Can Trent’s Real win back La Liga? And will Napoli retain their title?

0:01James Horncastle: The Athletic FC.

0:10Pol Ballus: Totally Football Show, Euro Edition. Today, as the lights come back on all over Europe, we look at the season in store and the surprises ahead across this big old continent. Italy can Napoli repeat in Europe's most competitive league. Germany, Ten Hag is back but he's still not Harry Potter. And will Harry Kane ever stop winning silverware? Spain, who can stop Barcelona and will they really take their league to Miami for Christmas? And France, have the bookies paid out on a PSG win yet? And what's in store for their neighbours as they make the top flight? All that and much more in this Totally Football Show.

0:50Pol Ballus: Monday the 18th of August, everybody. It's a big bentornado to James Homecastle. Hi, James. Hi, and a big bien tourné.

1:03Julien Laurens: Why is bien tourné?

1:04Pol Ballus: I don't know. How do you say welcome back? You don't know.

1:09Julien Laurens: We don't really have a word for that. Don't have a word for welcome back? No. I guess it would be like, no. So welcome is bienvenue, but we don't have welcome back. Bien retour. No, no.

1:23Pol Ballus: Maybe you could go with bien tourné.

1:25Julien Laurens: Bien tourné, yeah.

1:27Pol Ballus: I'll propose that. yeah doesn't that mean good tournament well played i don't know i know like because in it in italian over a tournée and also in this country okay but there's a tournée

1:42James Horncastle: well that's what i was thinking but i thought you're saying tournée almost in that you know often you'll you'll hear italians who go on pre-season right we'll say Le Tournet

1:53Pol Ballus: Le Tournet Ah right There was Le Tournet Yeah That's with two E's Okay Anyway Mel Tournet Julien Laurent Bonjour everyone You'll be excited to know that Paul Belus will be joining us as soon as he worked out the time difference Yeah He's new to this Yeah Also Seb Stafford Bloor with the German Curtain Razor now successfully having happened last weekend he was there to see Bayern Munich take on Stuttgart in what's called rather lovelily the Franz Beckenbauer Super Cup. That's nice. Oh, I enjoyed you on Saturday's Totally Extra show, James Horncastle. Were you on that too? I was on it as well. What did you talk about?

2:39Pol Ballus: Well, anything we wanted. Oh, good. That's the Saturday. This is a new show. It's a new show, Jules. You should come on it. Yeah, anytime. Well, Rafa's going to be on this Saturday's show. I'm talking about Jürgen Klinsmann, amongst other things. So, yeah, drop in. We'll have a chat. Sure. Anyway, last week's one is their listener, in case you were thinking, hmm, sounds interesting. I'd like to have a listen to that. We've got an email here from another James who says, I just wondered if you could cover off where we can watch La Liga Serie A Ligue 1 this season from within the UK. Of course, James, don't bother Googling it on whatever device you're using.

3:19Pol Ballus: just get us to sweat it out for you i can't believe this yeah but james i mean i think

3:23James Horncastle: this is refreshing that people still ask these questions even though there's been a search engine for decades and now there's ai and yet they still want us to tell them they still trust us

3:33Pol Ballus: more than anyone okay then james where can you watch la liga this year not on la liga tv that's not there anymore is it not no it disappeared is that right yeah it's finished it's finished yeah so you got a few games on disney and on only one so only one on disney there's a big announcement when i was trying to watch alien earth the other day yeah there was a

3:53Julien Laurens: big announcement about the league saturday evening game which most of the time is barcelona all around one a week one a week well that's quite beyond disney plus in the uk and ireland premier sport have every other game for the weekend and then itv sometimes will have uh one of the i think they have six a season maybe or something like that I might be wrong but they have a few

4:13Pol Ballus: okay Serie A James where can we watch Serie A this year

4:16James Horncastle: well I mean TNT still has two games right but the principal broadcaster of Serie A which has all of the games all the games is De Zone so if you're using it to watch the Club World Cup then you can continue using it to watch the greatest league in the world there you go il Campeonato Più Bello

4:38Pol Ballus: Più Bello what about Ligue 1 Jaws

4:41Julien Laurens: on Ligue 1 Plus Ligue 1 Plus which costs you £10 a month and you can watch all the games live on replays all the highlights the highlight show

4:50Pol Ballus: is it true that for£20 a month you can watch

4:52Julien Laurens: only some of the games no you can I mean you can I say you can watch all the games for£10 a month you can't accept the game that is on Beansport the Saturday afternoon kick off so yeah

5:04James Horncastle: will you be on Ligue 1 Plus

5:06Julien Laurens: Jaws I won't be on

5:07James Horncastle: Ligue 1 Plus

5:08Julien Laurens: Ligue 1 Plus no But you know, it's the first time in one of the big leagues that this is actually the league's channel. It's not a traditional broadcaster like The Zone or TNT or Sky or Canal+. It is very much the league's channel. So let's hope it works for them.

5:25Pol Ballus: Excellent. I hope so too. Bundesliga, that's Sky still, yeah? Yeah, although, I mean, it's still Sky.

5:32James Horncastle: It might be popping up on some other places. I can't tell you anymore.

5:37Pol Ballus: All right then. can you tell me James in a move to start off this show in a traditional fashion your moment of the entire summer my moment of the entire summer

5:52James Horncastle: Jules your moment of the summer

5:54Julien Laurens: I mean apart from going to Hilderay with the dark side they know who they are it will probably be doing some club world cup games with you at 2am in the morning and then continuing on at 5am with the other show I was doing after

6:07Pol Ballus: I feel that probably a moment of the summer, though, was that game, wasn't it? That game. The Champions League final? Oh! It was the Champions League final, May 31st.

6:17Julien Laurens: I don't think we spoke the next day. I was on the show, but from the airport, wasn't I? Yeah. Yeah, it's still very much there. I mean, we still wake up every morning with the kids saying like, hello, European champions. Yes, I am. And you? Yes, I am.

6:30Pol Ballus: Yeah.

6:30Julien Laurens: It's very special.

6:31Pol Ballus: Not only that, but European Super Cup champions as well. Yes.

6:34Julien Laurens: I mean, we try to give Tottenham fans a bit of a hope, you know and Thomas Frank and his very defensive line up you were sweating but it was inevitable that someone would come back and win on penalties like we did it's sweet and well done to Chelsea for winning that club world cup against PSG in the final they played great they were the better team by far so they deserved

6:54James Horncastle: James anything stand out for you? I mean I was in Hallandale Beach for two and a half weeks for the club world cup working it was working I was working very hard yeah was that remarkable anyway um i did go to jenny versace's former villa oh yeah where he was um was he killed in front of it yeah which is right on miami which is right on south beach yeah and uh it's now been converted into like a restaurant oh yeah but it's mainly just like an instagram place you know there's loads of people just sort of loitering around but yeah sort of amazing I mean Jules is having some work done on his house at the moment I can only imagine what work was done by Janny back in the day the other Janny of the Club World Cup

7:45Pol Ballus: did you go into the villa then

7:48James Horncastle: yeah no so it's all open there did you eat there? no I had a drink I'd already eaten I actually did have a very good steak but like as Barney Rone says like every restaurant in Miami feels like you're eating in like a car showroom like you can go into a really nice mall but like you wouldn't think that where those tables and chairs are outside is a restaurant it just feels like a very new clean right sort of you know sort of contemporary art which just doesn't really you know is that going to be worth something one day or is it just there for me to look at whilst I put stake on these hot stones?

