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0:44

Hello! And welcome to another Ours cost

0:47

extra is always would change from gonna

0:49

blow James good morning to you good

0:51

morning Andrew How you doing? I'm all

0:53

right at a profoundly irritating dream last

0:55

night, and I'd like to tell you

0:58

about it if if that's okay. of

1:00

course I dreamt. That. Everyone

1:02

in the world thought Matteo game

1:04

doozy was the best player. In

1:07

history. And

1:10

I was watching football with people and he

1:12

would do something like. Beat.

1:15

Three men then put the ball over the

1:17

bar from six yards and they go oh

1:19

my god he's so good. He is amazing

1:21

and I got a used for it is

1:23

useless it just put the ball over the

1:25

bar from thirty six yards out. make a

1:27

pretty beat. Three men did you not see

1:30

I yeah I saw him I saw beat

1:32

the three men det I saw on kick

1:34

the ball over the fucking bar and not

1:36

in the goal and he take a corner

1:38

and the ball go straight out of play

1:40

and people were going. Got this guys playing

1:42

like forty chess, Nobody in the world to.

1:45

File on Do Exactly. Nobody in the

1:47

world is as good as this guy

1:49

and I was having arguments. Were people

1:51

on the discord? Because I'm saying this

1:53

can do these fucking shit. What Are

1:55

they here and there are going You

1:57

don't know, you know what football you

1:59

don't understand. Football. I don't understand football

2:01

motherfuckers. What the fuck are you watching

2:04

and went on for ages And ages

2:06

and genders. You would just do these

2:08

like really terrible things that everyone was

2:11

like oh yeah, like you're saying like

2:13

Rio Ferdinand, Balon Doorbell a door. And.

2:16

Or in really annoyed me. Wow. That's

2:18

amazing. I mean I wonder if there

2:21

is a kernel of truth in stemming

2:23

from and I was Time Arsenal where

2:25

he was quiet lauded at times. I

2:27

always remember that in a you a

2:29

bit more circumspect in your assessment of

2:31

the plan is. Maybe

2:34

that's the the nuggets from which

2:36

this fantasy grew. Maybe the assets?

2:38

Maybe that's have. I just couldn't

2:40

understand why people were looking at

2:42

this guy doing bad things with

2:44

a football and they were just

2:46

fawning over him. And

2:48

it was his estate. Is it on

2:51

loan at last year? was busy busy

2:53

alone or to to go there permanently.

2:55

ah think he might be on loan

2:57

there in the way that he was

2:59

on loan at more say from also

3:01

rights era I reported fifteen billion euro

3:03

option to buy. Which

3:06

can be turned into a manned

3:08

tree. I think it's been

3:10

estimated. Yeah I think he stay in

3:12

the right. Side.

3:14

A guy they don't shoot into Syria

3:16

and her you might you know experience

3:18

that that nightmare my son's life. It

3:20

has been a while since I've watched

3:22

months in the way of sorry I

3:25

have to say so I think are

3:27

adding a pretty safe pretty safe in

3:29

our guards am. A. How is

3:31

everything with you? Were a day late

3:33

of course. so poetic about by you

3:35

know it was bank holiday in Ireland

3:37

to was yeah the June bank holiday

3:39

weekend. we had little bit of sunshine,

3:41

little bit a warm weather. Not.

3:43

Today though. Scumbags. To the

3:46

zoo. Sort of. This. Facsimile

3:49

of a summer I don't know what

3:51

you call it has yeah, I saw

3:53

a headline. is a Davis had sixty

3:55

days of rain forecast. So this summer.

3:59

i mean i I probably marginally

4:01

prefer that to sort of feeling

4:04

like the world's on fire and the impending

4:07

sets of doom that can invoke. But yeah,

4:09

it does dampen the spirit somewhat. I mean,

4:11

the rain stuff, that's sort of like the

4:13

precursor to the flood and the ark and

4:16

you don't have to get through of every

4:18

animal and otherwise, you know,

4:20

we're all fucked. There's always apocalyptic reading.

4:23

If you look closely. Yeah. Is

4:26

it a cloud? Is it the, you know, gray

4:28

clouds or is it is it

4:30

ash from some volcano that's going to smother

4:32

the earth and bring about a new ice

4:35

age? Oh, man.

4:38

I spent yesterday learning about the

4:40

extinction of the dinosaurs in part.

4:42

Right. I

4:45

was in a writer's room and it's

4:47

sort of a project based upon science.

4:50

And yeah, we had someone

4:52

from the Natural History Museum teaching

4:54

us about dinosaurs. And

4:56

I didn't realize that when

5:00

the asteroid hit the earth at the end

5:02

of the Cretaceous

5:04

period, a lot

5:07

of the dinosaurs died almost immediately.

5:10

Within hours, I was told, a third

5:13

of dinosaurs on the earth were wiped out.

5:16

And what did the rest of

5:18

them do? Did they just sort of wander

5:21

around? I don't know. Yeah,

5:24

they just starved, I think, because the ash

5:26

clouds, as you were mentioning, sort of hung

5:29

in the sky and prevented the

5:31

growth of plants and vegetation

5:33

and the food cycle. Right.

