Deadline day chaos, World Cup qualifiers and the WSL returns

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0:34The Athletic FC.

0:41Totally Football Show today. Deadline day of dreams and dismay. From Isaac Notoon at Anfield to Emi Martinez, shaken because he did not stir. We check on who got lemons and who got lamons in the last minute wheeling and dealing. Then World Cup qualifiers. 13 teams already through. 24 haven't even started trying. We catch up on the ins and outs. And love the Euros this summer. Stand by for Lionesses Galore and much, much more as the WSL returns. It's the Totally Football Show.

1:15Thursday, the 4th of September. And it's a brand new Totally Football Show with you, listener. Glad you made it. Here's what we've got for you today. Some Daniel's story. All right, Daniel. Yeah, good morning, James. Good morning. And here in the studio, Duncan Alexander. Hello. And Natalie Jedra of Sky Sports. Bonjour. Bonjour, Natalie Jedra. And Natalie Jedra, quite the education in English football you've been getting with Sky Sports. Did I not see you the other day in Cleethorpes? Yes, you did. Yeah. Yes. Wow, you were there for a moment of history, moment of the season so far. Yeah, I had high expectations, but it really topped that.

1:56Yeah. It was really interesting how so many people we heard last week cut short their holidays just to be there. Everyone felt a bit like, you know, in Close Encounters when everyone's drawn to the strange looking hill. There was something about that fixture. Where are you heading next? Well, it's international break. Yeah, I'm heading home. But meantime, were you on duty for deadline day on Monday? Sort of. Yeah. Just following the action as we all were. Yeah, we were. A lot of action. It was hard to follow, wasn't it? Oh, my God, yes. There's so many deals. Kind of impossible to keep up with.

2:30I liken it to, you know, when somebody tidies up for you and then for the next few weeks you keep discovering that's where that went. And I feel like it's going to be like that for this season. We're going to be, players are going to be turning up where you least expect them. Zinchenko at Forest, for example, or Harvey Elliott at Villa. I'm not sure. There'll be more under-the-radar ones, probably. Duncan? Do you have an under-the-radar transfer? Yeah, hang on. Daniel? I mean, Harvey Elliott was the one for me, because in a window where it felt like lots of clubs were overpaying through panic, Villa managed to sign him on deadline day and on loan and with an agreed fee of£35 million for a 22-year-old, which seems a really, really good deal for them and in a position they needed.

3:18Yeah. My colleague Tom Harris today has literally written a piece, 10 of the best under-the-radar transfers of this summer window. Yeah, there's lots in there. I mean, some of them are very niche. I think he's angling to be a head of recruitment somewhere. But I think Adrian Truffert to Bournemouth from Wren, they've basically kind of replaced Milos Kerkers pretty well. And on the opening game, he looked better. So I enjoy when well-run clubs just identify replacements and bring them in and the system takes care of them. And that looks to be the case. It's so sexy, isn't it? I enjoyed Marcus Edwards in terms of deadline day moves going from sporting to Burnley.

3:58All in all, it's£3.11 billion spent by the Premier League, more than the rest of Europe put together. Among the many remarkable stats, the one that popped up on Monday about who was Chelsea's highest paid player? Raheem Sterling. and how much he's on? 300 ,000 a week. And how long his contract still got to go? Two years. Two years. Wow. There might have been panic buying, but nobody signed Rahim. Is that because he didn't want to move or should I not be piling in on Rahim like this? Is it a bit unfair to highlight him in quite this fashion? I don't think he needs to be a pile on in any sense. The reports we're told is that he doesn't particularly want to go to Saudi Arabia and play football and I wouldn't criticise any player for that.

4:47It's a shame he hasn't got a move. It's mad that he's only 30-31, but he has played a huge amount of football. He's like a 34-year-old in terms of minutes in the legs. So, yeah, this is the... Chelsea have got quite a lot of credit this summer for managing to sell players for a lot of money and I understand why, but this is the downside of a model that massively overpays players on long contracts is that if they don't particularly want to leave, they don't have to. OK, well the big moves that did happen on Monday included Isak to Liverpool Evita going to Newcastle Kola Mwani pitching up at Spurs Donnarumma getting picked up by Man City there were a couple of players who made headlines by not moving the most notable perhaps Mark Gay not out of Crystal Palace and Emi Martinez awkwardly which team would you say is materially better post-Monday and does anyone look noticeably worse?

5:41Well, better, I think it's a good argument between Arsenal and Liverpool, because Liverpool, I feel like they signed more of the game-changing type of players. But Arsenal, they have a really strong squad now, and they addressed their main issue last season, which was depth in squad. You know, when they had key players getting injured in Odegaard and Saka, they really struggled. Still, they reached the semifinals of the Champions League and they were there. They finished second in the Premier League, but they were always talking about this lack of depth in squad. So for now, we haven't seen how much of a game changer can Jokeres be or Zubimendi.

6:30So maybe during the season, we can be talking about Arsenal's transfer window in this sense. But with Liverpool and the money they spent and Ekitike already hitting the ground running and Wirtz, he hasn't yet. But there's so much expectation around him. And of course, with Alexander Izak, which is, God, where do we even start with him? So currently they have Mo Salah, Florian Wurz, Cody Gakpo, Hugo Eketike and Alexander Izak. Is that kind of the best array of goal scoring weapons in football? Yeah, maybe. I mean, they haven't increased the number of forwards. They've obviously shuffled and we learned this week that Chiesa is not in the Champions League squad, which is a bit of a blow for him.

7:23But he's got his song, so he'll be all right. But yeah, I mean, it's tricky, isn't it? Because how do you play Eke Tike and Ezek together? I mean, both of them can play wide, so maybe that will be the way they do it. But there's obviously a lot of rotation options now. Yeah, I'm very interested in that, actually, because I remember I covered a lot of Newcastle last season and I watched a lot of Alexander Ezek in the flesh And the way he moves around the front three is something that I think people don't talk about enough because his reading of the moment that he needs to attack these spaces. I remember seeing being in Newcastle Arsenal, the second leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal and thinking, God, did Eddie Howe put him to play as a winger today?