8:31James Horncastle: I don't know.

8:31Pol Ballus: That definitely sounds like your moment of the summer. Excellent. All right, well, for the delights in store as we look at what's been happening this weekend and ahead, broadly speaking to the championships that await us across Europe, we are going to begin Jules Midliga. Yay. Yes. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network. Yeah, Ligue 1 is back, everybody. Still too early to say who's going to be leading the title race this time around, but loads to talk about. Always. After an opening weekend that saw Olivier Giroud back in Ligue 1 after 13 years.

9:10Pol Ballus: The OG.

9:11Julien Laurens: The OG very much so, yeah.

9:13Pol Ballus: The old OG. Yeah. That saw Marseille having a bit of a bust-up.

9:20Julien Laurens: Yeah, I mean... Who'd have thought? Exactly. A start of the season would not be the same. It would not be a Southampton without a desert meltdown or a Marseille crisis already, because they lost away Rennes, despite playing for an hour with 11 men against 10. They lost in the last few seconds of the game.

9:46Julien Laurens: The game where they hit the woodwork twice, but they didn't play that great, even when they had the extra man. and then just he exploded in that dressing room Jonathan Rowe the former Norwich winger who started the game had a massive altercation with Adrian Rabiot a lot of I have to say the words it's not me swearing but a lot of son of a bitches were like being shouted at each other and everything to the point that they had to be separated Rabiot kind of saying to Rowe listen you haven't done this was not good enough your attitude on the pitch you didn't defend enough if you didn't do this, you didn't do that.

10:23Julien Laurens: Ro, I think, was saying I was not the only one on this team. You know, I think I did my bit. Which led to this, I think, amazing word from, or sentence from De Zerbi, who said when everybody had come down, here in this dressing room, I see small balls. When you play for Marseille, you need big balls. I want to see big balls outside on the pitch. And I want you to help each other instead of calling each other a son of a bitch. Which I just think is perfect to start the season. I think so too, Jules.

10:51Pol Ballus: Might put that above the studio door.

10:53Julien Laurens: Yeah, we can touch it when we come in.

10:54Pol Ballus: Touch my big balls.

10:56Julien Laurens: No small balls here in the studio. No.

11:00Pol Ballus: Now, PSG, I read, have been French champions in 11 of the past 13 years. They have, so it's not perfect. And they're kind of runaway favourites, are they? Or have the displays against Chelsea in the Club World Cup final, the shaky performance against Spurs, 2-0 down until, what, the 85th minute? Yeah. and the not terribly convincing performance this weekend against Nantes have they suggested that maybe not everything's going to go super smoothly?

11:26Julien Laurens: For now it's very much more this is the pre-season for them they only came back to training 10 days ago because they had these holidays that had to come after the club World Cup and the final that they lost so Luis Enrique said the game against Spurs was a pre-season game this game against Nantes was pre-season you give game time to players who haven't played much because this is what you would do in pre-season

11:47Pol Ballus: I mean if you've won the league by, what, 19 points? You can pretty much take the first two months off anyway.

11:52Julien Laurens: Yeah, that's true. I think this will last maybe another two games and then we will see the strongest XI out there all the time. But yeah, the game was not great on Sunday against Nantes. Nantes didn't really want to play too much. They've got some really good, really good young players. They've got a centre-back 17 called Tyler Tati, who is from Paris, which, as you know, helps, who is a wonderful talent and has an amazing future ahead of him. So they've got a few like that. It was not enough to trouble a PSG team that played probably 50 % and still scored a deflected goal and that was enough to win.

12:24Pol Ballus: That was enough to win. No shots on target to trouble controversially installed PSG goalkeeper Chevalier. Yeah. So what's the mood like in France around the defenestration of Gigi Odonaruma? It's just, I think, the consequences of long months of negotiations

12:46Julien Laurens: between the club and Enzo Rayola especially and Donnarumma but Enzo especially on trying to find an agreement on a new deal and an extension where it seems that if at some point they look like they were close to an agreement that actually nobody wanted to give up enough in the sense that Donnarumma was the ninth highest earner in his current contract which is the last one he was offered to become the number three behind Dembele and Marquinhos but with a different structure to his contract with a fixed salary that was lower than what he would have earned before but the incentives in case the season was a successful one would be massive.

13:26Julien Laurens: So for example, Zabani who arrived from Bournemouth is on 4 million a year but if all the incentives kick in at the end of the season he goes to 8 million. So those are the new contracts. Everybody is on those new contracts apart from Donnarumma who was signed by Leonardo before and had this contract made before Luis Campos arrived and introduce those new structure to wages. And I don't think Gigi wanted a new contract like the others. He wanted still an old style contract. And they just never found an agreement. I think he got to a point where Luis Enrique said, I've had enough of this. And if you can't agree, then we'll move for somebody else.

14:00Julien Laurens: I think maybe more importantly than the financial side of it, goalkeeper was the only position that Luis Enrique hadn't chosen his player. For the rest, if he wanted another right back to Hakimi, he would have got one or left back or center back or central midfield etc the goalkeeper as i said donald roma was signed by leonardo before lucienrique arrived and he very much inherited an amazing goalkeeper the best in the world certainly on his line but that was not his call right this was the opportunity for him to say okay i want to keep her and i'm i'm going to pick luka chevalier

14:32Pol Ballus: there you go okay well he did all right didn't he in the super cup in the end after that shaky second goal from Spurs. Who do you see being, if you do see someone being a challenger to PSG this season? Marseille not off to the best start, but they have made good signings. What about Monaco and some very interesting arrivals there in the Prince-Baptor?

14:54Julien Laurens: Yeah, because you mentioned Olivier Giroud, the OG, being back, one of the 2018 World Cup winners, obviously. We had two more coming back home. One is Florian Thauvin, a lance from Moudini Eise, which maybe even more than Giroud, surprised more because he was the club captain he was very good last season if he had to leave Uri Nez you would think he was probably for a better club in Italy more than coming home to Lens but he he had he knows very well the sporting director there who presented him this project and he agreed to it and then the other one is Paul Pogba obviously yeah at Monaco he's not on the pitch yet did they say

15:31Pol Ballus: welcome back to him

15:32Julien Laurens: they said no they didn't say welcome back because there's no word

15:35Pol Ballus: for it

15:35Julien Laurens: there's no one in french yeah somebody tried no bon tourney is that what you said but that paul didn't recognize the word so you know what to say um he's not on the pitch yet so maybe when he gets to the page somebody will say bian tourney paul he looked very good in his vintage monaco jersey at the weekend the lip tonic one yeah yeah his one as he saw monaco be

16:00Pol Ballus: Love Yeah Love 3-1 3-1 Who was on the score sheet?

