Euro Leagues: Alvarez to Arsenal? Plus Muslić on Schalke

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1:09Hello and welcome to the EuroLeagues. Coming up with less than a week remaining in the transfer window, we'll discuss the latest with Julian Alvarez after he was booed by Vletti fans during Sunday's 2-2 draw with Villarreal. We know he wants Barcelona, but at Arsenal, the only club who can afford him, And we're going to be previewing the Bundesliga season as well, discussing Bayern's Jamal Musiala after absence seizures caused him to collapse in two consecutive friendlies last week. And are Borussia Dortmund or anyone else in a position to challenge Bayern this season? And finally, Schalke, spearheaded by 40-year-old Edin Dzeko, are back in the Bundesliga after three seasons away.

1:49Their head coach, Miro Muselic, will be joining the pod to discuss leaving Plymouth, getting the club promoted and to look ahead to the upcoming season as well. So plenty to discuss. And with us this week, German football expert Rafa Honigstein and ESPN's Julian De Rons. Hello both. Hello. Hello. Hello, guys. Hello. We've got loads to chat about this week. Just a few things as well before we sort of get into the Alvarez situation at Atleti. We've had some teams confirmed for the final spots in the Champions League this season. And I think we're all happy Bodo Glimp to back in it. I mean, we can talk about their amazing stadium in the Arctic Circle again this season.

2:27Julien Laurens:And a trip that nobody would want to be on, obviously, because especially if you play them in December or January, this is not a trip you want to be part of. It's hard enough to get there. To be fair, you need, I think, three different flights from the main European cities. But as you said, Maz, with the weather, with the snow, with the wind, everything like that, and the plastic pitch, obviously, it's a trap when you go to Bordeaux-Glimp, as we saw with Inter Milan or Roma in the past or even Manchester City last season. So good luck to whoever faces Bodo at that time of the year. Raph, and I mean, this is astonishing again, that LASC comeback against Celtic, that lead that Celtic had and they bottled it.

3:06So LASC back in the Champions League as well. Yeah, crazy. My neighbour's a big Celtic fan. And when he told me that he's watching the game, I thought, really? Why are you watching the second leg? It's all over. But it turned out it wasn't. Lasca are incredibly strong at home they won the double last year of course with Didi Kubauer in charge and that is actually maybe unlike Bordeaux a really fun trip it's a nice little city you can sort of drive from Munich it's not so well connected in terms of airports but yes great atmosphere 11 ,000 yeah one of those modern stadiums that actually do the job really well.

3:43We should say that the draw for the league phase of the Champions League is on Thursday evening. We're recording this episode of Euroleagues on Wednesday, so we don't yet know who'll face who. But obviously, we'll talk about the Champions League lots more once the draw is made next week. And obviously, as we gear up for match day one on September the 8th. But let's get into it, guys. Let's talk about Alvarez. He played his first match for Atletico Madrid since announcing in the summer that he wanted to fulfil his dream and join Barcelona on Sunday night. He was booed by the home fans. His name was whistled when it was announced to the stadium pre-match.

4:18After the match, the squad clapped the supporters. Alvarez, of course, left the pitch. He walked down the tunnel on his own, which is never a good look. And after all that booing on Sunday, he hasn't shown up for training today. I mean, it's pretty clear, isn't it, that the situation just isn't good for anyone? No, it's pretty sad, really, to see a player of his calibre being booed by his own fans. And, of course, in a strange way, it almost helps his course, because the situation has become untenable to a certain extent. And I think even Atleti, who've been very hardline in their approach so far, might think, you know, we can't continue this.

4:58If the fans had been slightly more relaxed, maybe there would be a way back. But of course, once you come out publicly and talk about dreams and so on, but still turn up at your old team, it's not great. so financially I think it's the biggest issue once it used to be the case maybe a few years ago that one player of this kind of calibre would come out publicly it was all part sort of about the negotiation ploy it was about you know the money and so on but usually you got the sense that he would only do this he would only take that risk for his own reputation and so on once there's a good indication that the two clubs will eventually find an agreement now the situation I think with Atletico's ideas of what he's worth and Barcelona's ability or willingness to to pay I think there's still a significant gap which is why this hasn't moved on at all and we're at the end of August already so I still think a transfer some sort is the most realistic outcome but I'm not so confident having seen how little movement we have had over the last month or so since this has first surfaced.