8:09Because he was just occupying those spaces. So I'm very interested to see how him and Ekitike can link up. and that can be more than just the names itself and the money they spend, but the variety that they can offer. Right. I mean, even after sort of 15 years of inverted wingers, people are still like, oh, this player scores lots of goals. He has to play centrally. But, you know, we know that's not the case. When you look at Liverpool's squad, Daniel, possibly that's not what you would have spent 120 or whatever it is, million pounds on, given how strong they already look. But is this as much a signing for next season as this?

8:46I mean I think the whole summer has been future-proofing basically they were by far the best team in the Premier League last season and the squad has got stronger I think there will be some regret that they didn't get Mark Gahey signing over the line particularly if Kanate's form in the first two games continues to wobble but yeah the front three is going to be extraordinary I think one of the interesting things is if Eketiki and Izak both like coming out wide left. I wonder if it might allow Mo Salah to kind of drift more centrally and get into the penalty box and then have Frimpong overlapping on that right.

9:23Salah seems to have been really wide outright in those first few league games and he's not really done. I know he got the kind of clinching goal against Bournemouth, but that was in kind of dirt time and he's not been brilliant other than that. So I wonder if he might like to get into the penalty box more. I think Virts will be accommodated because he'll find space behind them and the more options Liverpool will have in the front three, ideally the more space it creates for Verts behind. And yeah, that's kind of worrying for everyone else. This reinforces Liverpool's position as favourites. Buying one of the best strikers in the world.

9:55Yeah, duh. What about Newcastle? Where does this leave them? They went out and spent a lot of that money on Johan Wisser on transfer day, deadline day, to join their other recently signed striker, Nick Walter Marder. Was that the best use of the money? I mean, it was some use of the money. Right. I mean, they had a lot of money to spend and not much time to spend it. And we've all gone into the supermarket when it closes in 10 minutes and slightly panicked. I don't think this is that bad. I think they're both good players. I think they paid too much for them. I mean, happy birthday to Vissa for yesterday, turned 29.

10:30Oh, quite a lot of money for a 29-year-old. But, yeah, they had to reinforce. Obviously lost Callum Wilson as well. So, yeah, we'll see. I think Newcastle have got the benefit that they've managed fairly well already without a striker this season. So they can bed these players in, particularly once Anthony Gordon has served his suspension. But yeah, I think it's quite exciting. But yeah, they've got a big season with obviously eight group games or league games in the Champions League to manage as well. And talk about attacking players that can link up. They can play together, both Visa and Voltaimade.

11:06And I'm kind of looking forward to this because when Wieser joins Brentford, he starts as this very versatile player up front. He can play in the front three. He can play as a winger. And he established himself as the striker because, you know, he was scoring a lot of goals back to Duncan's point. But Votemad, he is seen kind of as a nine and a half. He's not really a classic nine and he's not the number 10, but, you know, he can occupy those spaces in between. So, yeah, it's going to be interesting. He's got good feet for a giant man. Yeah, and that's always nice to see. Could they be even better, do you think, Newcastle?

11:52Better without Isaac? Are we pushing our luck? I don't know. I mean, the transfer saga involving that club was a pretty lengthy and dispiriting one. But it's pretty interesting the way, possibly not for Newcastle fans, but for everyone else, it's pretty intriguing the way it's turned out. I mean, just on Vista, actually, he didn't take any penalties last season. So his 19 goals were all from non-penalties. And from 19, pretty much, XG, which is a neatness that I respect. Right. So he is good. And like his former colleague Mbwema, of course. you mentioned Arsenal and Atelier who picked up on Monday Piera and Capier to beef up their defensive options across town at Spurs quite the transfer window it turned out to be one or two hiccups along the way but not a bad tally after Kudos and Palinha and Xavi Simons and now Rando Colomboani how much does this move the needle for Tottenham do you think Daniel?

12:52it was my most surprising move of the window I think certainly of deadline day. It felt like a moment of opportunity and perhaps a need to stress to supporters who were getting pretty itchy about the lack of transfer activity that Daniel Levy and the club are prepared to invest in players. I suppose it's pretty low risk, but it's unless you happen to be Matias Tell. And there are kind of reports that Dominic Solanke is carrying an injury. So maybe they felt they needed to do it. But Richarlison started the season really well. They do have Solanke who cost£60 million. They spent£30 million on Mateus Tell in this window.

13:32It's a huge number of forwards for a team that pretty much just play one central striker. So, yeah, it'll be really interesting. I suspect Mwani will be more of a success in the Champions League than the Premier League. I think they'll probably try and bet him in over time in the Premier League. And, yeah, it wouldn't have been the position I signed a player of our Spurs on deadline day. But when opportunity comes, take it. For sure. Colin Mwani who had a brilliant start at Juventus scoring pretty much a goal again when he first arrived in Turin on loan from PSG. But things tailed off a bit. It wasn't a great Juve side to be playing in.

14:06Yeah, and at PSG, he was known for being a bit wasteful with his chances. But yeah, if you look at the numbers, it doesn't necessarily add up to have that many forward players. But you can have Richarlison playing wide. He's played wide for a very long time. It's good to have alternatives when you're playing the Champions League and when you need to make a leap from the way you were performing last season to the way you need to perform this current season. And to be fair to Spurs, it could have been quite a depressing transfer window with the whole AZ thing. and they seem to turn things around with Xabi Simons and with Kudos and Palinha hitting the ground running.

14:56So, yeah, in the end, it was a positive window for them. I think Spurs as well, like a lot of clubs, were ravaged by injuries last season. And I think compared to last year, I think a lot of clubs have remembered that players get injured and have bolstered their squad. So at this time of the year, it does feel like, oh, how are they going to fit all these players in? But give it a month or two and barebones.org and everyone will get a run out. Aston Villa, their deadline day beefing up involved Harvey Elliott, who you mentioned, Daniel, and also Jadon Sancho joining. They are taking Sancho on loan, paying 80 % of his£12 million annual salary.

