's got another year in his contract. I think in the end, people are saying like, all right, you guys might have screwed up together, but you keep working and you, Michael, on your bike. Because when I, as smart as he is, and obviously he had a huge part in building the successful club teams and everything, when you look at the type of, as a profile of teams that he was trying to sign, that he was trying to acquire for the club, and he kind of made it his vision, tunnel vision, they didn't feel right.

51:42It's not like Chelsea go and buy a club of nearly equivalent size. No, they go and buy a little teeny club that gets promoted and sticks around in Ligue 1 and does well. Here, they were going after clubs that I don't think would have been a fit at all. There would have been a massive backlash. Liverpool care about what fans think, even fans of other clubs. They don't want to be seen as bad guys. It just seemed that there was this massive disconnect. And between that and the signings, I think it makes sense that he's moving on to his new project. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy.

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53:44Pierre-Hemmrich Aubameyang, not Paris born and bred, but he's from Gabon. But I'm sure he's been to Paris. Returns to La Liga, Jules. He's 27, sorry, he's 37 years young. Yeah. And he joins newly promoted Super D por La Coruña.

54:00Julien Laurens:Yeah, he could have gone to Turkey for more money and for two years. And instead he goes to La Coruña. What great story it is. I mean, he's still good at times. and I know the season dragged on with Marseille. There was a lot of issues and everything. But you see that 14 goals in 41 games in all competitions is still great. He scored two wonderful goals, for example, in the Champions League against Newcastle at the Velodrome. I think it's a good signing for Depor because they will need his goals and his experience to try to stay up in La Liga next season. Help me out here with Aubameyang because he was super athletic when he was younger and he was fast and everything.

54:37Obviously, he doesn't have that when he's 37. The times I've seen him play for Marseille, I love how his brain is now the key part of how he operates. I mean, it's obviously all great. I mean, Messi was a great athlete as well. But that transition, he was somebody who I thought he's not going to be able to make the transition, but he's made it.

54:59Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's been quite smart in how he reinvented his game a little bit in a way. More in the box too. less of big runs with acceleration and that pace. He still is quite quick, as we saw again in that game against Newcastle. But over the two goals, two very different goals. Against Dan Byrne? I don't think the second goal was in front of Dan Byrne. But yeah, you get the idea. One is first time finish near post on that cross. The second one, he runs faster than everybody, including the goalkeeper, to get the ball before and then score in a tight angle. So I think it's a really good signing.

55:34Julien Laurens:It's a smart signing from Deportivo. It's not going to cost them much either. And they can use that experience. And Miro Algarve, Alain Saint-Maximin is headed to MLS. He's heading to Charlotte. And look, if we're talking about one-man wrecking crew entertainers, it's him. You couldn't ask for more. You want to put butts on seats for a reasonable price? It's him. I thought he had a positive impact when he moved to Lons late in the season last year. In January. In January, from Saudi with our friend Joseph. From Mexico. Oh, from Mexico, sorry. He was in Saudi before that, wasn't he? In fact, Newcastle didn't get the deal from a PSR perspective because it was a related party transaction when he went to Saudi.

56:23But he's showtime.

56:24Julien Laurens:He can turn it on anytime. He's still good. Yeah, he's still good. He's going to be great in MLS. I think this is, again, a very smart signing. It's a shame for Ligue 1 that he's not sticking around for a little bit longer for Lens to have him in the Champions League. But they were very happy and they signed Togon Hazard, the brother of, obviously, Eden Hazard, who used to be at the Lens Academy 20 years ago or something like that. And now he's coming back where it all started for him and going to try to help the team. Quickets is brought to you by Gusto. Gusto is your small business partner for payroll benefits and so much more.

56:58Get started for free at Gusto.com. Right, that's all we've got time for today, but don't worry. We're going to be back for one final Gab and Jewel show after the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final. Until then, love the game, love your neighbor, love yourself. And thanks for tuning in to the Gab and Jewel show presented by Gusto. Gusto is your small business partner for payroll, benefits, and so much more. Get started for free at Gusto.com. We'll be right back.