MNC: FIFA's climbdown, Vinicius to Arsenal and Newcastle's new era

20:27You know, if you put all of the best players in the world in one place for, you know, 30, 39 days or whatever it was, you're going to get great games, great goals, great memories and great TV coverage. And commercially, it was the most spectacular success for FIFA. And zero trouble. Adam, zero trouble.

20:45Don Hutchison:I didn't get the sense it was any trouble anyway. Like Andro said, I thought all the countries coming together, uniting in the World Cup and enjoying themselves. I thought it come across through the TV screens really well. Yeah, and I guess that is the kind of the image. I mean, we should remember that, you know, four of the countries who were competing, their nationals from those countries, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Haiti, Iran, weren't allowed to travel to America, their fans, for the tournament. But this is what I mean, sort of the product that is packaged up and so much happens within a World Cup that you kind of, and nobody's kind of wrong to do this.

21:23It's just you get swept away with it. Right. We all do to a certain extent. But I don't think anything that's happening now is a criticism of the product of the World Cup. It is a criticism of governance and leadership, stuff that's a little bit more dry. But I think there was quite a lot of outrage over the the Balogun decision. And then when it emerged that, you know, that Trump had made a phone call, you know, that felt very, very unusual, unprecedented. because normally what we see with kind of FIFA decisions or FIFA stuff is it's kind of the stuff of like boring executives and money and business and all of that stuff it doesn't normally infringe on what happens on the field it doesn't normally impact whether a team has a better or worse chance of winning a game and actually by allowing certain players to play it did and I think that's where the kind of real anger over that decision came from.

22:18Don Hutchison:That was well past the mark wasn't it Aaron You know, when you're getting the US president involved and Infantino involved to try and allow Balogun, you know, to play the next game, it just felt as though what you're watching here, like, you know, the red card should never have been a red card, but that's a side issue. But what we're watching political there to, you know, to witness, you know, the likes of Donald Trump getting involved for a player, then not to have a suspension to play in the next game for America. It felt as though why this is this is a big story. And it actually then led to, sorry, Andros, super quick.

22:48It led to other countries then making slightly mad appeals. So Alise, for example, got a booking against Paraguay for France that probably wasn't a booking. But all of a sudden, we saw teams appealing against yellow cards. We saw England with Jarrell Quanta, which was pretty much a straightforward red card, appealing. So once you create that precedent, it becomes very, very messy and you kind of start to lose control of your own tournament to a certain extent. I think we're very lucky that USA didn't go on to beat Belgium in that game. If they did, there would have been such a bigger problem about the integrity of the world's biggest competition.

23:27So yeah, I think a bullet was dodged in the end.

23:29Aaron Paul:Okay, that's enough football governance for one evening. Let's turn our attention to the Premier League. Eddie Howe left Newcastle United on Thursday last week. Later that day, BBC Sport reported that captain Bruno Gimaraic was expected to join Arsenal. However, it does appear that the Brazilian has now joined up with his teammates in Spain for their pre-season tour. And Newcastle United's reporter Kieran Kelly joins us now. Kieran, good evening. Do we know the latest on Bruno? Good evening, Aaron. Good evening, guys. Yeah, well, as far as we understand, the clubs are now in formal talks. There has been a claim that Newcastle have rejected an opening bid from Arsenal.

24:09And the player himself is at the training camp in Spain. So I think this one's going to run a little while longer. Arsenal, as has been reported briefly, are confident still of signing Guimaraes. So whether this turns into an Alexander-Ezek style saga, I'm not so sure. I think we should have a resolution one way or the other a lot more swiftly than that.

24:29Aaron Paul:Is there any form of link between that possible, probable Guimara's departure and Eddie Howe's departure? I would not say it's the reason, but it feeds into the wider context around his decision to step down. If Guimara is to go, that remains an if, of course, Newcastle have lost four key players in less than a year. And that is a huge rebuilding job for any manager, let alone one who's been there four and a half years as Eddie Howe was. And I know the phrase all in is kind of overused in football, but anyhow, he really isn't obsessive in the way he works, his intensity, how much he gives to any job.