15:37That's quite a lot for a player who's not really licked things up in England. Do you see the wisdom in it? Not really, no. we are told that we were told all summer that one of the limitations on Villa's transfer business was their necessity to abide by UEFA's more stringent squad cost rules because they failed those rules in the previous time they played in Europe and therefore you have to trim things that was seen to be the limitation on a number of deals that I thought were better or made more sense than the Sancho deal I don't know if it's a case of panicking um doniel marlon was really good in pre-season hasn't really got much of a chance yet i just yeah i don't really get it i i think sancho has struggled for so long in england now there's clearly a spark of a player still there no doubt but he struggled for so long in england now and the wages are so high that i just yeah i just don't really think it makes that much sense uh harvey elliott i think makes loads of sense i'm you know i'm really glad they got that deal done because he needs to play football.

16:41But Sancho just found like a bit of a stab in the dark. Like I'd have taken it if they were paying 30 % of his wages, but not 80 % because those are some big old wages. Is this because they had so much success with Marcus Rashford in a similar deal last season? Maybe, but then, you know, just to state the bleeding obvious, like they're different players with different skill sets and to my mind, different personalities. I don't want to kind of pile on Jadon Sancho, but he had quite a lot of chances to sort things out and to get regular football. I'm not sure this is a move where he still starts every week.

17:19I still think he'd be more of a bench player unless he completely revitalises things and we suddenly get Bundesliga Jadon Sancho. But that's a long, long time ago now. And yeah, I just don't see it. I mean, the only counter-argument, I guess, is that Una Emery is very good at kind of adapting to the players he's got, which maybe some of the managers Sanchez had since he came back to England haven't been. But 10 assists, it's four years since he moved to Manchester United. And across his spells at United and Chelsea last season, 10 assists in total, which for, as you say, 12 million a year doesn't scream value.

17:57Indeed not. Well, best of luck to them. Talk a little bit about goalkeepers. Goalkeepers on the move, goalkeepers not on the move. Like Emi Martinez. That's going to be a bit awkward after he essentially took himself out of Unai Emery's options. Yeah, it's always a bit weird, isn't it? But I think it's one of those of, oh, the player has his focus on something else. So, you know, we better use other options. So, yeah, with him, it was kind of like that. But I was sure that someone was going for Emi Martinez. And I was surprised, given the farewell and everything. I was surprised. He said, well, good for Villa, because, you know, but I, yeah.

18:44Let's see. Possibly good for Man United. The man they've taken instead, Senni Lammans, is very highly rated. When life gives you Lammans, as United announced on social media, Bring him in from Royal Antwerp, where he ranked among Europe's best shot-stopping goalkeepers last season. I haven't seen the list, but I'm figuring that Gigi Donnarumma was probably on that list as well, given that shot-stopping is his thing. Loves that. Loves a bit of that. And he's now going to be at the Etihad. Yes. I think this is the one I'm most excited about. Most excited about. Yes, it is. Is it going to work, Natalie?

19:19I thought you might be a bit down on this because it's involved Ederson packing his bags and heading to Turkey. No, but we've been hearing about Ederson leaving Man City for like three windows or something. It's not like it was a massive shock. And he did his thing. He changed the position. He left his mark in the Premier League. So all the best to Ederson. One of the most influential players in Premier League history, I would argue. Of the keepers that he has an influence, would Gigi Donnarumma rank really, really highly? Well, influence, maybe not the term to use here. I'm intrigued because, OK, you sign a world class keeper.

19:59You sign like the competitiveness. So he brings that to the team. He's arguably the best keeper in the world. But with the playing with his feet, you know, he spoke about it in the press conference yesterday with the Italian national team. And he said, no, I can improve on that. And it's not like he doesn't know how to do it. But the fact is you are signing a keeper that can win matches. So that's never a bad signing. But I'm just intrigued with the domino effect here. Is City going to drop their lines a little bit? Because Ederson sometimes he was playing on the edge of the box and then he was pushing all the lines forward.

20:39So how much will that have a knock-on effect? But at the same time, Pep, like we're talking about a manager who uh chose four center halves to to form his back line and who uh took the best out of the number nine that is like the ninest of nines in in early holland like he can make um moves that can sound very conservative he can make it look very fashionable so in theory it can sound conservative if you have a keeper that doesn't like one of his strengths is not playing with his feet but he can make it look fashionable and you know just reinventing something so this is why i'm intrigued wow that is intriguing pep's like a band that you know have a genre and then they come back with a different sound no actually that makes sense yeah i mean penny for joe hart's thoughts because obviously pep came into city and was like you can't use your feet you're very good at shot stopping this is a different time and now I mean we understand that it was Guardiola that pushed for the Donnarumma transfer obviously James Trafford came in and has done okay in the first three games but I think he was expecting to be the the sort of new number one or at least establish himself this season as that um I mean I guess you can argue that City the way they play now particularly you know this season with the high line they are conceding more shots if you're conceding more shots then who better than Donnarumma to to keep him out so yeah I mean we are seeing a more transitional Premier League um Pep's yeah he's leaning into it I like it all right superb well that does sound intriguing Daniel what to say about poor Mark Gay meanwhile who didn't get to make the move from Crystal Palace to Liverpool despite completing much of his medical and apparently even filming his goodbye to Palace.

22:31Yeah, there is some sympathy, I think, in contrast with the way that Joran Wisser and Alexander Izak both behaved this summer. Mark Gay, he was very determined that he would, you know, he would continue training. He would play for Palace in their conference league qualifying playoff. That sounds a little bit like damning with faint praise, like, well done, you turned up to work. But other people weren't turning up to work at the same time. And he hasn't got his move. I don't think he can be that surprised because Oliver Glasner effectively intimated all summer that if Mark Gahey leaves without a decent replacement coming in, I will walk.