5:36

I mean, there must have been some cannibal

5:38

dinosaurs who just resorted, you know, got to

5:40

their got to the end of their

5:42

wits. They were like, I'm fucking starving here. The

5:45

big guys. I mean, the

5:47

vegetarian ones probably had it bad, you

5:49

know, but I guess. I

5:52

guess. Yeah, you know, you

5:54

have to compromise. The survival instinct kicks

5:56

in. OK, I prefer to

5:59

eat eucalyptus leaves. or whatever but

6:01

old Trev over there he's looking pretty fucking tasty

6:03

right now. Do you

6:05

think so? Are you blaming the

6:07

vegetarian dinosaurs for their own extinction?

6:09

Do you ultimately, is it

6:12

the fact that they were fussy eaters that led

6:14

to their demand? Maybe, I'm just saying that maybe

6:16

one or two of them went rogue though as

6:18

well. Maybe they got you

6:20

know stuck into their neighbor, next door

6:23

neighbor. What like

6:25

so just like a Stegosaurus just thinking

6:27

just eyeing up a Triceratops being like...

6:29

Exactly. I've never looked at you this

6:31

way before but... Yeah you know like

6:34

in cartoons where the guy is whatever

6:37

character is really really hungry and they look

6:39

at somebody and then it turns into a

6:41

steak or whatever. I think it was. Through

6:44

the fog of the ashplout you look more

6:46

delicious than ever. Bear

6:50

in mind these dinosaurs probably wouldn't have evolved

6:52

the necessary sort of teeth, athleticism

6:55

or even digestive systems

6:58

to handle catching, killing

7:00

and eating. Well that's true. Fellow dinosaurs.

7:02

They would have been quite a clumsy

7:04

effort. They would have had no

7:07

real cooking skills to speak of either you

7:09

know that's the other point. Like

7:11

what do you do with Trev? Do

7:13

you roast him? Do you boil

7:15

him? How do you get him you know

7:18

from field to plate

7:20

so to speak. You know these guys have no

7:22

experience in that kind of thing. So I'd say

7:25

you know the lack of cooking videos

7:27

on the dinosaur internet was probably an

7:30

issue as well. I mean with problems

7:32

like that it's no wonder they died out Andrew. What

7:36

else did you learn about dinosaurs? Because there's

7:38

as much going on in the dinosaur world

7:40

as there is in the football world it

7:42

seems. Well what can I tell you about

7:44

dinosaurs? They

7:46

were sort of at pains to point out that you

7:49

know not all the dinosaurs

7:51

lived at the same time. You know

7:54

so obviously the lifespan not the lifespan

7:56

the periods of ancient history

7:59

that contain dinosaurs are

8:01

actually millions and millions and millions

8:03

of years long. So some

8:06

of these animals are incredibly far

8:08

away from each other. You know,

8:11

I asked the question of the

8:14

scientific expert from Drussic Park. Given

8:20

the game, why James? They're

8:22

doing the same sort of stuff, I think. I

8:25

said, and

8:28

to be fair, I did preface it with this, maybe a

8:30

stupid question. I said, did dinosaurs

8:32

get better as

8:35

they went along? Right. Do you know

8:37

what I mean? Yeah, you know, in the same way

8:39

that sort of the first life form is a single

8:41

cell organism, like an amoeba, and now you've got humans

8:44

doing podcasts. You know, there's clear

8:47

development there. Sure. Or worse. Amoebas

8:49

didn't have microphones. That was their

8:51

problem. Where's the amoeba cast?

8:53

That's my question. And I

8:56

was like, did the dinosaurs sort of

8:58

improve? And they were like, they

9:00

really shot me down. They were like, we don't look at

9:02

it like that. Evolution is

9:05

about, you

9:07

know, adaptation to environment. You

9:09

know, all animals are perfectly evolved

9:11

for that particular moment in time.

9:14

And I kept quiet. You know, I

9:16

bit my tongue. Sure. But then when

9:19

they started talking through the periods. I

9:23

was basically proved right. Like

9:25

the early dinosaurs, it was like these were

9:27

crocodile like creatures that walked on four legs

9:29

and I was like, yeah, yeah, OK, whatever,

9:32

mate. And then we got

9:34

into like the Jurassic period and

9:38

I can't remember if it's Triassic or Cretaceous. I

9:40

can't remember which way around it is. But basically,

9:42

as you go on, suddenly it's like, right, now

9:45

we've got a T-Rex. Yeah, we've got some

9:47

apex fucking predators going on here. Now we've

9:49

got a Brontosaurus. And I think they even

9:51

said like, and these are kind of the

9:53

dinosaurs. You may be more familiar with

9:56

some of the more iconic dinosaurs. And I actually

9:58

heckled it out. Yeah, the better ones. Which

10:00

I don't know how that went down. But

10:04

listen, all I'm saying, I'm not a

10:07

paleontologist, but if you

10:09

ask me, dinosaurs got better as they went

10:11

along. And they went out at their

10:13

peak. Close to their peak,

10:15

yeah. Yeah. That's the way to go, isn't

10:17

it? Exactly. That's how

10:19

you do it. Imagine if dinosaurs had been left to

10:22

carry on and they'd all just turned into

10:24

chickens or whatever. Or they'd be held in

10:27

the esteem they are now. They'd just be

10:29

too big. That'd be the problem. They'd just

10:31

get too big and too fierce. Very possible.