25:06And to really, you know, for these young players coming in now to have that energy to develop them, to give them the time to give him his all on the training pitches. It's going to take time. This route Newcastle have gone down. I think this season, this upcoming season isn't going to be one where it's all going to come together for them. and sort of Eddie Howe sort of felt that it's in the club's best interest that he is to step away from it and allow someone with fresh ideas and energy to come in I think it has echoes actually of his final summer at Bournemouth basically he probably had a few warning signs that was this the time to go and he kind of ignored them and he plowed on and Bournemouth it ended up being a really painful end they were relegated and I think rather than letting his legacy sour potentially rather than, you know, pressure to build.

25:54If they had a tough start to the season, he's decided to step away.

25:57Aaron Paul:Paint the picture of this transfer window for us with regards to Newcastle United on missing out targets, missing out on targets quite publicly and to other Premier League teams. Obviously the situation with Eddie Howard departing with the season, what, three weeks away? Yeah, I think last summer was particularly turbulent. You know, you look at the players they missed out on then, Benjamin Sheshko, Joe Pedro, Hugo Eketike, James Trafford and that sort of informed their approach to this summer they they've gone for players who are young 20 and under on the continent mainly the the only exception has been a 24 year old and he's a goalkeeper in Lukasz Harnyszek so they have I suppose tried to learn lessons from that in going for players that maybe aren't necessarily quite yet on the radar of the what I'd call the established order you know your Manchester City's your Liverpool's your Arsenal those clubs maybe aren't prepared to take the sort of calculated risk on those sorts of players yet and Newcastle have.

26:52You know, you look at Aladji Bamba, a midfielder who only broke through at Monaco really last season. Sean Sturr, 18-year-old at Ajax. He only broke through at Ajax properly last season. They've only made, you know, 15, 16, 17 competitive starts at each of those clubs. At Newcastle, I've put the money down on them. And along the way, they have missed out. They have missed out on Johan Manzambi, who went to Aston Villa. He was a key target. It's understood he wanted to play Champions League football. So that was a big draw at Aston Villa. and Victor Munoz was another key target in early blow who Newcastle felt they had the deal in place and he ultimately went to Liverpool.

27:26So I don't think it's been quite the turbulence and missing out that it was last summer, but when you couple in the key departures they've had in Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali, and if Bruno Grimares is to go, that's a lot of change. So are you saying this change of sort of philosophy to go for the young hungry player who is a bit cheaper, you're saying it's directly linked to the fact that in the previous years, they have been dining at a bigger table and trying to compete with the best in this country in terms of signing players. Is that change of approach due to the frustration of the previous seasons?

27:57I think it's definitely had an impact. You have to remember last summer, they didn't have an executive structure in place. So Eddie Howe was effectively, you know, almost doing the deals as well. He was picking up his phone as well as working on the training pitches. They've since appointed a sporting director in Ross Wilson, chief executive in David Hopkinson. And I think the way the financial rules are, if you miss out on Champions League football like Newcastle did, they finished 12th last season. Trading's become so important and coupled with trading, they have to look at those players, as you say, who are maybe a little bit cheaper than the players they were looking at last summer.

28:31You know, I don't think you're going to see a situation where Newcastle spends£69 million on a player like they did in Nick Voltemada last summer. They have to do it a bit differently. And we've seen how Brighton have done this. We've seen how Brentford have done this. We've seen how Bournemouth coped with losing, you know, four or five key players last summer. the benefit of smart recruitment and good coaching they they propel themselves up the table and i think that's how newcastle have really gone about it kieran with regards to the the recruitment

28:54Aaron Paul:style and the start where is this direction to to change come from as it come from the very top is this a ross wilson driven project because six months ago david hopkins and the ceo said we can be in debate about sort of you know being the world's top club by 2030 and right now they're shedding everyone yeah they don't have much time do they it's it's that's going to come around very quick even at the time you know I felt even if these financial rules weren't in place uh you would have to get every decision right I mean every decision right to to be in the situation where you could fulfill such a bold ambition and I think yeah the the change of approach yeah I think when Ross Wilson came in he's very clear he recognized that I'll take data for example Ross Wilson a bit at Nottingham Forest obviously another big club but Newcastle's data operation their artificial intelligence was behind what Nottingham Forest was when he walked in and you have to remember Newcastle were fresh from qualifying for the Champions League they not long ended a long way to win silverware by winning the League Cup and that maybe paints a picture of just there are ways this club has moved forward very very quickly since the takeover in what's coming up five years now in other ways I think there's a lot of areas that need improving And I think after years of spending and not really balancing the aggregate with sustained trading, it's felt very dramatic and radical, this shift.