6:16Julien Laurens:The thing is, you can understand why Atletico don't want to sell him to Barcelona. It's just not to strengthen a direct competitor for the league, for example. So that makes a lot of sense. The problem, and we've seen a lot of those transfer sagas through the summer, every year, sometimes even in January. Look at Alexander Isak last season. He was as toxic as this situation, really, in a way. The problem is, if Alvarez really wants to leave Atletico, that is his first choice, be Barcelona, sure. But surely, if Barca can't happen for whatever reason, he still wants to go. So a club like Arsenal, I know he doesn't want to come back to the Premier League and he left, obviously, Man City to go to Spain.

6:59Julien Laurens:But there's worse team than Arsenal for you to go to, really. when you think about it. So I've got no sympathy for him. I think he put all of that upon himself. Some of the decisions that he made, some of his communication, like Rafi said, publicly, saying about Barcelona and leaving. I mean, Atletico spent a lot of money on him when he forced a move out of City because he felt he didn't play enough. They built a team around him. He scored a lot of goals for him, but they've also paid him a lot of money to come and be there over the last two seasons of a six-year deal, by the way. And yet now he throws the toys out of the prime to get a move to Barcelona.

7:36Julien Laurens:And by the way, I think we should also say that his agent is also Ansiflix's agent, who is the Barcelona manager. And I think there's a lot of that in it too. I understand it, no problem. But if your priority move can't happen, you still want to leave. Just find an agreement somewhere else and still be happy because clearly he's not happy where he is right now. I think you're right, Jules. But at the same time, I have some sympathy for him because he would have been told before he went public that there's a strong chance of this happening. I don't think he would have just woken up on a Tuesday and said, you know what, today I'm just going to talk about Barcelona.

8:10So whether that information was accurate or not, or whether he's been slightly misled, but I think it feels to me as if he'd been hung out to dry a little bit by the people in the background. Because as I said earlier, I think you don't really get to that point as a player before you feel you have a realistic chance of this deal actually happening. And he would have been encouraged by the people around him to make that statement. From an Arsenal perspective as well, as you're sort of saying there, Jules, do you want then a player as well who so publicly sort of had the situation play out the way it has and made it so public that he wants to go to a different club?

8:51And as you say, sort of ended Manchester City when he was last in the Premier League on a pretty sour note as well, that chapter.

8:57Julien Laurens:No, you're right. It's not ideal if you're Arsenal, although the football qualities that he has would fit this Arsenal team and the way Mikel Arteta plays so brilliantly that you can also think from their point of view, OK, sure, he wants to go to Barcelona. If that doesn't happen, we're here. If he opens the door, we can make this happen. And once he's an Arsenal player, he will forget about Barcelona. You would expect him to play at his best. and again in a team that is working so well, that is so strong, that could win him more trophies because he's already completed football, by the way, let's not forget.

9:32Julien Laurens:He's won everything possible of winning. The Champions League, the World Cup, the Copa America, the Copa Libertadores, just everything, the Premier League, except in Spain, obviously, Hazel Mourn La Liga, but for the rest, everywhere he's been. And again, there's that chance for him at Arsenal. So from an Arsenal point of view, you probably see, okay, this is not ideal. We get that. However, once he's here, you would think that as a professional and a player of his calibre like we've been saying there should not be really any issue over his commitment his attitude the behaviour the motivation to help this Arsenal team to win him more trophies If the price wasn't so big what you could do of course is just take him for a year and then sell him on to Barcelona and then everyone's happy but I think the dimension of financials here involved will make this kind of sell on sell on deal too complicated.