10:34

You know. Very possible. Listen,

10:36

do you want a segue? Sure. Do

10:38

you want to ask the way they come and take it? Yeah, yeah, go

10:40

on. Is Benjamin Sesko too big? And

10:43

that's how you do podcasts, right? Right,

10:45

that's it. See, years. Years

10:47

in the game. Years. Would you have been

10:49

able to do that on the first Arscast Extra? I don't think

10:51

so. You've got better as you've gone along. I think evolution. Yeah.

10:54

The evolution of podcasts. Is he

10:56

too big? I saw a video of him the

10:58

other day. Did you see this video of him

11:01

that was doing the rounds where there

11:03

was a... He was on the training

11:05

ground or one of those and he

11:08

jumped in the air to head home

11:10

across or somebody had thrown the ball

11:12

and it looked like he jumped about

11:14

18 feet high. Yes,

11:17

I've seen this video. I was impressed,

11:20

I have to say. As somebody who's

11:22

not that good at jumping very high,

11:24

I was

11:26

particularly impressed. I have

11:28

my suspicions about that video because I

11:30

think what he does there may be

11:32

physically impossible. So what

11:34

are your suspicions? You think this is a... You

11:36

think this is a green screen? Well, it's one

11:39

of two things. Either it's

11:41

been doctored or Benjamin

11:43

Sesko has supernatural powers. I

11:47

prefer to go with the second. If

11:49

it's a case that we are going to sign him

11:51

and if he signs for somebody else, obviously the thing

11:54

is doctored And can't possibly be

11:56

real. It Reminds me of that video. Do

11:58

You remember that video of David Bentley? The

12:00

ball in a been. To. Remember that.

12:02

Vaguely. Why? For

12:04

rooftop or something something like that. It

12:07

was like a little viral video where

12:09

he kicked the ball fifty yards from

12:11

one roof top to another and it

12:13

went in a bed but dram but

12:15

did it well. I thing is David

12:18

foot by these subs could vote will

12:20

create showed. The. Or their faith in

12:22

some amp supply that. But

12:25

yep I just go easy to. big is

12:28

telling how high can jump to the of

12:30

supernatural powers. These are the questions people. Of

12:33

she didn't have a while. This of

12:35

this is something I'm very keen to

12:37

understand and know that there is a

12:39

long read on the athletics as we

12:41

speak about Benjamin Cisco's athletic powers and

12:43

whether or not. The. His supernatural I'm

12:45

yeah it's all in the were a

12:48

motor your tactical developments. To be honest

12:50

this know minister start by saying i

12:52

do know be about the situation but

12:54

I don't know it's hum. About

12:57

the playa I saw that Goals I'm

12:59

sure you've all seen with which is

13:01

the sort of fun bust and volley.

13:03

Oh yes, yes, and that was enough

13:05

for me either online or don't need

13:07

to spend hours watching analysis yet. I've

13:10

seen him smash the ball if that's the bucks them.

13:12

You. Know or on the volley into the

13:14

top corner artists on a on how high

13:17

can jump. I'll take that and I'll deal

13:19

with. That said, that's all you need to

13:21

know. Forget about your sp raf when you're

13:23

whatever percentile which bits are in green and

13:26

experts are in red not insisted know don't

13:28

care I'm with the of don't care. Snow.

13:31

But something tells me you know we might have

13:33

plenty of time throw that. Will.

13:37

Let me ask a question here. Single

13:39

and you know a bit about the

13:41

situation. That's which he just said, right.

13:43

Roof tops of them myself has gone.

13:45

I'm not setting you up for sale.

13:47

Or. Anything like that. But we did

13:49

have you know questions about Benjamin Cisco

13:52

so let me see if I can.

13:55

Find the right question which

13:57

I probably should have done

13:59

am. Okay from CrappyRubinif76

14:02

on Twitter. That's

14:07

a great Twitter name right there isn't it? He

14:10

said if I were sold by Benjamin Sesko and for

14:12

the purposes of transfer excitement only and I'm nearly 48

14:15

and should know better would it happen before, after

14:18

or actually during the Euros. And

14:21

we also had one from Loewy133 on the Discord.

14:25

He says good morning. Sesko said he

14:27

wants his future sorted before the Euros.

14:29

He has a reasonable release clause and

14:31

isn't on high wages. This

14:33

seems a really easy deal to

14:35

do. Because we know football

14:38

transfers are among the easiest

14:40

deals to do in any

14:42

line of business. He said what are your

14:44

confidence levels out of 10 that

14:46

this is done before the Euros? Yeah

14:49

I mean I think he is on record as saying

14:52

that's what he would like. That

14:54

he would like his future sorted before the Euros.

14:57

And Arsenal aren't the only

14:59

contender here. I mean Leipzig

15:02

are actively making efforts to keep him, to

15:04

get him to sign a new contract that

15:07

would take the clause away. And

15:11

then there's other clubs obviously on the market

15:13

who are interested. Other English clubs as well.