30:12I suppose for years they have brought in players like Alexander Isaac, Bruno Grimere, Anthony Gordon and improved them and sold them on. And maybe this has taken just a touch down maybe in the more extreme end of things in, as I said, going for those 18 to 20 euros on the continent. Yeah, see, Aaron, this is where it's difficult for me being a Newcastle fan to try and have a look at this with my heart and my head at the same time, because I genuinely felt 18 months ago, Newcastle, with the players that they had under Eddie Howe, I genuinely felt they were pushing to try and get second

30:41Don Hutchison:or third in the Premier League and trying to get closer to the top dogs. the team that they had at the time before PSR sales was one position for me away from challenging the top three and that would have been a goalkeeper position so Nick Pope was the number one I felt as I was stronger number one would have been needed you look at the team from there and you go Liv Rimento, Botman, Malik Chow, Lewis Hall excellent back four midfield three of Elliot Anderson Bruno Gimaraes Tonali best midfield three in the country for me if they had played together Yacouba Minte got sold because of PSR, Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon.

31:16Don Hutchison:That team, to me, off the back of a trophy win, felt as though it was getting close to the top three. I was told probably at the end of the season, a couple of weeks into the World Cup, their model was going to be no one will come into Newcastle for over 50 million quid this summer. It was going to be 25 to 40 million quid. That was going to be their remit. But the sales now are just hampering. And, you know, the head then kicks in and goes, OK, Newcastle now have demanded top dollar for the likes of Anthony Gordon, who left in good terms, by the way. It must be said, Alexander Isak, they got£125 million from Tonali, close to£100.

31:53Don Hutchison:Bruno, I think it's inevitable that he will go and that fee will be probably close to£80,£85 million. So they are getting a lot of money in and the young players have got a job on their hands to try and steady the ship. and I think it was one of them, as Kieran said there, the writing on the wall was for Eddie Howe and I sort of half seen it coming because he's seen these players and he's seen the club hemorrhage a lot of talent thinking if we get off to a bad start, the fans are going to turn on Eddie Howe and the last man on the planet, I think would have deserved any criticism in all of this would have been Eddie Howe.

32:24Don Hutchison:After Kevin Keegan, in between Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson, I think he ranks a very good second in Newcastle's history. Don, I think the Isak sale, you could sort of understand with the fuss he made. Anthony Gordia, you can say, you can't deny him his move to Barcelona. For me, the Sandro Tonali one really did surprise me about the speed in which they sold him as well. Did that surprise you as a Newcastle fan? Not really. I did hear some comments from him and I think he was quite sincere and genuine. And he said his first priority, if he was going to leave Newcastle because he loved the club so much, he loved the city, was to go back to Italy.

32:58Don Hutchison:But finances just wouldn't allow it. There's no money in Italian football to play close to£100 million. So then you're thinking, right, it's going to be Man City, it's going to be Man United, it's going to be Liverpool. That was the likely destination for a player that is top draw. So for him to go to Tottenham felt as though from a player's perspective, I didn't see that move happening from Tonali. Spurs have got a real good player and they're building and congratulate Spurs for making that move and getting the job done. But from a sporting point of view, I wonder why his agent didn't pick up the phone to Liverpool, Man City, Man United before then Spurs.

33:30Don Hutchison:So unless it was some other option that no one was really looking at, maybe something off the field. I don't want to get into that discussion. So maybe Spurs were the only team that was in for him. But I think genuinely wanted to go back to Italy.

33:41Aaron Paul:Do you think maybe the agent knew that Spurs had cash on the hip and needed big signings? They needed statement signings.

33:48Don Hutchison:Yeah. And again, it's a very sensitive subject, Aaron. And I'm not sure if any of the big teams that I mentioned maybe look into his betting history when he got suspended at Newcastle. And maybe that was a factor between those bigger clubs that I mentioned not coming in for him. But, you know, he's made the move. And the best thing Newcastle now can do as a football club is make sure when Tonali leaves, you get big money for him. So Bruno's the next one. So Bruno, they've got to make sure they get top dollar for him and then reinvest. What they can't do after Bruno goes, because he will go, because he said again, and you can't blame him off the back of what Andros' question was.