10:24Julien Laurens:Also, if they really won 150 million euros for Julien Alvarez, he's not worth that. This is not the right valuation of a player like him. He's only 26. He's a really good player. As we said, he was very successful in terms of winning. He scored 20 goals last season in all competitions for Atleti, 20 or 9 the year before, 19, I think, the last season he left City as a kind of super-Serb impact player. So there's a good player there, but this is not a 150 million euro player for sure. As we keep saying, we're recording this Wednesday and obviously things can rapidly change in a matter of minutes.

10:57But say if Barcelona were to show their hand and, for example, say the deal can't happen. And at the moment it kind of indicates that that's the direction it's going. Do we expect then sort of Alvarez to decide he's ready to sort of settle for Arsenal in a sense?

11:14Julien Laurens:It's interesting because I think if really he was keen to go to Arsenal, this would have evolved already. I think Rafi is right as well in the sense that he must be told right now and for him to not show up at training as well. She said, don't worry, this Barca deal is going to happen again. We said about his entourage, the close links with Barcelona, all of that. I don't know how you force athletes' hand to sell him to Barcelona, to be honest. I don't think Barcelona right now can afford him€150 million plus his wages. But maybe they can find that money somewhere. I just think that time is running out now.

11:50Julien Laurens:And really, if he had thought at some point, even last week or the week before, OK, Barca is not happening. What else can I have? Arsenal is still a really good option, let's be honest. Then I think he would have done that already. And the fact that he hasn't done that probably shows you that he's definitely not opening the door to Arsenal. And it kind of feels in that scenario, Rafa, that Arsenal hold all the cards in that situation. Well, I don't know if they hold all the cards. I think this is going to be an opportunistic move if it comes off for them. They know that this is a case of, as we say in Germany, when zwei sich streiten, freut sich der dritte, which roughly translates to when two people are fighting, the third one is laughing.

12:36But I don't know if they can really bet on that. So I think the hand, if you want to use the analogy, is actually not that strong because it depends on things falling into place elsewhere. And it's only ever going to be a contingency solution. So I'd be really interested, and maybe Jules can shed more light on this, but whether they're thinking we can pick up Alvarez if it sort of happens, or if it doesn't, we are strong enough, we don't need another striker because to find another striker that's really going to help us is going to be so difficult in this market. So it's either a case of almost like a bonus player or nothing.

13:17And in that sense, they can be quite relaxed, but I don't think they're fully in control of the situation either.

13:23Julien Laurens:No, I agree. I think bonus is exactly that. I think they'd be very happy with the squad, even if they lose Martinelli and we expect that deal for Martinelli to Al-Helal to go through. I think if the Martinelli deals go through, then I think they might look at another winger to be on that left-hand side with Tolis, with potentially Eze and even Maduike, Diamond can probably play a bit on the left-hand side even if the right is their preferred position. But Alvarez is very much the bonus, the icing on the cake, you know, the cherry on the cake, you're saying, you know, after what has been a really good transfer window already for them.

13:59Julien Laurens:If that happens, they take it, they have kind of that kind of money-ish and it's available. If Alvarez doesn't come, and again, I agree with Rafi, they're not really in control of that deal, but they're there. They're there if, again, the door opens. But then, yeah, I don't think they'd be too disappointed if that one doesn't happen. Right, let's look ahead to the Bundesliga season. Schalke boss Miro Muslec will be with us very shortly. But we have to start with Bayern. The big story at the club this past week has involved their 23-year-old Jamal Musiala, who has revealed that absent seizures caused by neurological dysfunction were what caused him to collapse in two consecutive friendlies last week.

14:39Since then, Vincent Kompany has revealed that the club has been handling his seizures for quite some time now and that a slight change to his treatment caused some side effects. Rafa's treatment mentioned there. How are the club handling this? I mean, it's an incredibly tough situation all round. Yeah, first of all, I think it's really important to say that the club have been aware of this for 12 months and over. This thing kind of started raising its ugly head when Jermon Muziala had a car accident. in spring and as a result started no longer driving himself but came with a chauffeur and a lot of people took took note of that around the club and thought that's a bit odd you know for a young player not to drive himself and since then Munich was rife with sort of whispers and rumors but to the credit of the of the club and certainly the team they've all kept under wraps for well over 12 months which is incredible if you think about the amount of people who would have known this.