15:15

I think Manchester United have looked at him

15:17

pretty closely. But from

15:19

everything I can ascertain, his preference would

15:21

be to come to Arsenal. Which

15:25

obviously puts us in a really

15:27

strong position. I

15:30

mean typically in summers like this

15:32

I say a lot of deals

15:34

don't actually get done in practice until after

15:36

the tournament ends. You

15:38

know I'm thinking of previous situations where Olivier

15:42

Giroud or Ben White

15:44

even were basically on

15:46

the verge of Arsenal moves for weeks

15:48

on end while they completed their time

15:51

in the tournament. You

15:54

know it's possible the same thing could happen

15:56

with Cesco equally. I suppose James's

15:58

question is sort of right. There is

16:01

nothing prohibiting Arsenal doing

16:04

this deal pretty expediently. So there's

16:06

nothing stopping it happening.

16:08

I just am cautious that tournaments

16:11

do tend to take focus and

16:14

a player's future can be effectively

16:16

sorted without them having to do

16:18

the medical and sign the contract,

16:21

if that makes any sense. Sure.

16:23

So is there an issue also,

16:25

for example, with the

16:27

accounting period? Does that factor into

16:29

summer business in any way? Because

16:31

I think accounts are like to

16:33

May or something, aren't they? But

16:35

there was that whole thing last

16:38

year when it came to Nottingham

16:40

Forest and their breach of

16:43

PSR rules. And

16:46

it was one of the issues was it was

16:48

the end of June and their

16:50

argument was, well, if the transfer window is open

16:52

until the end of August or whatever it is,

16:54

maybe that should be the period

16:56

in which the finances

16:59

can be balanced because you can sell a

17:01

player. Who is it they

17:03

sold? Brennan

17:06

Johnson to Tottenham. And it

17:08

came a bit too late for them to have

17:11

that taken into account. So

17:13

with Arsenal, we know, for example,

17:15

that the David Ria situation, he

17:18

came in on loan because in part

17:21

there were there were issues

17:23

with with profit and sustainability rules.

17:26

You know, doing a permanent deal

17:28

wasn't possible back then. So is

17:30

that something that might factor into

17:32

this? But even if, for example,

17:35

Arsenal wanted to get that deal done, it might

17:38

be a case that from a

17:40

financial perspective, it wouldn't

17:42

go through until after

17:45

June 30th. Yeah, possibly.

17:49

That's potentially the case. I mean,

17:52

last season, last summer, rather, even

17:54

Cai Havas deal was kind of

17:56

subject to that criteria. I

17:58

think Chelsea. I needed

18:00

to get him out before the end of June and

18:02

as I recall I think we did oblige on that.

18:06

The ryre one's really interesting because obviously it's

18:08

all agreed in principle and part

18:12

of me wonders if maybe

18:15

it suits Brentford for that

18:17

sale to be in the

18:19

following financial year because

18:22

you know one of the questions you end up asking yourself is

18:24

well why would Brentford agree

18:26

with these stipulations

18:31

and maybe the answer is that actually they're

18:33

thinking ahead and thinking well if that transfer

18:36

happens for us post-June 30th and is part

18:38

of the following year's accounts that

18:40

will help us out. I

18:42

don't know that for a fact but it's

18:45

an interesting hypothesis that might explain you know

18:47

how that deal was structured and why everyone

18:49

agreed on it. As

18:52

for Sesco, yeah I don't know

18:54

I mean it's a release clause

18:56

so I suspect it'll be less

18:58

about kind of finding a concordance

19:01

between Leipzig and Arsenal but

19:04

yeah I couldn't tell you like if and when

19:07

it will happen. All I know is

19:09

that Arsenal are in a really

19:11

strong position on it and

19:14

obviously with there being a release clause it's

19:17

quite a doable

19:19

deal and not a price that's particularly

19:21

exorbitant. I think we're talking about 65

19:24

million euros I know that is obviously an awful lot

19:26

of money but in

19:29

relative terms yeah exactly and also

19:31

like in likelihood maybe

19:34

the salary is not going to be

19:36

you know at the Kai

19:38

Havoc's level. I don't know but I

19:40

would imagine he's still a very young

19:42

player slightly more unproven might

19:44

be slightly more affordable. So

19:47

we shall see yeah but the indications are

19:50

that you know he's the current focus for

19:52

Arsenal and certainly that Arsenal is where he

19:55

would like to be. Yeah I mean I

19:57

think if there were other English clubs interested

19:59

certainly could make a pitch to him on

20:01

the basis of maybe

20:04

try and lure him with finance

20:06

or something like that. But

20:09

I think if you're a player and

20:11

you're looking at where is the

20:13

best club to be in England right

20:15

now, if it's not Manchester City so

20:18

you can win worthless trophies that

20:20

nobody cares about or gives you any

20:22

credit for, it's got to be

20:24

Arsenal because every other club I think has

20:27

got some issues in terms of what

20:30

they're doing, how they're doing it, managerial

20:32

comings and goings and all the rest.