23:08And it sounds like that's pretty much what happened in the final hours of the window. And Palace didn't get an effective replacement in. So therefore, Mark Gahey doesn't leave. The sympathy comes, I think, in the fact that his head was sort of out the door. He was at Liverpool. He'd done the medical. He expected the move to go through. But next summer, he either gets a move in January and gets paid very well, or next time he leaves, there's a free transfer. And because he's a free transfer, his earning potential will go up. He's also of an age where there isn't that many options in Europe now for central defenders because elite clubs generally buy them a lot younger and develop them, or they buy experience.

23:48And Gahy sits in that sweet spot in the middle. So he'll learn pretty, assuming he has a decent season, then learn pretty much what he wants next summer. It would have been awful news for Paris after the fantastic start they've had. So yeah, hopefully he can continue his excellent attitude, even if his head was a little bit turned. Well, 155 transfers done all in all and loads on Monday. Just to finish off a couple of other ones that I hadn't spotted, Merlin Roll joining Everton, their ninth signing of the summer. Brian Brodby of Ajax into Sunderland, who've also been significant movers on the transfer window.

24:24And one that clever people in the know have flagged up, Florentino Luiz out of Benfica to Burnley. He was, Natalie, statistically the best defensive midfielder in the Portuguese top flight last season. And he's now going to be doing his thing at Turf Moor. So, yeah. Look at that. Quite major flex that from the lower reaches of the Premier League. But did you guys have a bit of an existential crisis with the figures, with the numbers? Because I was just thinking, where is this going to stop? How damning can this be in the medium to long term to football? I think other European leagues might not mind that as much as they could.

25:14Because if you look at Champions League and, you know, we had a final without an English team, just three semifinalists from three different, four semifinalists from four different leagues. But, you know, and I know there are very specific circumstances with the expanded format of Champions League and more money. And you have an extra window because of the Club World Cup and you have the new broadcasting deal for the next four years. Six English sides in the Premier League as well, in the Champions League as well. Six, yes, exactly. So, but it just, I don't know, it just leaves me a bit uncomfortable.

25:51Because of the dominance of the Premier League. Because of, yeah, because of what it can mean in terms of competitive balance. We haven't seen it yet, but maybe it's something that we will see in the next few years. Well, the one thing that struck, I think, a lot of people is the fact that everybody up and down the Premier League seem to pick up something of real value in this transfer window. Yeah, I mean, we mentioned Sunderland. I think it's the most promoted teams ever spent in the history of the Premier League. They are the 10th biggest spenders in Europe this summer. They're just ahead of Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.

26:25So a few years ago, they were in League One. So the Premier League continues to sort of pull away from the rest of Europe. And I think a lot of European media this week have printed that graph showing just how much the Premier League has spent compared to everywhere else. And it's a concern. But I think to your point that it is spread out quite well. So the one good thing the Premier League does is spread the money out. So yeah, we'll see what happens. But I am pretty confident that the three Premier League teams are going to, that's my hot take for the season is that they're all going to stay up.

26:59Wow. That's going to be interesting. Daniel? Yeah, I mean, it's like Natalie's absolutely right. It is gross, right, in terms of the... No, it's Nat. Yeah, good. The actual amount of money spent. I do think it was a slightly exceptional summer in that Manchester City's sort of enforced abdication as uber-dominant means that Liverpool and Arsenal spent to rush in. The over-performance of clubs last season meant that they got raided by clubs above them, but also then had loads of money to replace those players. I think the determination of the promoted clubs not just to fall with a whimper means that they were always going to spend more.

27:36So there was pretty much a case for almost every team in the Premier League to spend quite heavily this summer. But yeah, it's gross. I mean, the Premier League spent a billion pounds on Bundesliga players. Like that's not that's not big five leagues anymore. That's big one. But that helps them keep their season ticket prices alive. And that's the real quiz. It's like the inverse of the railways, no? Natalie? And also, I think clubs are really learning how to deal with PSR. And at first there was this panic of, okay, nobody moves, no one buys, no one sells, let's just try to understand that. And now they are just maybe too comfortable with PSR.

28:18There's only so many women's sides you can sell, though. Is there? We simply don't know. Right. No, but it's so true. Yeah, so maybe they will need to, with the coming of next seasons, the following seasons, they will have to go over PSR rules and just, you know, I find it a bit absurd that it is actually good for you to sell homegrown players. You know, it should be the other way around. You should encourage clubs to keep their homegrown players. So, yeah, things like that might change or not. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being an optimist here. I mean, it's a shame we didn't have this summer, the day we had last year where there was a mysterious triangle of transfers between Everton, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest.

29:09That was nice. But like Natalie says, I think clubs are more comfortable with the regulations now. But, yeah, they're always changing a little bit. And I think there are a few clubs who probably would have hoped to sell more players. maybe have some issues down the line. I mean, City obviously got rid of quite a few on deadline day, which helped high earners. Forrest potentially, who got a huge number of players for a manager who does not enjoy an expanded squad, eh, Daniel? Yeah, I mean, Forrest is a bizarre case at the moment because we record the morning after they confirmed that their record club signing, Amari Hutchinson, 37.5 million, won't be in their Europa League squad.

29:48Neither will Alexander Zinchenko. I mean, I don't know if it's coincidental that Amari Hutchinson is a Kia Durabchian client. And so is Edu, who's the sporting director, and maybe wasn't Nuno's guy. They spent£35 million on Bakura on deadline day, who's exactly Hutchinson's position. So there's something funny going on there. But yes, I agree in general, clubs need to be a lot better at being prepared to sell. And I think supporters probably need to get their head around selling being a sign of strength if you then want to be able to reinvest. that has to be the message moving forward. There are clubs who are very good at it because they already have established relationships, shall we say, with other sister clubs.

30:26And that's going to become the norm as well, I think. Wow. All right. Well, it's been a long transfer window, but let's put it to bed there for now. Next up is the antithesis, in many ways, of the transfer market. A kind of football where players are born, not born, international football and World Cup qualifying.

30:53This 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, Olly Kaye and the very best football writers around. World Cup qualifying, everybody. 13 teams have already booked their place. Three of them because they're actually the hosts. at the World Cup 2026. There are 35 places still up for grabs. And while some, the likes of France and Germany, are only just getting their qualifying started this weekend, elsewhere, Natalie, it's already the final weekend. Whoop, whoop.