16:03Julien Laurens: Eric Dier Eric Dier Remember him Yeah Doing well It's the first game against a Very inoffensive team in Love But I think There's been a lot of excitement With Pogba coming Back to France Where he never played Because he left Love When he was too young To go to United We expect him to be Back on the pitch Probably at the end of September Or early October There's an international Two international breaks In between And the Monaco team That should lose Zakaria to Al-Hali in Saudi Arabia and maybe Ben Seguir or Aklayush or even both of them because they need to sell too but it should still be a quite competitive Monaco team and if Paul Ba can get back to something close to his level that would be amazing

16:44James Horncastle: Can I ask why it's going to take this long for him to come back because you know match rhythm tempo all that kind of stuff sure but like he hasn't been playing for ages whilst I was in Hallandale Beach having the time of my life he was down at the University of Miami training so like what's

17:04Julien Laurens: I think they just want to take their time when he gets back to full training with the squad and not rush it because of injuries it's more in a preventive way than anything else and almost building so much fitness right now he's fit he can run and run and run he can train on his own he's starting slowly to train with the team at times but he's never played 11 against 11 for example with the team at training so I think there's steps and he might go quicker in those steps and then maybe be back mid-September after the international break but they just don't want to rush it and him playing two games and then getting injured and being out for two months

17:43Pol Ballus: Recent years I've seen some real surprises in Ligue 1 your loss, your Strasbourg lost his breast, another one who do you see maybe fulfilling that role this season?

17:55Julien Laurens: Well I think Strasbourg will be good again They've spent around 100 million euros this summer. I mean, their spend. Blue Co. have spent. They've kept some of the key players that they've had, like Ducouré, like Bakwa so far, who've had offers from Nottingham Forest and Leeds and English clubs. But they've managed to keep them. They sold Diara for a lot of money, but that was expected. But Emega is still there. Barco is still there. There have been a lot of ins and outs, but it's heavily invested, really, in the club. So I expect them to do well. and even in the Conference League, I think they can go really well despite their youth.

18:31Julien Laurens: Lyon saved themselves somehow once John Texto was kicked out finally and started well with the win at Lens, but with a young team, not much reinforcement, not much money to spend too. And the departure of experienced players like Lacazette, for example. So interesting. I'm not sure where the surprise could come. I expect Monaco, Marseille, Lyon, those kind of teams to be with PSG in top five, for example.

18:54Pol Ballus: Okay. could a surprise come from about 44 metres away from PSG's Parc des Princes Stadium.

19:01Julien Laurens: Yeah, I would love Paris FC to be one of the stories. And they would be inevitably, whether they do super well or not. They lost the opening game yesterday against Angers-Auere when they showed their limits, certainly the limitations of these current squads. They've improved it already a little bit. They bought some players like Otavio Apoto, who's a promising centre-back. Moses Simon, who's a non-t, who's a good winger for Ligue 1. they've spent money big on wages too but they need more otherwise this squad won't be good enough as we saw against Angers where they played with 11 men against 10 for over 30 minutes and they were just still not nowhere near winning that game so there's a lot of work but 40 years 46 years after leaving the top flight they're back in it and it's great news but yeah they need to perform a bit better Right

19:48Pol Ballus: Paris FC have an interesting game coming up in this second round this weekend Jules when they're going to be away at the velodrome against like Marseille.

19:55Julien Laurens: Away at Marseille on Saturday at 4pm here in the UK, 5pm in France. On Ligue 1+. On Ligue 1+. Big game that, Jimbo. And big game for the Lopez family, of course, because Maxime Lopez used to play for Marseille, used to be a big player before he moved to Italy. And his brother, Julien, who never played for Marseille, but went to the academy there. Now both of them are Paris FC. But both of them are very much Marseille born and bred. so to come back there would be very special and we've got a lovely Lille-Monaco on Sunday night as well with Giroud not facing Pogba but potentially could have been facing Pogba

20:30Pol Ballus: Nice so nice Jules that's excellent and we'll hear all about it next week in the Totally Football Show European Edition next up let's head to La Liga

20:46This is the Totally Football Show part of the Athletic FC podcast network The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay, James Pearce, Oli K and the very best football writers around.

20:59Pol Ballus: All right, La Liga, everybody. Paul Ballou's joined us. Paul, bienvenido de nuevo. Because that's how they say it in Spain. I'm not sure they say that in Spain. They do. Is that how they say it in Spain? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How do you say welcome back in Spain? Bienvenido de nuevo. Just the same as you said that. So, yeah, yeah. I'm just going to kneel down to you. Well done. hey muchas gracias by the way thank you very much no well uh uh Alstead so sigamos sigamos so hey this new Liga season which has already got underway uh by the way uh excited to hear your takes on the big questions that everyone's chatting about can Barcelona repeat how are Real Madrid going to fare under Xavi Alonso the various challenges he's facing who are the surprises going to be who's going to be challenging for the top four.

21:52Pol Ballus: Ooh, and how special is it to see Real Oviedo back with Santi Cazorla in La Liga after their promotion? First off, then the title. What is it, the usual kind of two-and-a-half-horse race? I think so. I think so. And I think that the first game of the season has pretty much cleared that up when Atletico basically bottled it when they visited Espanyol.

22:24So I think it's going to be pretty much a two-horse race, Barcelona and Real Madrid. And if you ask me for the favourite, and I'm not trying to be biased here, but I think that Barcelona should be tagged as the favourites now. I see they're more of a balanced team. The roles within the team are more better distributed, in my opinion. And I think that Xavi Alonso still has some job to do in terms of who is staying, who is leaving, who is signing a new contract. He's like Benicio is going to stay for the long term. So there's a lot of questions about Madrid while at Barcelona. I think that Flick has a platform just to build on, which is much better right now.

22:56Pol Ballus: OK. Off to a winning start. Barcelona 3-0 against Mallorca on Saturday night with Marcus Rashford featuring after the club had sorted out his registration that same day. Bit of a scramble there, Paul. Yeah, last minute. But, I mean, we didn't expect less. Just like another day at the office at Barcelona. And to be fair to them, I mean, it's been like a broad problem, the sort of registrations in La Liga. Because if I'm not wrong, I think that Getafe had only 15 players available in that game and five new signings were not registered. Sevilla had eight players unregistered as well. But yeah, it's the fifth summer in a route that Barcelona are just going to that route.

23:39But hopefully and luckily for Marcus Rashford, basically the club found a way to put him in before the first game. Flick personally requested that because he didn't have Lewandowski in the squad and felt that Marcus Rashford could be really useful. I think that by the way that the game went, he wasn't that much needed or that much required, but at least he made his debut, which was quite good for him. Okay, also registered that day

24:04Pol Ballus: was the new goalkeeper Juan Garcia, who looks set to be the number one with Ter Stegen now on his way. Is that right? I'm not sure if he's going to be on his way because I don't see... I mean, he is injured right now. He's going to be out for months. So I don't see a team really willing to invest big on him right now. So I think that he is going to stay. He has three years contract remaining on his current deal. So I don't think that he's going to want to run away from that. But Barcelona certainly wants to make Joan Garcia as the number one. And Barcelona would happily let Ter Stegen go. But with the deal that he has, big salary in there, yeah, it's going to be a tough one for Barcelona to upload.