15:40Also, of course, in the national team, where there's the same team doctor that Bayern have travels with the national team, they were, of course, aware of this or another layer of people, but they also kept it quiet. And it would have been able to keep it quiet more if, according to Vincent Kompany, a change in medication, as you said, hadn't brought this to the surface on the pitch. What happened in the past was that he would have these episodes, but it was not on the pitch or when it happened on the pitch. People didn't quite notice it because it wasn't that apparent and the team very quickly sort of closed ranks around him and no one really knew apart from the real insiders.

16:24And now is the big concern, of course, can he come back? Can he, first of all, get rid of it somehow? The experts that I've seen commenting said this thing can disappear. after a couple of years, but nobody really knows. There's no hard rule. If it's under control, which it has been by and large for the 12 months, can they control it enough without it interfering with his football? Because there was a sense that as much as these medications help him deal with the illness, perhaps they blunt him a little bit when it comes to performing at his best. and they clearly tried a different regime and it hasn't worked so far.

17:11But maybe they can. I've read about a few footballers. I don't know how much this is in the Open, so I'm not going to mention their names, but footballers who've dealt with this throughout their careers and nobody really knew that they've been suffering from epilepsy. So I think there is a way. And right now we have to wait and see. But he will be in the squad for Friday's Open against Stuttgart, which is a really encouraging sign. He wants to play. The doctors want him to play. He will be training fully and I think he'll get some game time. And I think the reaction in the stadium when he comes on and from his teammates is going to be amazing.

17:50So as much as it's a tragic story, I think there's actually a lot of things that are encouraging. A, in terms of how they've been managing it so far before everyone really knowing, but also the way he's been handled. I think the understanding, the openness, the love also within the club and maybe a sense of this can work in the long term. So fingers crossed, I think it's the best we can say at this point. I think, I mean, there's so much to unpick there, but I think that the point that you make, Rafa, about the fact that a lot in the club and in the national team were aware of the situation, but the level of support that he's had to keep it confidential until it absolutely couldn't be and it had to be out in the open and therefore this explanation had to be given is striking really because we don't see that now in the modern game.

18:42People keeping things like that confidential, do we, frankly? I think it shows how much they like him as a person because, you know, this is the sort of thing if somebody is maybe not as popular in the dressing room and people feel he's taking a space that I should have, you know, why is he playing, why I'm not playing, I'm fully fit, this guy's not fully fit this is the sort of thing that agents or you know people around the club would have would have leaked quite happily but I think there is a universal sense within the club and beyond I would say that he's such a nice nice man and that he deserves all the help he can get and of course keeping it quiet keeping it confidential was the first step now that it's out in the open they can they can even do it in a more active way in a more apparent way if you will and Vincent Kompany is also once again shown in the way he communicated such a sensitive topic almost to perfection that he is really cut out, I think, for managing at this level because I don't think many managers would have handled it so well the way he spoke again in front of the media and explained everything and the guy has just a lot of things going for him when it comes to dealing with difficult issues and that's just one of them.

20:00Julien Laurens:I thought Arthur Musiala in his social media post to explain what happened was amazing as well in the transparency and the honesty of him just explaining. He could have just said some things, thank you for your well wishes or whatever you say and this kind of thing. But for him to take the time, probably with maybe not just him on his own, maybe his team around him helping him to draft that social media post. But just to explain, And the thing as well is saying that he was not worried, you know, that he'd been dealing with this kind of exactly what Rafi explained also on his own before. And there's nothing to be worried.

20:35Julien Laurens:But when you saw Saibari's face, who is his new teammate, who just arrived in the summer after the World Cup, after he collapsed on one of the two friendlies where he obviously he lost consciousness or he fell on the pitch. Saibari looked so, so worried. So I think even that, even just communicating to your fans or to the football fans around the world, whether they're Bayern fans or not, it doesn't really matter so much. But also to your teammates and everything about what you feel and how you feel it and what happened and what will happen. I think it was beautiful. And I think a lot of players should also take notice of the way Moussala himself has responded to everything that happened to him.