31:33Yes. So this is Commibol. Yes. South American qualifying, 10 teams. You have to really work not to make it out of these 10 teams. Chile have managed it. Yeah, Chile have managed it. Chile, who will be visiting Brazil on this evening, as we record Thursday night. Chile already out. So is Carlo using this as a bit of an opportunity to experiment? I notice he's made some bold calls. Four forwards. This is what we want. This is Brazilian football. Yes, he's starting four forwards again. Which four forwards? Probably no, because he confirms. So definitely Rafinha, Estevam, João Pedro and Gabriel Martinelli.

32:16OK, those names again slowly. We had Rafinha, Esteval, Estevam, João Pedro and Gabriel Martinelli. Esteval, sorry, Esteval, Esteval. João Pedro. Yeah, João Pedro will play as a nine because he can play as a ten and he's been playing as a ten at Brighton and recently at Chelsea as well. And Martinelli. Really? Yes. so no Neymar in the squad again Ancelotti was obviously questioned about it a lot and initially he said that it was more of a physical matter and then Neymar during the weekend said no physically I'm fine I'm not injured, nothing like that but the truth is he looks slow he doesn't have the same pace he's been having so many injury problems for so long.

33:08The last time he played for Brazil was October 2023. So because he had his ACL and muscular injuries as well. So there's always the question mark around it. And Ancelotti was asked about it again. And he said, yes, it is a physical aspect because we consider the physical aspect very important. But it is a lot of other things. The truth is he's playing at Santos and he's not impressing. And Santos is fighting against relegation in the Brazilian National League. And Neymar can't seem to push them outside of this battle. So it's always a question mark around Neymar. But it's not like he won't be at the World Cup.

33:50It's not like he won't be at the World Cup. I think there are very slim chances of him not being at the World Cup. Because technically, and Ancelotti said it himself, you can't question Neymar so there's a slim chance that he will be at the World Cup there's a slim chance he won't be so he probably will be at the World Cup he probably will be at the World Cup but I think he and he doesn't need to be tested according to Ancelotti but he needs to step up his game because it hasn't been good for him and that magic quartet I can't remember what the phrase was from 2006 Quadrado Mágico oh god that brings memories I didn't hear the names of Vinny Jr.

34:31or Rodrigo. Yes. So Vinny is suspended. This is why he's not in the squad. Rodrigo has been also struggling with some physical issues, but he's expected to be in the squad, especially because Ancelotti really likes him, worked with him at Real Madrid. He's been experimenting and observing a lot of players. He said that there are around 70 players that they've been watching and that can be in the final squad for the World Cup. So, yeah, especially in the fullbacks positions, we've had since 2023, we've had 19 fullbacks tested already. So, yeah. Since 2023? Yes. Yeah, that's quite a churn. Yeah, so the times of Cafu and Roberto Carlos are behind us.

35:22And the last World Cup, it was Danilo and Alexandro. Danilo's playing more of a centre-back role now. And Alexandro, he was actually in the list, but he got injured. So it's been a problem for Brazil for quite some time. OK. Wesley of Roma is likely to feature. How much credit does Ancelotti have in the bank? Oh, loads. Loads, OK. Yes, yes, yes. No, he can do whatever he wants. We're putting everything on him. but yes because especially he brought some sense of positivity around the national team that we haven't had since Qatar and also the next two games that we have in this international break is Chile who we've gone through and Bolivia who can be tricky with the altitude because it's going to be in La Paz and it's 4 ,000 meters altitude so there are a lot of teams who struggle there but we are expected to not only win but win and play well yeah brazil yeah well that does that hasn't been working for the past 24 years so that's it's not always the case uh but but yeah that's the expectation brazil winning and what's the what's the recent record for brazil in la paz that's a good question yeah they do bolivia do win a lot there don't they just because they're able to run around where everyone else is laying on the ground oh i've i've covered matches in in have you yes yes yes how difficult was it oh my god i i forgot for five seconds that i was in la paz and i sprinted down the hall to get a a team sheet i was hyperventilating for like 10 minutes natalie's a marathon runner yeah no and and it's really funny because when you land the teams they usually get to la paz uh just a few hours before the game which is very bizarre and i remember i I was flying with the national team, so I was in the same flight.

37:15And when you get to La Paz, there's a big outdoor, I don't know if it's still there, that says, you're 4 ,000 meters closer to the sky. Nice. So, yeah, it's kind of their marketing. Okay, so and then they arrive on the day. Yes. On the basis that there's less time for the altitude to mess them up. Yes, after a lot of studies, they came into the conclusion that you either have a long period of adaptation, like two weeks of adaptation or you just go a few hours before you play and you leave. It's less of a struggle. Wow. Bolivia Round in Action. If you're listening to this on Friday, actually, Bolivia in Action away at Colombia.

37:55You've got Uruguay, Paraguay and the Cafeteros who are all looking to sew up their qualifying spots in these last two rounds that take place over the next few days. Sorry, Duncan. I was just going to say it's very similar at West Brom in England, which is the highest ground above sea level in England. Teams arrive as close to kickoff response. They get in and out as quick as they can, which I presume is for the altitude. Colombia, by the way, a little segue here. If you have happy memories of their extraordinarily thrilling team that they put together in the 90s, a side that came almost out of nowhere and then was involved in some really dark stuff, then do give us a listen on Saturday when we bring out a new Totally Extra.

38:42We'll be talking about the magic and the madness of mid-90s Colombia. Just a word on Argentina. Oh, yeah. Yes, no, because it might be Messi's last official game in Buenos Aires for the national team, being the last round of the qualifying. And, you know, after Argentina, we'll play friendlies and they will travel around. So that's been treated as a big thing in Argentina. So Messi's whole family is going to be there. And, you know, mother-in-law, father-in-law, all the kids, everything. It's just a big thing. They're treating it as a special day. He himself said that it's going to be a special day for him.