24:44It did seem like the relationship between Ter Stegen and the club

24:46Pol Ballus: became rather toxic in recent months. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It took like a sour turn. Because of registration issues, Barcelona wanted to use Ter Stegen injury to get into an exception within La Liga salary rules to register Joan Garcia in, which is a bit of a mess. I don't know if you have understood me. No, no, I have. And it's a curious situation. Could you say that you're injured a certain amount so that we can use that loophole to bring in your replacement?

25:13Julien Laurens: They did last year already with Christensen's injury, right? Exactly, essentially. And Ter Stegen basically said no, which was the first time that it happened in the history of La Liga. A player saying no to disclose his injury reports to La Liga for their medical panel to assess if that's a long-term injury. Finally, it reached a point basically where the board took Ter Stegen off the captaincy duties. Ter Stegen, in a way, saw that the club were sort of serious and he was open to step down and just to negotiate with the club once again. They sat down just one day after the club took him away from the captain's duties.

25:52Ter Stegen acknowledged that he was willing to finally let his medical report to be disclosed. And it was basically solved. Ter Stegen is not going to play. I don't think that the relationship is going to be good ever again, but they are at some point where now they can look at each other at least. but I highly doubt that Terzegren plays again a football game with the Barca shirt.

26:13Pol Ballus: Right, okay. Real Madrid finished four points behind Barcelona last season. They've yet to start their campaign because of their Club World Cup activities. Tuesday night they're going to be hosting Osasuna in their first game. Lots of movement at Real Madrid. Three new defenders coming in. Trent Alexander-Arnold, if you class him as such, Dean Hoyssen and Álvaro Carreras. You also got Mastantuono, Franco Mastantuono coming in, as we saw at the Club World Cup. Gonzalo Garcia, who was pretty much the revelation of that tournament. Seems like there's loads of positives, particularly when you consider they've also got the hottest young manager around, Xavi Alonso.

26:52Absolutely. I think that they have really something to build on. But the most important thing that they need to resolve is the chemistry within the squad, is the roles that they want to give to the big players. I think that the game against PSG in the Club World Cup, in a way, just exposed a problem that was already at the club, which is they cannot afford to have three players which are not as much involved as the other ones in the off-the-ball work rate and this sort of stuff. And now Xavi Alonso has to let them know that and has to find a way to balance the team. OK, you can have Klien Mbappe and Benicius that they are so good up front that they probably can rest, maybe when they track back, but to some extent.

27:33and that's the balance that they are trying to find. Now, we're going to see a season without the goal and way more present. He's one of the players that Xavi Loncho wants to involve more in a central midfield role to give a bit more of technique in there. And I think that the sacrificed one, if we can use that word, is going to be Rodrigo. Of course, he's been on the market for the whole summer. He's still not assured that he's going to stay to Real Madrid beyond this summer. But yeah, I think that he doesn't start the season with the starting role. Xavi Loncho will prefer to use Brahim Diaz or even Gonzalo Garcia in there to give the team a bit more balance.

28:09And then there's the issue about Vinicius Jr. As I told you, there's concerns and doubts about his contract extension. He wants an amount of money. The club is not willing to give him that amount of money. Every side pulling to their way. And let's see who sort of wins that. But that's an issue in the club because Vinicius is not at his best right now, far from his best form. And let's see how Xavi Loncho all of that and how he uses his man management skills to get it on their way. OK.

28:38Pol Ballus: Paul, who's going to be the big surprises this year? We had Real Betis last season. Are they going to continue their rise? What do you see happening beyond the top two and a half? That's a good question. I don't think that Real Betis are going to have the same season and last season. I think that with them playing the Europa League, I don't think that they have the talent right now with Isco out for months with Anthony as well not at the club. Is he definitely not back Anthony?

29:06Julien Laurens: Not yet no. I mean he could be back but it's going to take like a huge effort from Betis that I'm not sure that they can do it to be honest. If you ask me right now I'm possibly going to say that Villarreal possibly are one of the best places just to keep in that. They were fifth last season but I think that they can challenge to the top four. I don't I think that Atletico de Madrid are going to be anywhere near the top two. And if I look below that, I think that we have to closely look Espanol. I think that they have the chances not to end on the top four, of course, but to be the sort of revelation.

29:40Because with the sale of Joan Garcia, they've bolstered the squad and they have a manager who represents well the team. And with the new ownership, which we know is the same owner as Bordley, I think that the club is on the right way. The fans are really behind the new ownership. They really wanted a change in there. And there's a really good mood, as we could see on the first game of the season, which they beat an Atlético de Madrid. Right. Good start then for Espanyol.

30:08Pol Ballus: You mentioned Villarreal as well, who had a 2-0 win against Real Oviedo, the aforementioned, on Friday night. How's the mood there at the Ceramica after the high-profile signing of Thomas Partey? So it was quite a moment during the weekend when Thomas Partey came into the pitch because at the same stadium there were some people who were booing and some people who were applauding, as in trying to support their own player. I think that this is going to last long. This is going to be a theme around the season. But yeah, it's something that I think that Thomas Partey is not going to see gone anytime soon.

30:44When he goes to away games, I think that away fans are going to make their feelings clear because Oviedo fans booed the entrance of Thomas Partey into the pitch as well. So it's going to be a constant theme throughout the season, which in a way I think it's expected. When Villarreal announced a signing and they had to release a statement to justify themselves, that in a way tells you that it's a signing that has some controversy around it.

31:10Pol Ballus: 100%. Okay. Oviedo beaten in that game. They are going to be hosting Real Madrid next Sunday, which is going to be a big one. So that'll be the first home game in La Liga in 24 years. Crikey. And Santi Cazorla's first home game for Oviedo since when? Well, I think that Santi Cazorla has never played in Primera in La Liga with Oviedo because he basically joined Villarreal when he was really young and he made his debut in the first time with Villarreal. So basically now he's going to do it with his hometown team, which as we know I mean massive team a historical club in the 90s all over in La Liga and a fan base that is really thrilling for that they really want that and it's going to be one of these special atmospheres that we're going to see this season in La Liga for sure let's see how it goes with Real Madrid I think that they were a bit unlucky against Villarreal because they missed the penalty with the game 0-0 and basically then they got the players sent off and it was all downhill from that But yeah, let's see how Auello can deal with that season, which after the game, Cazorla requested more signings to the ownership.

32:20So I guess that there's still some business to be done by their side. I see. I see.

32:25Pol Ballus: Paul, James Horncastle had a terrific time in Florida over the summer and so apparently did some members of the Spanish football organisation. You were in Hallandale Beach, James. And it looks like La Liga are going to be decamping down that way around Christmas time as well. with this plan to stage the December Villarreal against Barcelona fixture in Miami. So has this aroused much controversy in Spain and how certain are we that this is going to go ahead? It has raised controversy. Real Madrid are really against it. It was sort of expected because Real Madrid and La Liga and Javier Tebas are not in the best place in terms of relationships.

33:08So any idea that is pushed and promoted by Javier Tebas pretty much you can count that round, but it's not going to be in favour of it. But of course, there's this sort of stance that it doesn't help the fair competition, that in a way Barcelona will spare one of the toughest trips in the season by playing a game in Miami, which pretty much will mean that Barcelona will play home because they have way more fans than Villarreal in Miami and in the US in general. A lot of managers have spoken about that. I would say that the general feeling, and I've heard that from a couple of managers in La Liga, from Inigo Pérez at Rayo Vallecano, saying, for example, that, yeah, it's not nice, it's not something that they like to see, but in a way, that's the circus that they are in, that's the industry that they are in, and that they are getting loads of money to get this job.