20:35

So you'd feel confident wouldn't you that

20:37

even if there were overtures from elsewhere,

20:40

his desire to come to

20:42

settle stable and a

20:45

good club that's progressing in the right way

20:47

would win his signature. Yeah

20:52

and I think this is a guy

20:54

who's been quite strategic about his career today. He's

20:56

been part of the Red Bull network,

20:59

obviously he was at Salzburg first and

21:01

then Leipzig have

21:07

been comparisons with Haaland in terms of the

21:09

way that his path has been constructed. And

21:12

I think if you're a young number nine

21:15

looking at the Premier League thinking where is

21:17

the opportunity for me, it's

21:19

Arsenal right? Manchester

21:21

City have Erling Haaland, okay Arsenal

21:23

have Kai Havartz and Gabrielle Jesus

21:26

but you wouldn't say there's the

21:28

same degree of certainty about their

21:31

continuity in those positions and I think

21:33

everyone from the outside can look at

21:35

Arsenal and say there is an opening

21:37

there, if someone can make that centre

21:39

forward position their own, it's there to

21:41

be done. So I think

21:44

it's an eminently sensible

21:47

kind of strategy from him to look at Arsenal, I

21:49

think it's a switch that would make a lot of

21:51

sense. So I

21:53

actually think the ball is kind of in Arsenal's

21:55

court here, they've followed Sesco for a long time,

21:58

they know it's a move he would want. They

22:00

know exactly what it would cost. Is

22:04

just down to whether they've done a

22:06

lot. The ground work is just down

22:08

to them pulling the trigger. Get in

22:10

their fucking arses, author holidays and get

22:12

back to the library. Amount of that's

22:14

it would say. Exactly spicy was that

22:16

we shouldn't preclude That unites. Maybe.

22:18

There's. Another target I'd I

22:20

think you know name's Alexander East Africa.

22:23

Think they are out of reach in

22:25

this window or think that going to

22:27

be too expensive and I would imagine

22:30

same would apply to someone like a

22:32

man Sorbus chapter last night from Italy

22:34

about arsenals following him mob. I don't

22:36

buy that. I'd I don't see that

22:39

myself, I do. I do think that

22:41

this window will be less about the

22:43

the big big superstar names and more

22:45

about in a players who come in

22:48

here to. Compete. And

22:50

maybe it's slightly different profile. Ah,

22:52

I'm. Sorry. I think this one's go every

22:54

chance I am and who dies would be lovely if we

22:56

could get it done. Nice. The of fingers

22:59

crossed. I mean there was a quote

23:01

from Mikel Arteta. Think of another question

23:03

here. Brady's left Foot Am there was

23:05

a quote in the Guardian from Mikel

23:07

Arteta. think he did an interview with

23:09

Cnn. The Guardian says he hinted it

23:11

would not be a summer a big

23:13

spending and Arteta says our focus has

23:15

to be was what we have already

23:18

in the house. The question from Brady's

23:20

left Foot is a by what's the

23:22

minimum we can expect and still my

23:24

into an effective challenge. But your some

23:26

people my read died and think. Oh

23:28

that sounds be familiar. We're

23:31

not going to Spain's can be like

23:33

with gotta get more of what we've

23:35

got already. but it is fair to

23:38

say that the. The.

23:40

Sort of one hundred million kind

23:42

of marquee signing deadland rice type

23:44

thing is not really on the

23:46

agenda. It's not part of a

23:48

anybody's discussions are part of anybody's

23:50

information at this point is not

23:52

to say that deals won't happen

23:54

but I think you know they

23:56

did. The level to which we

23:58

will go this summer is is

24:00

not going to be the same

24:02

as as last summer. I.

24:04

Don't think so. No, I don't think

24:07

was. Obviously

24:10

is. We. Get lucky

24:13

on a few sales or someone

24:15

unexpected is so potentially that changes

24:17

that. But I think the planning

24:20

at the moment. Which.

24:22

It to be honest is sort

24:24

of what we've kind of been

24:26

hypothesizing I the last few weeks is

24:28

to give Mikel Arteta a wide

24:30

a pool of first team players to

24:32

near raised the floor of the

24:34

squad since they raise the level

24:36

com. And try and have

24:39

a sip of more equitable degree

24:41

of quality over Fifteen sixteen. Who

24:44

knows, maybe seventeen play rather than

24:46

thirteen. fourteen? And.

24:49

I think they feel they can do that

24:51

without having to. Break. The

24:53

bank server I mean look we

24:56

were very good. Last. Season.

24:59

So I you know, A

25:02

small margins right? and I think finding

25:04

those players is difficult. but I don't

25:06

I don't take Mit. What Macau said

25:08

to been that we're not going to

25:11

do any business. I don't think it's

25:13

more about. Maybe. A bit

25:15

of Manji expectations. But. Also recognition

25:17

that what we have in the squad. Is.

25:19

A lot of quality and also there's a lot of

25:21

work to do. In. Game plays out

25:24

with do that too but I'm a

25:26

new just focusing on what we have

25:28

in the squad already. There is being

25:30

of the Aids issue was well when

25:32

you look at players like Saca like

25:35

Martinelli or even Rice and Havard Smart

25:37

know the guards your these are guys

25:39

who are still very relatively young and

25:41

heading into the the said peak years

25:43

of their careers been why my be

25:46

another one that you put in their

25:48

gabrielle another when you put in there

25:50

you know with second Martinelli a couple

25:52

years behind. Them are younger than them so

25:54

the potential to get more out of these

25:56

players is is pretty obvious, isn't it? yeah

26:00

It's pretty exciting as Arsenal fans to rattle

26:02

off a list of players like that and

26:04

say, well, there's quite a compelling argument that

26:06

they could all be better next season. Yeah.

26:09

I mean, obviously, development in

26:11

football isn't always linear, and you can have a

26:13

season like Gabriel Martinelli did, where things

26:15

don't quite go for you, and it feels like maybe you've gone

26:17

a bit backwards. But by and large,

26:20

I think it's reasonable to expect all those

26:22

guys to improve. And

26:25

that's a pretty strong hand that Arsenal have.