34:22Don Hutchison:These guys now deserve at the point in their career where they want to win trophies. And Bruno's been very, very honest in the few words that he said. he said listen I'm at an age now at 29 where I want to win the Champions League and I want to win the Premier League so you can't really blame these guys for making the move and getting themselves silverware.

34:39Aaron Paul:Kieran if they're realigning their strategy and the way they do things are they realigning the expectations for the forthcoming season as well? I think it'll be really interesting when we next hear from the Chief Executive and indeed the Sporting Director about that but I think realistically if as the lads have touched on if you're to lose that many key players there has to be a recognition that these young players too will need time to adapt to the Premier League the physicality of the Premier League the intensity of it we've seen even experienced players struggle with that and I think these young players have lots of potential but they're going to need time as well they're going to need a lot of work on the training pitches let's not forget a new manager is coming in it's less than three weeks for the first game of season against Liverpool you know it's it's been a lot of change in one window and it's going to take time I think for to come together.

35:25So yeah, certainly the idea that Newcastle by 2030 are the biggest club in the world. I think, yeah, there's going to have to be a change at all.

35:33Aaron Paul:Kieran, appreciate it as ever. Thank you so much. And just on Newcastle, I mean, we draw comparisons with Aston Villa because they, along with Newcastle, have been, you know, the two teams that have broken into that sort of top six mould. They've sold a couple of key players as well. Uri Tielemans has gone to Manchester United for£35 million. to Morgan Rodgers in that massive deal to Chelsea. Why are we not as concerned for Villa as we are for Newcastle? That's a very good question. I just feel like Newcastle have sold more key players. I don't know. I think Villa have the strength and depth in midfield to be able to replace Tee Limbens.

36:08Morgan Rodgers, not so much, but that's one player. When you look at Isak last year, who was their main goal getter, we're talking about Tonali and Gimoresh, who are their spine, really. Anthony Gordon, I know he's been a bit hit and miss, but still a huge, huge talent. I think it's the scale of the players they've sold, which are the core of what have got Newcastle, their success in the last three or four years.

36:30Don Hutchison:I think if I can jump in there quickly, I think it's because Unai Emery absolutely runs Aston Villa. You know, and he's got so much power there. If he went to the board, you get me a couple of players or I'm off. That would be disaster for Villa. So he holds all the cards where Eddie Howe didn't hit Newcastle. And I think the biggest question mark, if I could jump back to Newcastle very quickly now, is from a Newcastle fan, This is now where you want to see the PIF, the owners of Newcastle United Football Club, actually put their plan, which they said they were going to do, to try and get all the things off the field aligned with potentially what might be on the pitch.

37:03Don Hutchison:That is brand new training ground, brand new St. James' Park, actually trying to get money into the club. So we're not relying on selling players because every other year or three, we've got to sell because of PSR. They have to try and invest more.

37:16Aaron Paul:Yeah, but would you take that in exchange for a few years of football pain? Take what? having to focus your efforts on the infrastructure off the pitch rather than what's going on.

37:25Don Hutchison:Well, I think that's the only way, Aaron, without getting technical into PSR, it's the only way, the commercial side of it from a Newcastle point of view to try and bring more revenue in is to make, I know PSR is going to be a distant thing, but to try and get that financial, you know, hook around Newcastle's neck away and just say, right, we don't have to sell Bruno Gimaraes this summer. We don't then have to panic in three weeks' time if Man United make a bid for Lewis Hall. we are commercially because we are the richest club in the world how commercially can they not make Newcastle bigger and stronger off the pitch so then that makes on the pitch management and sales of players not happen anymore because this can't go on forever, this feels like to me that this is the biggest turnaround for Newcastle in the amount of talent that they've lost their head might kick in and Andros might agree with there's always younger faster players available so once Bruno moves on at 29 and Talani moves on and Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon, you know, fast player, if you like, he's going to be amazing, pressing machine for Barcelona.

38:24Don Hutchison:But there's always a younger core element that can come through and they might not be as good as these players. But what has to happen is, you know, the sporting directors have to make sure of all these five or six runners that comes in, the majority are a hit and they can be the Tenales and the Brunos and the bigger guys at Newcastle in 18-1's time with development.