33:53And, like, football has gone so far in that direction and so far away that they can hardly complain now because they are already in this circus. So this is, in a way, the stance that they defended, But at the same time, there is no manager or like former players, because we've seen the Players Association in Spain, the AFE, complaining about this, saying that they were not notified, that they didn't know that this was going to progress. So I would say that within the football industry, in terms of players and managers, it's not the best scenario or the thing that they like to. But in the same time, barely anyone can be surprised in Spain because La Liga and Javier Tebas have been pushing for that for over a decade.

34:38He really wanted that to happen. He's made the comparison of the NFL and the NBA are playing league games abroad. Why cannot La Liga do it? And yet he's been fighting for it for 10 years in constant negotiations with La Liga, with UEFA and with the Spanish FA. And now it looks all set to go through because all the rulebook and all the institutions seem to be aligned for this to happen.

35:02Pol Ballus: OK. As you say, it does seem to put Villarreal at a disadvantage playing their home game away in Miami. What's in it for them? A lot of money. There's a lot of money. They are basically going to make more money than playing at home. Like the ticketing is going to be overly compensated. And in terms of business, Villarreal and the direction, the board, are really open for it. Even Fernando Roge, the president of the club, told in a press conference that they are willing to pay all the fans who want to go to Miami to pay the flights and the accommodation just to let them go there. Let's see how it goes if they eventually do that.

35:35But that's how invested Villarreal are in the whole operation, which given at the stage that we are, I think that it is going to happen.

35:43Pol Ballus: Like Niall Quinn with the minicabs after that budget airline thing. Yeah. Anyway. Very good. Well, that's it. Excellent. Lovely preview of the season ahead. Give us one game to look at for this weekend, apart from the Real Oviedo-Real Madrid banger. I'm not going to be very original. I'm going to go to the Levante Barcelona. Levante have been promoted. Levante are a team that have like a refurbished stadium, really nice, good atmosphere in there. They really want to enjoy the season back in La Liga again and they host Barcelona. And I think that Barcelona, they didn't really have a test on the first game because, as we know, they play against nine men during the majority of the game.

36:27And it's going to be a nice chance to see how the Flick guys are doing.

36:33Pol Ballus: Excellent. Paul, look forward to hearing from you about that and so much more in next Tuesday's show. Many thanks for today. It's been a pleasure. See you next week.

36:48You're listening to The Totally Football Show with James Richardson. Now we do four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy us in glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show.

36:59Pol Ballus: Listener, it's your favourite bit of the show and mine as we talk about Serie A. Yes. Look at the big smile on Jules' face.

37:06Julien Laurens: Massive, yeah, because what are we talking about them? Oh, Coppa Italia, yeah, of course.

37:10Pol Ballus: We're talking about the Coppa Italia. Ah, yeah.

37:12Julien Laurens: We're talking about the new season that is starting next week.

37:15Pol Ballus: The new season in the most unpredictable league of all. Of course. The league that's had six years without a repeat champion that saw Napoli triumph by just one point. Yeah, is that kind of quality?

37:25Julien Laurens: Not so much quality. that is a different winner every year.

37:28Pol Ballus: Well, that's a question, isn't it? It's competitiveness, clearly.

37:31Julien Laurens: Oh, competitiveness. Yeah. I get you, I get you.

37:33Pol Ballus: So who are going to be competing for the title this time around? Who are going to be the surprises? What do you see in store? James Horncastle.

37:43James Horncastle: Well, I mean, if you had spoken to me this morning, James, I would have been saying, Napoli, Napoli, Napoli. But? But Romelu Lukaku was having a check-up in hospital and he's torn a quad muscle and he's going to be out for maybe as much as three months. And so what has been a very chill off-season, Antonio Conte, you know, not making demands of his owner, of his sporting director, because they've been very aggressive in the transfer market, all of a sudden they're going to have to spend the next fortnight looking for someone who can help them cover Lukaku. Adamola Lukman. Yeah, I mean, Lukman is one of the players who Napoli looked at earlier in the season and Luckman was basically saying, fancy Inter, to be fair.

38:32James Horncastle: It's just up the road from where I play at Atalanta. But he hasn't been able to make that move happen so far. And, you know, Atalanta's stance on this, having seen the statement that Ademola Luckman put out, basically saying, let me go, free Ademola. Atalanta's stance is, well, we did promise that you could leave, but just not for one of our rivals. So that's why Adamolo Lukman has been training in Portugal, he's been training in London, and hasn't got a move yet. But to go back to the question, James, I still would back Napoli for three reasons, really. Unlike what happened two years ago, they've kept their title-winning coach, Antonio Conte, who is as good a guarantee of winning things as anybody in Italy.

39:20James Horncastle: I think they've learned from the mistakes of two years ago because they didn't strengthen really at all when Spalletti left and Rudy Garcia came in. If you remember, they signed Nathan, City Out of Legend. He's been forgotten about. He's basically gone to Betis. Jesper Lindstrom, I know one of your favorite players, James. And then a couple of guys from Bari where De Laurentiis' son is the owner. Part of a multi-club thing. Whereas this time, they've gone out and got Kevin De Bruyne. nice and early they've got Noah Lang so they've finally basically got Kavarazkelias replacement even though take a lot of replacing they've got Lorenzo Luca the towering Italian striker who has been at Ajax got into double figures last year Udinese with Florian Tovan Jules' mate Sam Bukema centre-back who won the Coppa Italia with Bologna they've gone big so all of that makes me confident about Napoli.

40:22James Horncastle: Also because the reservation I have about Inter, who I see pushing them again, they were the team that took them down to the final day last year, obviously reached the Champions League final. Everyone said that Inter were too old after the Champions League final. Right. I think PSG made them look old in the same that PSG made Atletico look old, made Real Madrid look old. But they are quite old as well. They are quite old, James. but when it came to matching the rhythm and tempo that man city played or arsenal played that or barcelona played that or bayern munich played that earlier in the champions league season they were a match for it that's what i'm saying now at the club world cup it looked like they were going much younger they have all these academy kids and so everyone was saying look these kids are going to play next year well they've pretty much got rid of them all apart from one Pio Esposito the striker who scored I think 20 odd goals in Serie B last year someone told me that Pio Esposito along with Giovanni Leone who's obviously just moved to Liverpool are the two best young players in Italy who could you know this was prior to Leone moving could go out and play in the Premier League they're that good so yeah Inter have got Pio Esposito they sign and Bonny, the French forward from Parma.