39:22So, yeah. Potentially last home game klaxon for Messi. Very good. Against Venezuela. Let's get on to UEFA qualifying next.

39:37You'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. Yes, match day one at last for some UEFA qualifying groups. Groups A to F on your wall charts listeners. Those are the collections of sides that didn't get started over the summer because there were teams involved in Nations League finals. There's a bunch of teams who haven't played yet. at Scotland, who will be away at Denmark. Not a great time for Scottish football at club level as Daniel was witness just last weekend at the Old Firm game.

40:15Will it be any better for the national side? There's some of friendlies. Did see them win 4-0 at Lichtenstein, but also lose 3-1 at home to Iceland. But Denmark await on Friday night. Spain, meanwhile, will kick things off against Bulgaria. Germany are in Slovakia. There's Ukraine against France. That's taking place in Rokhlof, Poland. and, yeah, various other teams as well. Among the sides, though, who are well underway in their qualifying campaigns are England. You may have heard of them. Three wins from three for Tommy Tuchel's team. They are top of Group K. And who are they taking on on Saturday?

40:53It's Andorra again, which is great because it was so exciting last time, eh, Daniel? Yeah, 1-0 away win in Andorra. I think there is pressure on Thomas Tuchel to release the handbrake a little bit he's got sort of the two perfect games to prove himself and kind of really the first three games of sort of everyone getting to know him now it's you really have to go out and try and entertain and score lots and lots of goals against Andorra and then you have to go and win in Serbia Serbia's own draw in Albania means that a draw for the group wouldn't be a bad result for England it would probably almost guarantee them going through but But yeah, they need to go and beat a decent team away.

41:32And they're going to try and do it without some key players, which I think is probably a really good thing for England. It allows them to take a look at some players who have been waiting for their chance for a while. Elliot Anderson and Jed Spence, two of the kind of headline new picks for Thomas Tuchel. Jed Spence, who is the first Muslim player ever to represent England, if he gets on the field. Yeah, he spoke really well about it. It sounds like at St George's on the day before we record on Wednesday, yeah it's hard to imagine a player who's gone high low high as quickly as Jed Spence you know on loan at Forest one of the architects of their promotion bid they wouldn't have got promoted without him to then go to Spurs and be told you're a club signing by Conte immediately again on Wednesday he spoke and said that that really hurt him like it broke his confidence for a while understandably terrible management on Conte's part and then yeah to slowly build your way back in after three loan spells and end up in the England senior squad for the first time.

42:31It's some effort. And we should say largely playing out of position. He was a right back or right wing back at Forest and he's doing it on the left at Spurs. So I suspect Lewis Skelly probably starts over him against Andorra. And if Lewis Skelly plays well, probably keeps that against Serbia. But yeah, amazing for Jed Spence and for Elliot Anderson, who, given Adam Wharton's injury, is probably going to start as a six for England. Milan's Ruben Loftus-Cheek has got recalled. No Trent Alexander-Arnold. Anything else that leaps out of you from the squad, Duncan? It sort of feels like the squad, everyone expected him to pick when he first started in the sense that it's a lot of the players who performed really well in the Premier League last season, like Elliot Anderson, like Eze.

43:16Whereas when he first started, he brought in, you know, Kyle Walker was still there and Jordan Henderson. And it was a bit like, huh? What are you doing? So, yeah, as Daniel says, I think England are going to qualify, but they need to sort of show some cohesion and some sort of progress under Tuchel. And I think, you know, what's par at home to Andorra? 5-0. So I think they probably need to cut loose and go for 7 or 8 to allay any fears. That sounds like fun. It's a busy international weekend with games all over. I'm not sure if there's any other fixtures that have caught your eye. Netherlands who've won their first two matches 10-0 on aggregate they'll be hosting Poland intriguing game Friday evening as Italy take on Estonia and what is Gennaro Gattuso's first game in charge Italy not off to the best of beginnings to their campaign they've missed the last two World Cups they're currently third in their group only the top team automatically qualifies and they are a full nine points behind the leaders Norway although they do have two games in hand and Francesco Pio Esposito of Inter.

44:26And Liverpool's new defender Giovanni Leoni are the uncapped players in Gattuso's first squad. Come on, Italy. Isn't the 2006 World Cup final the last time Italy won a knockout game at the World Cup? There you go. It's been a while.

44:54It's been too long, Duncan. Does anyone miss when World Cup qualifying used to be really tense? Yes. Remember when it was like, oh, I'm not sure, you know, England are where in the Netherlands and, you know. I was talking the same with South American qualifiers, Duncan. The same. I was talking about it. Brazil had a bit of a wobble, but when was it last tense for Brazil? Oh, it was. To qualify for 2002, it was really tense. I remember 94 was really tense as well. coincidentally the two World Cups that we won. But now it's six teams that qualify and then there's the seventh that play the playoffs.

45:35So, you know, you really need to pull an effort to... Even the fact that they're squashing the UEFA qualifying into three months for most teams, you know, September, October, November. This used to be a drawn-out, tense process. Now it's a sort of administrative procedure. Well, there'll be some exciting live administrative football box ticking this weekend all over. Daniel, before we leave the international fixtures, anything else you wanted to flag up? Yeah, I mean, we briefly mentioned Scotland there, but because of the domestic stuff, because of the way the national team have really declined quite considerably under Steve Clarke, this feels like a pretty enormous weekend for Scotland.

46:20They've got Denmark away, which they really need to take something from. And then they've got Belarus at home, which is, I think if you're going to write down a sort of fixture that Scotland would end up drawing 1-1, conceding the last minute, it would be Belarus at home. They need to be far better than themselves. The goodwill that they built up prior to Euro 2024 is sort of gone, almost completely been extinguished. So, yeah, it feels like a big weekend for Scotland. We'll have the news on the international fixtures thus far when we get together on Monday morning for a new Totally Football show, in which we'll also be touching on what happens in the opening round of the WSL, which kicks off on Friday evening.