38:43Aaron Paul:Manzambi's a big miss. Huge miss. Missing out on him. is huge because he's going to be some play for Aston Villa. And I don't know, with Jaar Gomez coming in, you'd expect him to take over from Yuri Tielemans in the centre of midfield. And then maybe Manzambi to play a bit further forward, Andros? Yeah, he's probably just in the number 10 role. I watched him in the World Cup. He was so good. Yeah, so it's a big, big loss for Newcastle. And to Villa as well, we've seen them miss out to Liverpool, to the cities as well. But that would hurt them losing out to Villa, having almost had the deal done.

39:12Aaron Paul:Absolutely.

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40:115 Live Sports

40:20this is the Monday Night Club on the Football Daily Podcast

40:24Aaron Paul:and let's talk superstars elite level signings Vinny Junior to Arsenal Bradley Barkler to Liverpool are moves that have been mooted Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi has also promised a Bomba signing in North London by the way just Andrew says the former Spurs man when did Bomba become accepted transfer lingo or part of the transfer bingo card did he actually say that or are you saying that no he's been quoted as saying it wow that's a new one for me hey i'm liking it though i mean do you think they need a central striker or or a wide wide player spurs because when you think about it they've rebuilt the back line they've fully rebuilt the back line um i mean the midfield is is pretty stacked as well where do they go next where where do they bring in this marquee signing i think wide bomber signing usually means a number nine.

41:15But when you've got Dominic Solanke, who, yeah, he missed large parts of last season, but he was your sort of marquee number nine for many years to come. So I don't think they'll abandon that one quite yet. So I'm thinking more in the wider areas. I don't know if the other guys have another opinion.

41:31Don Hutchison:Well, there was, I think there was shouts today, Andros, of maybe Cody Gakpo and Savino. So two big players there, if you've got them in. Savino is the one they want, Don. Yeah. No? Yeah, no. Are they Bomba? No. But you'd have them. Because I think only he knows, and the medical staff know how far Kulazewski's away, how far Mohamed Kudus is away. So if they're going to be long-term, Dejerbi's not the man to wait for people. Sounds like, you know, me and Andros know we've been in dress rooms where, you know, managers haven't got time for you when you're injured. And that's natural. That's brutal.

42:04Don Hutchison:That's a brutal part of the game. So Dejerbi's a manager that's thinking about yesterday. So if he wants those two wide players in, and he's got to wait six to 12 months for the players to come back from injury, he'll buy them.

42:15Aaron Paul:I mean, I think the quotes on Richarlison are absolutely fascinating. Deserby coming out saying he doesn't know whether forward Richarlison will stay at the club as he sometimes wants to leave.

42:25Don Hutchison:Did you hear what else he said? He said, he went, sometimes I like him, sometimes I hate him, sometimes I like him, sometimes I like him. That's Richarlison. I played with Richarlison. That is exactly the way you can describe him because on a Saturday afternoon, he will run non-stop for 90 minutes. he'll listen to everything you say but then on a Monday he'll just sulk he will not run on a Tuesday he'll run Wednesday he might not run again it's just like it's an up and down relationship so

42:50Aaron Paul:yeah I feel I deserve his pain there you need someone like that though don't you Andros you need a a nomad you need someone who's a bit talismanic don't you just to carry things forward especially at the front yeah I absolutely love him I think he's similar to like when we spoke about Anthony Gordon he's he leads from the front in the press he's so aggressive those moments where where Tottenham were struggling and looking like they're going to go down. He's the one who's just always trying to make stuff happen. May have not had the quality in the final third he would have liked, but just always trying.

43:18And as a striker, that's such an underrated tool to just always be pressing and trying to force the issue. How optimistic are you of Tottenham this season? I don't want to get too carried away, but I'm actually, even before the signings, I was like Deserby, the appointment of Deserby and the fact that he kept them up. I was really looking forward to seeing how he progressed with them this season. but seeing the signings he's made and a potential bomber signing, I think good times could be back a little bit. I don't want to speak to, I don't want to become a meme, you know, but I'm really excited.

43:49We're back! Yeah, exactly. I don't want to go that far.