41:48James Horncastle: A lot of people getting quite excited about this Croat playmaker midfielder. They signed Peter Suchich as well. We saw the club worker, by the way. Yeah, Luis Enrique from Marseille. All of these players are sort of in their early 20s. And unlike in other years when they had, you know, the moribund Chinese Suning behind them and basically had to sell for financial fair play reasons, Inter have not had to sell at all this year and so you've got younger players in addition to the team that they've kept together my doubt about them is Christian Kivu Simone Inzaghi's replacement because even though Kivu could be a new Inzaghi and that Inzaghi came through at Lazio on the back of success with the youth teams and carried that into the first team Kivu's only had three months of kind of top flight experience with Parma he did keep them up and I just wonder is this job too soon for him and I think what you were alluding to when you referenced their age is is this a season too far for this core group of interplayers

42:57Pol Ballus: right certainly the build up dominated by this chase of Adam Ola Lutman who was going to form a stellar attacking line up with Lautaro Martinez and

43:07James Horncastle: Marcus Duran and Bonny

43:09Pol Ballus: but it doesn't look like that's going to happen now. Possibly the gap may be bigger this time around or maybe not. We shall see. In terms of other contenders, you've got your Juventus, you've got your Milan and do you also have your Roma in there, James?

43:24James Horncastle: Yeah, I think Roma will end their seven-year absence from the Champions League because they have Gasparini. That's a big win for them to be able to entice him out of Bergamo after the best part of a decade. did look like Gasparini was always going to say grass isn't greener on the other side I experienced that inter didn't go well for me

43:46Pol Ballus: but certainly not greener at the Stadio Olimpico that's true

43:51James Horncastle: particularly after you know Vasco Rossi concerts or you know rugby stuff like that but you know I think it helps him really that you know around the training ground possibly with his grandkids pushing paper and pens will be Claudio Ranieri who turned down the Italy job because he was like, no, look, if I wanted to keep coaching, I'd still be coach of Roma. Instead, I've taken a step aside and Gasparini is my man.

44:20Pol Ballus: And on that training ground are going to be the likes of Evan Ferguson, Leon Bailey, and possibly Jadon Sancho? Or is that just... He said no, apparently. Has he said no? I was told he said no.

44:31James Horncastle: Yeah, I think it was always unlikely that they would sign Sancho on the basis that his wages are even by Man United standards. Ludicrous. And Bailey, I mean, Club has been quite coy about that. Bailey's dad hasn't. He's been posting on Instagram selfies of him outside the Coliseum. So maybe Bailey will be finalizing that. Hasn't gone through yet. But Ferguson started off-season really well. You know, scored a lot of goals.

45:01Pol Ballus: Aside from City D. Yes, James.

45:04James Horncastle: But look, if he stays fit, we look at what Gasparini has done with Matteo Rettegi. One year at Atalanta. Capo Cananieri. He's gone to Alcadzia. I know your favorite Saudi pro league team for 60 million.

45:19Pol Ballus: I like them all. Rasmus Hoyland. Done that. 70 million. 70 million. So will someone be buying Anton Dovbic for 70 million this time next year?

45:28James Horncastle: Who knows? Well, Dovbic might be on his way out on the basis.

45:32Pol Ballus: He was top scorer in La Liga before making the move to Roma. And with Gasparini's track record with getting strikers firing, is there any chance or have the club decided that that's not an experiment they want to continue?

45:45James Horncastle: There's a chance. Dovbic was signed at great expense. And this is why Gasparini is sort of always on at Roma's sporting director saying, where are my signings? Where are my signings? because they spent an awful lot of money last year and flew close to the wind again with financial fair play. And I think Roma, this time last year, were quite confident of getting Samu, who went to Porto. And Samu would have been, you know, sort of in keeping with what they wanted to do. Young player, score a lot of goals, sell him for big money to Newcastle to replace Alexander Isaac, blah, blah, blah. Instead, their sporting director, who's now with Sunderland, he signed Dovbic and Dovbic is like 28 now for a lot of money and that's like so I think in Roma's mind if they can get their money back on Dovbic they will do that if he stays he may well have a 20-25 goal season playing for the most attacking coach in Italy of the last 15-20 years

46:47Pol Ballus: Excellent a coach who got his former side Atalanta into the top four in seven of nine years Seven of nine years. And how big a bump is it going to be as they come back down to earth without him this season with Ivan Juric on the bench? Yeah. And with Rhett Egwi gone and Luckman as well.

47:07James Horncastle: Yeah. I think this is the biggest test of the Atlanta model because, look, the Pekassis, the family who still run the club, even though the club has been taken over by Steve Paliuka and some American investors, you know when they were in charge before Gasparini they were a yo-yo club you know they would you know flirt with relegation go down come back up uh and really it was it was on the gasp that they they became what we know them are today they had that kind of extended Udinese window you know where Udinese would play incredible football for three years with Zaccaroni or Guidolin and then they would disappear for a decade atlanta were able to extend that for 10 years and urich has always been seen as gasp's disciple because he played under him because his coaching career followed his so gasp started with crotone urich got them up gasp went to genoa urich followed him didn't go well for urich genoa and you know what kind of rebounded his career was he was at Hellas Verona which is where Atalanta's now sporting director was at there's a feeling that his continuity and that don't read too much into last year with Roma where he came in in season to replace De Rossi, Southampton when Southampton were already kind of plummeting you know if you're following the Gasp trajectory just think of it Gasp had a nightmare into Andat Palermo which people have forgotten about but I still think Gasp is a complete anomaly and it will be extremely difficult to replace Gasper's son alright a couple

48:53Pol Ballus: of other questions for you Milan and Juve how are they looking could they mount a title challenge and could if we move on to surprises as well could Como come up with a are they going to have second season syndrome or are they going to surprise us even further this time around

49:09James Horncastle: well Como have spent the most money again this is just what they do they've got the richest owners in Italy and Cesc certainly finished last season really strongly. Inter tried to get him out of Como. They couldn't. Even had Fabregas not had a small equity stake in Como, which made it impossible really for him to go to Inter, the right decision was to stay because that project is really built around him. He has a big say in who they sign. They keep going out and getting really good young players from Spain. so I think I think they can push into the European places I think privately they're all saying you know if we can just consolidate ourselves as a mid-table team but I think given the investment they should be pushing into Conference League you know if Bologna could do it for example Bologna who brought back your favourite player Chiri Immobile and Federico Bernadeschi I know you're that's why you're excited about Serie A this year

50:10Pol Ballus: that and and other reasons like Igor Tudor with Jonathan David now, David at Juventus in Turin. A couple of the players who we were assured were on their way have been signed to permanent deals.

50:25James Horncastle: Well, no, I mean, there were some of those deals. The Lloyd Kelly, for example, won, which it really sticks in the throat for Juventus fans because, you know, obviously Dean Hoyssen was sold to Bournemouth. Dean Hoyssen is now a realm which would send back kelly came in yeah could events have signed giovanni leone had they not allocated the same amount of money or something similar for you know lloyd that sporting director is now gone though he is gone and damien camoli is is in in charge which you know had that happened 15 years ago might have been seen as something quite innovative but like you know it's it feels quite passé um And, look, I mean, I think Juve will be good this year because, yeah, Tudor's been in the job since March.

51:15James Horncastle: I think Club World Cup helps him because he spent more time with the players, figuring things out. I think, you know, they don't have a sporting director who basically sold the family silver like they did last year, which was, you know, to get rid of quite a lot of these really good young players. They're keeping Kenan Yildiz. And, you know, if they get Colin Mouane back with Jonathan David, then, you know, I think they'll be...