26:28

Listen, I'm sure there'll be people listening to say, well,

26:30

yeah, but we need more. And I think the club absolutely

26:33

recognise that. I

26:37

think it's just maybe about adding more

26:39

of the same in terms of the quality

26:41

of players we already have, rather than having

26:43

to necessarily make signings that

26:46

are transformative in the way that

26:48

a Declan Rice might find it.

26:51

You talked about getting players out the door.

26:53

We had a question on that, and we

26:55

might touch on a couple of the stories

26:57

that have been doing the rounds this week,

26:59

but John C on the

27:01

Discord said, a quite simple open-ended question, but how

27:03

do we get better as a selling club, other

27:05

than selling some more valuable assets, ones

27:08

we don't ideally want to lose,

27:11

to set a precedent of us getting good

27:13

fees, there doesn't seem to be an obvious

27:15

process. And I've seen stories this week. I

27:21

did enjoy the story where Arsenal

27:23

are reluctantly willing to

27:25

let Eddie and Ketya go this season

27:27

with clubs, you know, sniffing around for

27:30

a reported 30 million. I

27:32

was going, there'd be nothing fucking reluctant if

27:34

30 million was on offer for Eddie and

27:36

Ketya, with all due respect to Eddie, I think that would be

27:38

an amazing piece of business.

27:40

But I think the question about how

27:43

you become better or

27:45

perceived as better at selling is

27:49

an interesting one in the context of what

27:51

we've seen at Arsenal over the

27:53

last number of years, where I think most

27:55

people Will acknowledge that

27:57

the quality and... Consistency

28:00

of incoming business

28:03

has improved significantly,

28:05

but. The. Other side

28:07

of that is we haven't really been

28:09

able to sell very well and maybe

28:11

until such time as you do a

28:13

couple of deals where people go oh

28:15

oh look what they go for that

28:17

guy who okay well that kind of

28:19

the bar a different place than we

28:22

thought he did. it is gonna be

28:24

something people am people my what would

28:26

have concerns about or of questions about

28:28

anyway. Yeah is quite

28:30

as long and complicated answer,

28:32

but. There

28:36

practical things to also can do

28:38

so this for example there are.

28:40

Practical. Thing steps to also

28:42

could take to potentially help

28:44

themselves up plays better. One

28:47

of those. Might

28:49

be for example of European clubs

28:51

do thing with a issue a

28:54

mandate for a player so they

28:56

will approach a high level age

28:58

and with contact with many clubs

29:00

and say we want to sell

29:02

this player. Ah, this is

29:04

the price. This why yards? Gonna.

29:06

Find a buyer and earnest of a commission.

29:10

And that's one route to doing it because

29:12

it opens up all sorts of relationships that

29:14

you might not have as a club. For

29:16

example, there may be an agent sickly well

29:18

place with clubs in. Saudi

29:20

Arabia or Spain or Jammy? My Can

29:23

you access to markets that you don't.

29:25

Naturally, Have. You

29:28

can. Maybe do more. In

29:30

terms of how you present, players you know

29:32

can also have access to some of the.

29:35

Best. Analytics software in

29:37

the world? Can they use that

29:40

to market a. As

29:43

a practical stuff they could cite. Arts.

29:47

School. Of those things are

29:49

kind of almost boat unstable, door

29:51

of the horse. As a witty

29:53

scarpa, you know it's I think

29:55

the bigger issue is what you

29:58

do to manage applies valley. you

30:01

when they're on your books during the course of a

30:03

series. Hang on one second. There's someone at my door

30:05

once. Oh, no. Hang on. Doorbell

30:08

music. Hit it. Sorry.

30:40

I'm back. No worries. That

30:42

was a man delivering coffee. Oh,

30:44

lovely. Not

30:46

like made in a cup. No,

30:48

beans. OK. Just

30:51

magic beans. Magic beans for the machine.

30:53

That's how you get your transfer of

30:55

business done. Magic beans. Yeah,

30:58

I think Arsenal probably need to be a bit

31:00

better at managing players' values

31:02

before they get to the point where

31:04

they're trying to sell them. And I

31:07

think that's partly about use

31:11

of players, not bombing players

31:13

out, not making it clear how unvalued,

31:17

undesired they are at Arsenal before looking

31:19

to find a seller. I think it's

31:21

about Edo

31:24

probably being firmer with Michael

31:26

Arteza. Edi's a great case in

31:28

point. Maybe last summer

31:30

there was interest in Edi, and

31:33

Michael felt like, no, we're going to need

31:35

him. We're going to need to keep him.