43:54Aaron Paul:Just pushing on to Vinny Jr. to Arsenal. I mean, could it really happen? Adam, a lot of reporting suggests Arsenal, you know, think they have a legitimate chance of putting a deal together here. Yeah, I think you've got probably two things going on, which is probably there are genuine talks going on between Arsenal and representatives, whether they are direct intermediaries or direct representatives of Vinny, and sort of getting a sense of what that package could be and having the appetite to do it. But you always have that sense at the back of your head, don't you, of is Vinny just sort of playing it a bit, playing both sides, trying to get that new contract.

44:32You know, he's so talented. He's at, you know, Arsenal is a fantastic club. But I think most people think, you know, your Real Madrid, Barcelona are just that one level higher, particularly, I think, in the mind of many Brazilian players. He's been so, so big for Real Madrid. It just feels it just doesn't feel like a transfer Arsenal have done traditionally. So that's why it feels so hard to get your head around it. But they are clearly trying. It's just whether Vinny is playing them a bit. And I guess that's what we're all waiting to find out.

45:00Don Hutchison:This is where an agent is doing a very, very good job for Vinny Jr. Because he's bringing teams to the table. And listen, I think Arsenal are winning this. Even if they don't sign him, I think it's still a great look for Arsenal that they're trying to sign Vinny Jr. But everything that I think I've seen over the years, it's his agent bringing Arsenal to the table just to say to Real Madrid, well, if you don't want me and you don't rate us and you don't want to pay me whatever the number is a week, I can go to Arsenal and get close to it there. It smells like he'll sign a new deal at Real Madrid.

45:28I think if Real Madrid wanted to get rid of Vinny Jr., they would have done it in January when he was reported to have fallen out with Javi Alonso, the then coach of Real Madrid. They sort of chose their Galactico, got their manager sacked. So it feels like why would you get rid of your long-term manager for your superstar to then send him six months later?

45:47Don Hutchison:This is a great one, Andros, because I think it's a case of Florentino Perez wanting nothing to do with this. So this is why he's brought Jose in. He's like, Jose, you tell me which ones you want and which ones you don't. I don't want to have Vinny Jr. coming upstairs and knocking on my door saying this, that and the other. Jose, you please deal with it. Are you not so excited to just see Jose attempt to manage this dressing room with Mbappe, Vinny, Bellingham? But he's a top dog there, Adam, though, isn't he? I mean, for the first time in a long time, he's like, you know, the political struggles inside of a dressing room at Real Madrid.

46:21Don Hutchison:The players always win, as we saw with Xabi Alonso. Jose's the top dog. That's not happened for a long time. Do you think players of this generation see Jose the way that maybe you guys do or that I do as this all-conquering manager? Or do you think they might see him as the guy who's not won that much for a while? Do you know what I hope? I hope that Florentino Perez hasn't signed the man that he had, what was it, 12, 13 years ago when he was fighting Pep and he was fighting Villanova and he'd done such a good job because Jose has softened over the years. Do you not think Jose plays up to a character and he will lean back into that?

47:00What, the panto villain? I mean, at Roma,

47:03Don Hutchison:at Roma, he was getting sent off every week. I mean, honestly, it was quite embarrassing when he was manager at Roma, how he was having fights with, you know, technical staff, opposition coaches or opposition players. In the end, it was a pretty awful look. But I think the great thing about Jose is when he was hard 13 years ago, and that's probably the last time, obviously, Florentino Perez had anything to do with him when he was a rugby manager. He has softened over the years.

47:29Aaron Paul:If you're asking, Don, whether you're going to get any new gifs and memes out of him, I don't know is the answer.

47:35Don Hutchison:Because he's provided us so many. I guarantee you, if Real Madrid get pumped off Barca, he'll chuck one of his players under the bus. Guaranteed, or get sent off.

47:46Aaron Paul:Just on Vinny Jr. I know we're talking about Jose Mourinho. We've digressed. Just on Vinny Jr. I'm trying to think of the last time a Galactico-level player arrived in the Premier League from Real Madrid, at sort of like the peak of their powers. And I can't think of anyone apart from, I mean, going back to early days of Chelsea, maybe someone like Crespo Shevchenko when they were like the big dogs in Europe and they landed.