51:37Pol Ballus: to go Conte South still.

51:38James Horncastle: Well, yeah, and also the big signing for Juve is getting Gleiss and Bremer their centre-back back from his ACL tear because with him and the team, they're completely different. Milan have probably had the best transfer window with Como. I really like what Milan have done. They got Max back, Allegri. I love Max. And even though the football won't always be pretty, he always gets teams in the Champions League unless the Italian Football Federation and decides to intervene and dot points, which is what happened in the one time he didn't get in the Champions League, which was not his fault.

52:13Pol Ballus: Fair enough. It was a transfer winner that saw them lose to Gianni Reinders, their Player of the Year last season. So why do you like it so much?

52:20James Horncastle: Because I think they showed when they saw Tonali that they know how to replace players like that. So they brought Reinders to replace Tonali. They brought in Cheshawi to replace Reinders. A lot of people are quite excited about him. Midfield looks like it's been completely sorted out. You know, Samuele Ricci played really good when Italy beat France in the best game of Luciano Spilletti's short spell. A long time ago by now. In charge. And Ricci will be playing with Luka Modric. He got an incredible reception. Do you think Modric will play a lot? I think even if you get half an hour of Modric, and yeah, he'll want to play more.

52:55James Horncastle: He hasn't come to Milan to basically sit on the bench like he did at Real Madrid. Right. He played a lot last year in terms of minutes for Madrid. But him, Joshari, Fofana and Ricci, I think is a good midfield. They want to do something in the striker market.

53:13Julien Laurens: Hoyland?

53:14James Horncastle: Hoyland or, I mean, they were looking at Nicholas Jackson, but Jackson's too expensive.

53:20Pol Ballus: There's a lot of talk about Vlajevic as well, which seemed to make a lot of sense.

53:24James Horncastle: Yeah, although, I mean, let's not forget, they spent an awful lot of money on Santiago Jimenez in January.

53:30Pol Ballus: Who's been good in preseason.

53:31James Horncastle: Who's been fine. So like, you know, I mean, yes, they do need another striker, but I don't think it's a glaring need. It's more of kind of a squad need or a competition need. I like the two fullbacks as well. Estupinan and the kid they've got from Switzerland who's rapid. Atecame or something like that. I'm not going to, I should look at his name rather than just glance over it. but Milan have to be the team that improves the most on last year because last year was such an aberration

54:04Pol Ballus: right finishing down in 8th place

54:07James Horncastle: but yeah Zachary Athikame

54:10Pol Ballus: a full 19 points off the leaders where would 19 points off the leaders put you in Ligue 1 though Drew second isn't it

54:17Julien Laurens: exactly yeah

54:23James Horncastle: but I think you know I mean it's the variables really are how will Kivu do it Inter Juric at Atalanta because you know Atalanta have really squeezed out your romers from the Champions League over the last few years Lazio have brought back Maurizio Sadi

54:43Pol Ballus: transfer ban though

54:45James Horncastle: transfer ban which for a coach who always said he absolutely hates transfers might be actually something quite good because he's just like everyone knows their in the squad. Everyone knows that they're staying because we basically can't replace anyone. So basically no distractions, blah, blah, blah. Quite good.

55:03Pol Ballus: Lancia begin their campaign away at Como on Sunday at 5.30 UK time. Milan, we'll see how they get things going when they host Cremonese, one of the promoted sides on Saturday evening. The other promoted sides were Pisa and Sassuolo come back up.

55:22James Horncastle: they play Napoli on Saturday Sassuolo I will be at that game

55:26Pol Ballus: are you going to that game?

55:27James Horncastle: I'm going to that going to Comalazio

55:30Pol Ballus: at the Mapei Stadium the Sassuolo still yeah okay and then you're going to Comalazio of course

55:36James Horncastle: and then there's Inter Torino on Monday night

55:38Pol Ballus: on Monday night wow that's fantastic good spread all right and then you'll be here in the studio on Tuesday perhaps well I'm flying back on Tuesday on Tuesday yeah in time to get to the studio That would be...

55:53James Horncastle: Well, actually, I think I'd get in at 11-ish. Oh, right. Maybe I could come straight to the studio. Perhaps.

56:01Pol Ballus: Perhaps. Anyway, don't worry, listener. We'll sort the details out. But there'll be more City Out Talk duels next week. Of course. Excellent. As for now, Magnificent will wrap up today's show by checking in with Seb Stafferblor and the Bundesliga.

56:27This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

56:33Pol Ballus: Bundesliga, Seb Stafford-Bloor. Hey Seb. Hey Jimbo, how are everybody? How do you say welcome back in German? Well, Wilkens-Roch would be okay, I guess. That's what I would have said as well. Nice. Welcome back to German football's season curtain raiser. last Saturday night, the France-Beckenbach Super Cup, with Stuttgart taking Bayern. And of course, you were there, Seb. What did you make of Bayern's performance, the champions? Yeah, interesting one. Pretty good with a kind of an underlying fragility. Does that make sense? Sounds like Bayern. Yeah, so one up in the first half, really nice Harry Kane goal.

57:112-0 up in the second. Really nice counterattack. Good header from Luis Diaz. He played pretty well in his competitive debut.

57:17Julien Laurens: Verlager to Gnabry. In the middle winkt Luis Dias, he gets the ball.

57:23James Horncastle: That's 2-0.

57:49from set pieces a few warning signs and actually whilst a lot of the Bayern Munich fan base has spent the summer worrying about attacking reinforcements I think I'd have liked to seen a little bit more money spent on the defense Jonathan Tarr's come up from Leverkusen he played pretty well he played pretty well so new first choice centre-back pairing with Dario McConaughey that's good but Conrad Lyme is still at right full-back Jozef Stanisic at left-back covering for Alphonso Davies for whom there's still no replacement and these issues were kind of kind a present in that Super Cup performance, even though they won.

58:20Pol Ballus: OK, well, the league campaign gets underway this weekend. They've got a very interesting opening fixture as they host RB Leipzig, one of the top four teams perennially, one of potentially the title contenders. How do you think the landscape looks in the Bundesliga, particularly with this summer that's seen so many of the big goal scorers departing the Bundesliga, Cesco, Wurtz, Eke, et al? yeah let's start with Leipzig actually because that's a really interesting place at the moment because obviously you mentioned Seshko going and another player who is expected to depart is Javi Simons not sure quite when yet but he asked Leipzig to leave at the end of last season move hasn't materialized at the moment but expect him to go to Chelsea at some point not sure quite when and there's been a bit of reinvention so breaking a little bit of a habit this offseason Leipzig did their shopping first so yandy amande really really exciting player came from legones uh the people at the club super excited about his potential he's only 18 joan bakiyaku arrived from psv now anybody who watched peter bosch's psv over the last couple years when they won back-to-back erudivisie titles they've fallen in love with bakiyaku he's such an exciting player coming in from the right side it's one of those kind of out in wingers and yeah it's it's been a bit of renewal uh Romulo from Gestepte he's been signed as a sort of I don't think they'd quite call him a Sheska replacement but they're really excited about what he can do as a center forward big six foot four Brazilian hopefully um be able to forge a little bit of a combination with Lerosa Pender if Pender stays uh Antonio Nusa is still there so things at Leipzig are changing um the beginning new cycle they're changing the kind of the face their side and I think there's some potential for growth where there's potential for them to compete I don't know and that's kind of a that's a neat little segue to Leverkusen who as everybody knows have lost so so much now Vietz is the obvious one but also Jeremy Fringpong, Granit Xhaka, Jonathan Tarr this is a team that's been gutted, Lukas Rodetsky the goalkeeper and captain and the players have come in the headliner really Malik Tillman US Men's National Team International good player but pretty onerous task to step into that side as a number 10 and replace Wietz.