31:37

He's a valued squad member. And

31:39

I think it's on the sporting

31:41

director, to be honest, to resist

31:44

that. I think managers always want to keep

31:46

players, because they're always thinking about, well, what

31:49

about the day when three other people are

31:51

injured and I need somebody, and it's my

31:53

responsibility to pick a winning team. But

31:56

I think as a sporting director, you

31:58

need to have a brilliant team. a broader overview

32:00

than that and I think sometimes you need

32:02

to say no and you need to say

32:04

for the club we need

32:06

to make the decision to sell this player

32:09

at this point in time. And the final

32:11

point there is just to say that I

32:13

think really to be good at selling you have

32:16

to sell players at a time when it's a

32:18

bit uncomfortable. I always

32:20

cite Joe Willock as the great example

32:22

of this. We got £40m for Joe

32:24

Willock and it was debated among Arsenal

32:26

fans and you and I debated it

32:28

and we had reservations and concerns and

32:31

would it be the right decision, could he

32:33

be an Arsenal player potentially. That's the kind

32:35

of debate you want to be having when

32:37

you sell somebody because that means they have

32:39

value and there's going to be a market

32:41

for them. And unfortunately

32:45

with many of these players we're talking

32:47

about letting go it feels

32:49

like we're well past that

32:51

point. Yes, I think that's

32:53

true but you can understand

32:55

as well from a manager's

32:57

perspective needing players

32:59

and needing a bigger squad and someone like Eddie

33:01

played a lot in the first half

33:04

of the season and then didn't really play at all in

33:06

the second half. So maybe January is

33:09

the best time to sell Eddie but

33:12

that's a difficult thing to do and

33:14

obviously it's a difficult market and a

33:16

different market of course in

33:19

the summer. I just kind

33:21

of plucked a name out there. You

33:24

could say Reece Nelson but then what was the

33:26

alternative? Lose Reece Nelson for free. I

33:29

understand there's a logic behind all these decisions Arsenal

33:31

have made. You can argue the case for why

33:33

they kept these players. I

33:36

just think that sometimes you need to make tough

33:39

decisions and actually when we're

33:41

talking about players that might leave

33:44

this summer, the ones

33:46

Arsenal probably should be looking to sell or

33:48

the ones where it's debated.

33:50

You know, I don't know,

33:52

Fayers in Cenco for example, isn't it the right time,

33:54

is it not the right time? I kind of feel

33:57

like if you're asking the question it

33:59

probably is. the right

34:01

time, it's just you

34:03

need to be ruthless

34:05

and Arsenal have been ruthless in lots of

34:08

ways but maybe in terms of cutting those

34:10

ties earlier to ensure you get the best

34:12

fee that's an area where they

34:14

could be sharper still. Yeah yeah because you

34:17

know the players who are on the list

34:19

I suppose there would be probably

34:22

widespread agreement about the likes

34:24

of Eddie, about Rhys Nelson,

34:26

maybe there's a debate about

34:29

someone like Emile Smith-Roe which

34:32

you know based on what you're saying might

34:34

mean it is the right time for

34:36

him to go. It seems to me

34:39

that it probably is the right time

34:41

for Emile Smith-Roe. Arsenal were fairly unequivocal

34:43

last season weren't they because they told

34:45

him and his people no

34:47

way you're not going anywhere but

34:49

this time around I wonder

34:52

if that would be the case. What

34:56

would they say to him? He's got two years left

34:58

on his contract he didn't really play a lot despite

35:00

being in the he was

35:02

in the Premier League squad for 31 games

35:04

and started just three of them and I

35:06

think he had just over 300 minutes of

35:10

playing time so that

35:12

tells you a story

35:14

about where he

35:16

stands in the pecking order certainly with Michael Artero

35:19

but what do you make of stories saying that for

35:22

example Fulham are interested in

35:24

him that seems

35:26

to me like the sort

35:29

of move I could live

35:31

with like I wouldn't like Emile Smith-Roe to

35:33

go to Aston Villa for example just

35:36

because it would say to me there's

35:38

something still there that we could possibly

35:40

use if a club like Villa are

35:42

interested but Fulham I

35:44

can live with that does that make sense? Yeah

35:47

it does make sense I mean Fulham

35:50

I you know I buy that they're interested in

35:52

Emile Smith-Roe totally I mean he

35:55

is somebody who despite

35:59

it being pretty clever I think it's clear

36:01

that Arteta doesn't have great plans for him in being

36:03

on the outside. He has retained a bit

36:05

of value, I think, for two reasons. Number

36:08

one, he's a young English player

36:10

and that always adds a bit of

36:12

value. But I think number two, people have such positive

36:15

memories of the impression he made when he

36:17

first broke into the team and that first

36:20

half of the season he had where he

36:22

was scoring week in, week out. I

36:26

think that that memory endures and

36:29

people know that there's talent there

36:31

still. I

36:33

remember when Chelsea were looking for an

36:36

attacking player during the window

36:38

last summer, there was

36:41

a brief period where there

36:43

was talk of them being interested in a real Smith role. And

36:47

I didn't like the sound of that. They ultimately

36:49

got Cole Palmer. And that worked out

36:51

pretty well for them, annoyingly. But

36:54

yeah, I wouldn't like to see Smith row,

36:56

even though it might be better for his

36:59

career, joining a villa or a Chelsea, a

37:02

Fulham, a West Ham. I could

37:04

live with that. And I think as well, that's

37:06

a move that would give him a platform to

37:08

play. It means he could stay

37:10

in London and I think it just

37:12

about gives him a chance to make a

37:15

step up in the future. He

37:17

can perform as well at that level.

37:20

I think there's another move in it for him.