47:02And next up, let's conclude today's show with a bit of a preview of what's in store. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. After this summer's hugely enjoyable Euros in Switzerland, WSL returns this weekend. The new campaign starts on Friday with the champions Chelsea taking on Manchester City. Megan Faringa joins us now. Hi, Megan, how are you doing? Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. I was going to say Friday. It's only Thursday. Well, it might be Friday, listener, or Saturday. Have a happy day, whatever you're doing. Megan, you've just joined us from recording an episode of The Athletic FC podcast.

47:44Check it out, listener, if you haven't done yet. In which you've been debating whether or not women's football is actually growing. What was the verdict? It's growing like a flower, but it needs a little bit of water. It needs a bit of sunshine. And it needs probably a bit of direction too because, you know, investment's great, but you sort of want to have regulations. You want to make sure that, you know, any and all investment at any cost is not the mantra. So, yeah, it's interesting to see if the women's game can maybe take a few lessons from the men's game and not just invite anyone in. But as well, clubs want money.

48:18So it's this very rickety balance. From the men's game, by kind of popular folklore, one of the most key things that caused the boom in English football was a highly successful international tournament in the summer. I'm thinking of Italia 90 and the way that really changed the whole perspective of football in this country. There's just been a terrific tournament in the summer, which I think brought in viewers, particularly with England doing so well, in unprecedented numbers. Are you anticipating that to have a kind of knock-on effect on the WSL season? Yeah, I think so. I think it was 11.6 million people tuned in to the England final versus Spain.

48:59And I think if you look back at the last year as where England won on home soil, there's this huge influx of fans who are coming to WSL games. Attendances rose by, I mean, like 50, 60, 70 percent. I don't think it's going to be as extreme this time around, but that's because you do have sort of established fan bases now in some semblance, at least kind of in the top six teams in the WSL. I do think this is going to be big. You know, there's a lot of clubs who have kind of built a transfer strategy on getting a Lioness and a lot of their marketing and the commercial value is through a Lioness. So you are going to see that.

49:35I don't think that there's any surprise that if you go around South London where Chelsea is, Lucy Bronze is on quite a lot of posters. And that is for very obvious, you know, summer year 2025 victory reason. So I think it's going to have a massive effect, but I also think clubs probably need to be a little bit smarter. You know, last season in the WSL, they had some of their lowest attendances from the year prior. So how do you make sure that you capitalize on the success without also like being overly reliant on it? Because in three years time, you know, you can't just keep relying on the international cycle to for the boom and bust of attendances.

50:10Natalie, you're going to be working on this for Sky Sports? Yes, during the season. Yes, I will. And I'm interested, actually, Megan, to understand what Chelsea and Arsenal have been doing to kind of swap positions, you may say, from Chelsea winning the WSL yet again and Arsenal winning the Champions League and just, you know, for them to achieve their different goals. Yeah, I think it's not wrong to say that for Chelsea winning the Champions League is the end all and be all. And a lot of people say last season they had this perfect season and, you know, they were unbeaten. They won the domestic trouble and yet they still didn't win the Champions League.

50:51And that is the monkey on the back. They have to win the Champions League at some point. And for Arsenal, who had a horrible start to the domestic campaign, bring in Rene Sluggers on a permanent deal halfway through the season and then just go and beat Barcelona, who beat Chelsea in the semifinals of the Champions League. It was kind of a like, all right, now the ball's in your gorge shell, so let's see what you can do. But for Arsenal, they haven't won a title since 2019, a domestic title, sorry. And that's a big, again, like you say, monkey on their back. I was just going to ask Megan, the London City Lionesses with Michelle Kang, are they going to be the kind of the next big WSL expansion project, do you think?

51:29I think they already are, to be honest. some of the names that they have been able to entice over to the WSL this summer is absolutely jaw-dropping incredible and and today we're sort of recording on a Thursday morning transfer deadline ends tonight and they are linked to even more players and one of those players from reports out in France is Grace Gioro from PSG and I think that would be the absolute signing of the summer for London City Lionesses. The word that's usually associated with them is disrupting and disruptor Depending on who you ask, Michelle Kang is either the most brilliant thing in women's sport or she is the bane of your existence because she is forcing you to do things you didn't want to have to do.

52:10So Michelle Kang being the owner of the club who also owns Leon and the American side Washington Spirit. Yeah. So currently in the women's game, the regulations and rules around multi-club ownership aren't exactly there. We actually spoke on the Athletic FC podcast to Nikki Doucette about this. And she had mentioned that it comes down to the fact that it's still a startup women's football. So they don't want to necessarily put too many ropes and hurdles around. So then maybe people don't want to invest. But at the same time, if you look at the men's game, multi-club ownership is causing a lot of problems.

52:44So it feels like it'd probably be better to put in regulations earlier than later. I feel like being proactive in this space is much better than being reactive. But at the moment, Michelle King is sort of the woman who is trying to lasso quite a lot of clubs together, and she's doing quite a good job of it. So the last two sides have come in. They're the new side in WSL this season. The last two sides coming into the division both went down again in Crystal Palace and Bristol City. Lions City, Lionesses have an interesting start because they're actually away to Arsenal this Saturday lunchtime at the Emirates.

53:21What do you think about their prospects of really making a splash? I think, I mean, in terms of a baptism, I mean, this is incredible for them. I think as well London City Lionesses want to go to Arsenal at the Emirates. I mean, in terms of marketing and commercial value, that's incredible. But personally, I think for me, they are not going to be a team that goes down this season. I can't see them being like Crystal Palace, who went up and went straight back down. You know, Bristol City up, straight back down. and I don't think they're going to be that way. They've invested smartly. They've got a really, really good manager.

53:54And I think the investments that they have made, it's not just, I mean, you've got quite a lot of veteran players who know how to play, but you've also got quite a lot of free young players as well. Taya Goldie, Freya Godfrey, both of them are great young Lionesses who have come through. So there is a level of we're being sort of pragmatic about the present. Let's get players who can play. But they are also looking at the future. for me Leicester City are the ones that that really need to get their ducks in a row they just sacked their manager about a week or two ago there are reports going around that they're trying to hide Matt hire Matt Beard former Liverpool who just signed a contract with Burnley who are in the third tier about a month ago he's now been put on three-month gardening leave and they've signed about two players as of now I think there's chills starting to bring in about two or three before the end of tonight.