1:00:32Jero Kuenzer from Liverpool, spent a lot of money on him. And these players, whether they're ready or not, they're going to be fundamental to what Leverkusen can do and what they can do under Eric Ten Hag, who, it's a strange one. It's a strange one because how do you replace Xabi Alonso in terms of charisma and standing in the game and what he means to kind of players who grew up watching him playing for Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in Liverpool? Sure, that's one aspect of it. but then how do you i suppose change the manager in such a dramatic way when you have so many new parts there's so little continuity here that it's almost impossible to know what happens next and continue i suppose with the theme in brissy dortmund because like by munich there's been some grumbling in the fan base about a failure to reinforce the side joe bellingham remains the sort of the the big addition but there are some fears that in certain positions particularly centre forward where Sarajevo needs to stay fit otherwise there are going to be problems and at the back where really really they need to keep Valdemar Anton fit Niko Schlotterbeck won't be fit to start the season Niki Schüller who was really the kind of the reclamation project under Niko Kovac last season sort of last couple of months of last year he played really really well and he's got injured unfortunately he'll be out for probably about six or seven weeks at the beginning of this season.

1:01:53So very difficult to know. And Bayern, interestingly, we kind of talked about all the caveats within their squad. And yet no one seems to have gained much distance on them.

1:02:05Pol Ballus: Although Dortmund, I mean, they had that incredible rise in the second half of last season. They kept Sergio Gürassi. They've got themselves a Bellingham in. I'm surprised to hear that there's been grumbling because it seemed like there was a lot of momentum behind that team under Niko Kovac. I was also excited to see that Ten Hag has already used his I'm not Harry Potter line that he deployed to such effect at Manchester United. He's already said that at Liverpool as well. Already. Wow. Playing the hits. He had a weird pre-season, Eric Ten Hag. He had a strange moment around the Granit Xhaka transfer when Granit Xhaka had his options and the direction of travel was very much to Sunderland.

1:02:45And then someone stuck a microphone in front of Ten Hag's face and asked him about it. He was like, why? He's not going. We've already saw so many players. Absolutely not. Not going to happen at all. paraphrasing a little bit but that was the gist of what he said and then three or four days later jackal was sold to sundland they had a very difficult time in brazil where i think they lost to flamengo's under 21 side 5-1 so it's been a bit strange and and also he hasn't been able to depend on any dressing room tenants mentioned that obviously jonathan tar has gone hrodeski was a massive figure in that dressing room the captain he's gone too so whether the leadership is coming from.

1:03:19I'm not quite sure. So, yeah, strange one and a strange role because obviously he's come in and his reputation in Germany remains very strong. No one was too concerned about anything that happened at Manchester United because Manchester United is a context for that. It's seen as a little bit dysfunctional over here and not unfairly, not unduly, but it's a tall order in Leverkusen, I think.

1:03:42Pol Ballus: Okay. Let's get a bit of positivity then, Seb. As we welcome back two exciting clubs to the Bundesliga, Hamburg and Köln as it's pronounced. Two big derbies come with them though. Yeah not only that we don't have to wait very long at all for the Hamburg derby. That's going to be on match day two on Friday night. That's going to be Haasval against St. Pauli. Cannot wait for that. We'll be at that game. It's so important for the Bundesliga to have these big city clubs. These traditional Vereens. These massive stadiums because in this day and age Bundesliga doesn't really consider itself to be a competitor to the Premier League.

1:04:17certainly not in the financial sense 50 plus one is is very inhibiting commercially so you need to have i'm not going to call them brands but that is kind of what we're talking about clubs are big fan bases clubs which potentially and i've got both fingers crossed as i both fingers crossed on both hands as i say this if both teams can plot their way through two three four five years and you know really re-establish themselves in the bundesliga and then hopefully and certainly Hamburg have ambitions of playing European football within five years now then you have a stronger division as a whole and a stronger proposition you know in light of having you know being able to attract armies of superstar players and foreign investors and that kind of thing so you know as wonderful as some of the stories have been in the Bundesliga of the last couple of years you know seeing Heidenheim come up very nearly seeing Elfisburg coming up at Heidenheim's expense in the relegation playoff last season but you do need these big sides particularly now so very very important and great to have them back of course excellent and already the Hamburg derby

1:05:16Pol Ballus: on the second match day wow uh Kuhln's derby with the that'll be with Bayer Leverkusen correct yeah yeah uh that's in store as well but the big game this weekend remains Bayern against RB Leipzig and that is on Friday evening Seb look forward to hearing about what happens in that and all the many dramatic stories that no doubt set to break between now and then as we roar towards the start of the Bundesliga season. Seb Stafford-Bloor, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Very good. James, you're off to Italy now, aren't you? I am. To see loads of games. Woo! Yeah. Jules, you've got loads of things happening.

1:06:00Julien Laurens: Loads of things happening here. Loads of things. Exactly. But I'll be here next week on time. I like horny.

1:06:05James Horncastle: No, I... Oh, OK, you can make it... Look, if we were to do, you know, sort of two. On Tuesday. On Tuesday. Two on Tuesday. Well, I mean, I'm coming from not far from here. Okay.

1:06:18Pol Ballus: Whatever that means. Narrows it down a bit.

1:06:23James Horncastle: Well, there are certain airports which are far away. Oh, okay. It's somewhere closer. Is it City Airport? I'm not going to disclose that publicly, but I'm just saying.

1:06:33Pol Ballus: Yeah, very wise. So, okay, good. well listener we'll have some kind of show for you next week don't forget as they say don't forget make a note in your diary tell you what if you fancy listener there will of course be a show on Thursday looking forward to this weekend in the Premier League and as I mentioned later in the week Raphael Honigstein will be dropping by the studio again to do the show we'll put out on the Saturday our new Totally Extra that James was part of last week not sure who else is going to be in the studio oh James I think you're going to be with us as well I think I can actually do this can you come back in for that I can yeah that'd be lovely George why don't you come as well yeah I'd love to Saturday I can come no yeah yeah Thursday we're actually recording it on Thursday afternoon what do you think yeah yeah yeah we're going to see if we can afford it let's see alright it's difficult have a listen on Saturday maybe we can have the gang back together alright anyway that's very much it for today's show many thanks listeners for sticking it out we'll be back soon in some shape or form bye for now you've been listening to the totally football show part of the athletic fc podcast network for more great podcasts just like this one including the athletic fc and our dedicated club podcasts search for the athletic on apple spotify and all the usual places we're also at the totally football show on insta and at the totally show on youtube the totally football show is an athletic media company production

1:08:04James Horncastle: The Athletic FC.