48:11Don Hutchison:Would you lean back a little bit further back than that and think the biggest one, the Premier League years, Jürgen Klinsmann Could you not say could you not say Ozil was sort of a Galactico when he went to Arsenal They wanted rid of him

48:20Aaron Paul:Yeah Real Madrid I thought of Angel Di Maria then I was like Real Madrid wanted rid of him Yeah You know it's like when Bastien Schweinsteiger landed at Manchester United I mean Adam you'll verify it Bayern Munich don't get rid of players in their prime Schweinsteiger Owen Hargreaves and they both went to Manchester United and suffered for various reasons but I can't think of another player that was in the pomp Yeah and landed in the Premier League and that's why this Vinny Junior deal no matter what angle you look at it from it's exciting for the league yeah and it's isn't it weird that more of that hasn't happened when you think of how strong the Premier League is financially that actually there has been that kind of just limit on the player and I think it's also because the Premier League has been more maybe it's been a little bit more about kind of managers star managers and star teams and star brands as names, really, rather than actually superstar players.

49:17The superstar players have largely been at Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona, to be honest. I mean, Haaland's kind of a little bit of an exception to that, I think you could say. I mean, I know he didn't leave a Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern, but he could easily have gone to any of them. And, you know, I still wonder if in two years' time he might end up at one of them as well. But we have, as you say, we've usually seen that traffic going the other way, out of England into Madrid or Barcelona. So I think it would be a real signpost for the league, actually, and probably quite scary for Real Madrid, though, I mean, they have so many players who could just occupy that left-sided space.

49:52I'm not even sure how much they'd... It sounds mad, you know, with Mbappe and maybe Diamand arriving as well from Leipzig. You're almost like, I'm not sure how much they'd miss him, which seems crazy to say.

50:02Don Hutchison:There was a great story, Aaron, knocking around a couple of weeks ago, and it might have been a new one from Jurgen Klopp or an old one, when they tried to sign Kylian Mbappe from Monaco. And it was a deal that never happened, and they had him and his family in the sky in an aeroplane. Just rotating. Yeah, just circling, trying to impress him and his family to try and get them to Anfield.

50:19Aaron Paul:Never happened. Again, just thinking about these big-name players and Lanny in the Premier League, do you think any of them are afraid of the challenge of going to the Premier League, which is the most watched, the most scrutinised league in the world, leaving behind relative home comforts, a safe space, effectively, in footballing terms, and coming here and being under the radar with the intensity, Adam? I don't know. I mean, playing for Real Madrid is quite a lot of pressure. And if you don't turn up at Real Madrid, you're in quite a lot of trouble quite quickly. And, you know, Vaneer's had to deal with really a hell of a lot at Madrid between the pressure on the team, on the field, but all the racist abuse that he's suffered as well while he's been there.

51:02Yeah, he clearly looks like an incredibly strong, resilient character, more resilient than he should ever really have to be as well. So I don't think he'd be scared of the challenge per se. I'm talking about people in the past. Oh, you mean like former players?

51:17Aaron Paul:Yeah, players in the past in general. Why have we not seen more of these players in their pump? Oh, I think financially, I think Madrid and Barcelona have always been able to offer as much, if not more. I think that's probably pretty much still the case, to be fair. I mean, maybe Arsenal will make an exception in this case. So I think that combined with the lifestyle, living in Spain is probably more attractive to players, particularly from Brazil or from Spain or Portugal, in some cases as fantastic as London is. And maybe some of them, as you say, maybe just didn't fancy the different style of play, different intensity.

51:56I think the Premier League is more physically demanding. I'm not sure it's better but it is more physically demanding for sure than La Liga and there are more teams across the league I think that can cause you trouble than is the case in La Liga

52:12Aaron Paul:That's it for the Monday Nightclub Thanks to Andros, Don and Adam and thank you for listening

52:26So much sport today and all the goals as they go in up and down the league. This is Five Live Sports. It's all eyes to the lights and foot to the floor. To bowl him. It's not his stopper. Everyone standing around the 18th green. Overhead kick. That is sensational. He serves to the centre. Goal to it. Oh, the right hand and former champion is down.

52:50Aaron Paul:It's extraordinary stuff. They've done all the show for us tonight. He gets on his knees and kisses the turf.

52:56Dan Roan:Five Live Sports. The home of the world's greatest sporting events. This is the full time whistle. Listen on BBC Sounds.