54:44So I think keep an eye on Leicester because it doesn't look too pretty at the moment. Okay, when does the transfer window end? 11 p.m. tonight, so I've got 12 hours. Oh, crikey. Okay. Everton have now got Goodison all to themselves. And this weekend they've got a Merseyside derby. Yeah, I mean, scheduling gods did a great job. For those who don't know, Brian Sorrenton's record at Anfield, so Brian Sorrenton is the Everton manager, His record at Anfield is phenomenal. He's never lost at Anfield. He's sort of the bane of Liverpool's existence when it comes to that. Liverpool had actually failed to score a single goal at Anfield Liverpool Women because they kept hosting Everton and Everton wouldn't let them score.

55:26So they finally just stopped letting Everton play at Anfield. They're like, right, we need to get someone else in here so we can finally score. The Everton are really exciting this summer, mostly because they've just signed, I think it's nine players in total. They broke their club transfer record for Ruby Mace from Leicester yesterday. And there's a lot of excitement around there because for the last couple of years, the women's team has sort of existed in a form of survival. But in the last six months since the new ownership have come in, they've definitely sort of embraced the women's team as an opportunity.

55:55And I wouldn't be surprised if they're one of the clubs that end up getting some outside investment soon. Excellent. Liverpool-Everton is midday on Sunday. Chelsea-Man City is Friday night at 7.30. 1.30 on Saturday, Arsenal against London City-Lionesses. Megan, where are you going to be going this weekend? So I'm going down to London today and I will be there for Chelsea and Manchester City tomorrow. I will be at the London City-Lionesses and Arsenal game the next day and then back to Liverpool and I will be there for the Merseyside derby. Wow. Where can we hear about all of that? on The Athletic.

56:31You can go and read all of our fun stuff. It won't just be me writing. Arthur Rock will be writing about Arsenal. Karish Jones, who was an intern and is now full-time with us, she'll be writing about some Chelsea stuff as well. I'm sure Charlotte will be around to write anything and everything about Manchester United. So loads of content people can get their teeth stuck into this weekend. Excellent. And hopefully you'll be joining us as well to keep us updated too. Megan, thank you so much for joining us today. You're welcome. Thanks for having me. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

57:04Daniel, you having a quiet weekend? I'm going on holiday on Sunday, so yes, I'm going to have a great time. I had a question for Natalie about Brazil though. Yes. Is Murillo had an absolute nightmare on his Brazil debut, as I understand, maybe in the last international break or the one before. Or is he still considered like the answer at centre half for the next five years or whatever? Yeah, Murilo. It's an interesting one because he got called up a few times and he made his debut in that awful game against Argentina. The 4-1 that we lost and we want to erase from our memories. But that game was very representative of everything that was going wrong with Brazil.

57:52And when you link that to Murillo starting that match, it is a very unfair correlation. But a lot of fans make this link between both things. So, yeah, it's bad for Murillo because, you know, there are a lot of fans who are misjudging him. but I wouldn't say that he because Carlo Ancelotti he brings a fresh vision of things and I'm absolutely positive that he's monitoring Murilo that he's not influenced by all the noise this is the good thing about having a guy like him in charge of the national team because there's so much pressure and every time I speak to Brazilians who play for the national team they always say the same thing the amount of pressure that you have to deal when you are there is ridiculous And when you have a guy like Ancelotti leading the team, he can absorb a lot of this pressure.

58:50So maybe that will benefit people like players like Murillo, who wasn't in this list. Yes, he wasn't on this list, but I'm expecting him to feature soon. what's the stupidest question that angelotti has been asked so far in the sense that like when there's a foreign manager in england they always ask him some nonsense about have you seen this or do you know about this i mean surely he's had the equivalent in brazil yeah you know if you watch brazilians uh brazil's press conferences they're very lengthy questions it's really interesting And he's been very good in immersing himself in Brazil and in Brazilian football because, you know, he's going to all the grounds.

59:39He's calling up more players that play in Brazil, which is always something that the fans really appreciate. But yeah, I can't think of anything, but the only thing that I can think of, Duncan, is like the amount of pictures that they released with him in touristic places. You know, like just to, yes, yes, just to make this relationship work, you know, between. And he's giving his press conferences in Portuguese already. Nice. Is he living in Brazil? Yes, he's living in Rio. I mean, Portuguese is very much Italian adjacent and Spanish adjacent. But it's not the same language. For me, it is. Oh, James.

1:00:20I'm so offended by that. Just different hand gestures. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just have to get the hand gestures right. No, no, I'm joking. It's a completely different. it is different it's not so different it is different and I think it's very nice that he really tries he's making a proper effort to give like half an hour press conferences all in Portuguese and sometimes he mixes the languages which is very normal it's cute yeah it's nice yeah we're in a honeymoon phase with him oh that's so nice yes it is I don't know if I mentioned but there are three teams that can qualify there are three teams already qualified Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador and Paraguay, Uruguay and Colombia are fighting for a spot.

1:01:02And they could sort it out this weekend. Yes, and they can. Yes, and Venezuela, basically out of the 10, only Chile is out of the picture. Venezuela can qualify for the first time to the World Cup. So, yeah. All right. Natalie, you've got to go. And so have you, listener, probably. So we'll wrap it up there for this Totally Football Show. Many thanks, Natalie, for coming in. look forward to seeing you again soon Daniel thank you so much have a lovely holiday and a restful one too away from the rigors of the beautiful game Duncan I'll be seeing you very shortly as we're going to get our latest totally extra in early that'll be dropping on Saturday talking about as I mentioned a crazy team that featured Valderrama El Loco Higuita Asprilia and so many other names and had so many extraordinary things happen to them.

1:01:58Colombia, check us out on the weekend and we'll be back on Monday with Totally Football rounding up this international set of qualifiers. That's it for now. Listener, thank you so much. See you soon.

1:02:14You'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.