21:15What it shows as well, Raf, is just the sort of tight-knit sense of community within Bayern, every aspect of the team, the players, the squad, the support staff. You know, it just speaks volumes about that as well. Yeah, and this is not something that perhaps would have happened a few years ago when a dressing room had a very different dynamic. But you're right. I think that is one of the big takeaways in Munich, which is such a leaky club where there's always noise and there's always agendas and there's always malls. in the dressing room. This thing did not leak. As I said earlier, there were whispers, a lot of people had heard stuff without really knowing what was going on.

21:54There was this big rumor in Turkey when a journalist was even arrested briefly, saying that Galatasaray might take him this summer. And some people in Turkey were sort of hinting at issues that Bayan were having or that he was having so even they had heard whispers or rumours but no one no one confirmed it no one leaked it and that for Bayern especially if you know all the history of the club is is a very good sign at the moment. On Bayern more widely than the season you mentioned Musiala will be in the squad when that kicks off that match this this weekend for them I imagine the main objective will be the Champions League this season, presumably?

22:41100%. Last year, it was very much the double plus. So the double is a must because they hadn't won the Cup in five years. And that was a big thing for them. Now they've done it, all the focus would be on the Champions League. But it's easier said than done because you know the Champions League is going to come down to one or two games in April or May. I mean, what do you do until then? You can't just say, or maybe you can. I mean, maybe Jules as a PSG aficionado will tell us differently. You can't just say, let's just not play until it really gets to the knockouts. Bayern can't because they are expected to win every game and every draw is a major talking point and a major crisis.

23:24Now, of course, and maybe we'll get to this, I think the competition are not strong enough to take advantage, even if Bayern were to drop a few points. But the way they're playing, the way this team is gelling, the way that even Germán Muziala not playing for long stretches last season and not playing always at his level last season, that didn't have that much of an effect either. So now that they've strengthened that position with Saibari and even Brown who can play there, as we saw in the Super Cup against Dortmund, Bayern look more or less untouchable domestically. So yes, the focus and perhaps even the pressure, which so far hasn't been felt by company, but now I think the pressure will ramp up for them to make that extra step in the Champions League.

24:15But it's a long, long time until we see if that step happens or not. And in the meantime, they can just play at their best. There's nothing else they can do.

24:24Julien Laurens:It's just that we've seen some teams already who played like the German Super Cup, PSG in France, City in England in similar games, not being ready yet physically, probably even mentally. Some players still coming back after a lot of their superstars at those clubs usually go far in the World Cup. And yet Bayern shows up certainly for that first half against Dortmund and were incredible, I thought. Like to the level where we know how good they are, obviously, but for a first game of the season like this, to have to look so sharp already. And the second half was not as convincing, OK? But the first half, I just thought they were outstanding.

25:01Julien Laurens:So they're ready already. I agree with Rafi. I think it's a long time until those key matches in the Champions League. And really last season, all the Champions League campaign came down to that second leg against PSG after an incredible first leg, obviously, in Paris. But that game in Munich, if they go their way, I think they go and probably win it all as well. So it's those 90 minutes, half an hour, 60 minutes in one key game at some point that will, I think, decide their fate in the Champions League especially. But I thought they looked so sharp already. I think if you're another German club starting with Stuttgart on Friday night, you have to be scared because I think they could literally smash every single team in that league.

25:43I mean, this argument has been raging in Munich for a long, long time. Is it better not to have any competition so you can take it easy and then you can focus on the Champions League? or is it actually a disadvantage because you don't have the sharpness of playing top teams every week? And then when you suddenly have a top team, you can't make the step up. I think it's less of an issue in two cents. One, the squad is not really built to rest many players. It's still a fairly small squad. And last year, you know, Kane, yes, you can take him off after 70 minutes if he's 4-0 up, but he rarely missed the game.