37:22

I actually think in some ways it would be

37:24

more dangerous to go to a club where he's

37:26

not first choice and he

37:28

just kind of slips into being this kind of

37:31

perennial squad player. Yeah. So

37:34

yeah, I could see that. I

37:36

mean, one thing that's sort of interesting about the

37:39

window is we're now in the first

37:41

week of June. You know, the window,

37:43

I believe it's technically open. I'm

37:46

not sure, but certainly in terms of how clubs are operating,

37:48

they're considering it open. Arsenal

37:50

are still in the process of having

37:53

conversations with people like Emil

37:55

Smith-Rowe. You

37:57

know, those meetings, those chats, with

38:01

players, with agents to discuss the future, they're

38:03

kind of still ongoing. So

38:05

I think over the next few weeks we'll probably

38:07

get a lot more clarity about what's

38:10

gonna happen with some of these guys.

38:12

Well someone like Albert Samby-Lukanga has had

38:14

that conversation already and came, you know,

38:17

they came to an agreement about what

38:19

would be best, whether it happens or not is

38:21

another thing, but they came to the agreement very

38:23

quickly between them that the best thing would be

38:26

for him to leave. So,

38:28

you know, is there sort of a

38:30

priority list when it comes

38:32

to having these conversations? Is it down

38:34

to the player and his representatives

38:36

to say, look what's going on

38:38

here? We need to know because we need to do X,

38:40

Y or Z. Yeah, I think

38:43

it is kind of partly incumbent on the agent.

38:45

I think it's easier to have those conversations when

38:47

the player isn't really in the

38:49

club. I mean Samby was out on loan, you

38:51

know, with a meal. That was the case that,

38:53

I mean he was literally the first man off

38:56

the bench, wasn't he, on the final day of

38:58

the season. So that kind of puts the brakes

39:00

on a lot of these chats, the need to

39:02

keep players engaged and motivated. But

39:05

does that affect the

39:08

fact that he was first off the bench from

39:10

an attacking perspective? Because I think we have

39:12

to make a defensive change when Gabrielle went

39:15

off. Oh, you're right. But does

39:18

that say a lot

39:22

about Emil Smith-Roe? Or does it say

39:24

a lot about Fabio

39:26

Vieira and Eddie and Kettia, who are the other

39:28

guys on the bench and how they are perceived

39:31

in the manager's mind? Like,

39:36

I don't mean this to sound harsh, but

39:41

in the context of what we're

39:43

discussing in terms of this summer

39:45

was Emil Smith-Roe in that moment

39:47

the least worst rather than

39:49

the best, if that makes sense. Do

39:51

you know where I'm going with that? Yeah,

39:53

I think, to be honest, my outtake from

39:55

it, and this is, you know, my opinion,

40:00

than necessarily information, but I

40:02

think Michael Arteta still

40:04

holds a candle for a Millsmith

40:10

row. I know

40:12

that his selections suggest otherwise, but

40:14

I think if he was deciding –

40:16

if you give me that list of

40:18

names, Nelson and Ketia Smith

40:21

Row – if he was picking

40:23

one that he could

40:25

have at his disposal next season,

40:28

I think he would pick a Millsmith row. Do

40:30

I think he'd play him every week? No, but

40:32

I think if he was in a bind and

40:34

he needed something from the bench, I

40:37

think he would like that option available to

40:39

him. But I think

40:41

this is a case where if

40:44

you're Edo, or to be honest, even

40:46

if you're a Millsmith row, you

40:49

should be drawing a line at this point in time. Yeah,

40:51

I agree with that. I agree

40:53

with that. What Michael Arteta wants and what a

40:55

Millsmith row wants at this point in his career

40:57

are probably quite different. I think he's had two

41:01

seasons where he's fallen off in a big way,

41:03

and some of that is not his

41:05

fault, because he

41:09

had injuries and he had surgery, but

41:12

it feels like he's stagnated at Arsenal.

41:14

I don't think that's going to change.

41:16

I think if what you're talking about

41:18

is having players who can raise the

41:20

floor of the squad, as

41:23

the first guy off the bench from

41:25

an attacking perspective, that seems to me

41:28

like an obvious way to make that

41:30

happen. Another question here on

41:32

the Discord from Kel Varsenen, who says,

41:34

if you're Rhys Nelson's agent,

41:37

which club or clubs are you

41:39

contacting? In my opinion, he

41:41

is the least in demand of

41:44

any of the youngsters that appear to be on

41:46

the outs. My

42:02

first thought was that Rhys is

42:04

a player who has shown a

42:06

willingness and an aptitude for playing

42:08

in other leagues. You

42:12

know, he succeeded, he had a good decent

42:14

enough, certainly a good start to his loan

42:16

spell in Germany. He had a good end

42:18

to his loan spell in Holland.

42:22

And I don't know, I

42:24

feel like he has the

42:27

potential to play elsewhere in Europe. Now

42:29

there's one big issue there, and

42:31

that's his salary, which

42:33

I think really only

42:36

a Premier League club can

42:39

contemplate matching. And

42:42

so that makes it tougher. And

42:46

at this point in time, I don't know, I don't know

42:48

of anyone beating down the door for Rhys Nelson. I know

42:50

in the past he's been linked with

42:52

places like Crystal Palace. You

42:54

know, there's a chance they might lose one or

42:56

two promising

42:58

young attacking players this summer, so maybe

43:00

they'll need replacements. Maybe they'll deem him

43:03

worthy of a punt. But he does

43:05

feel like quite a big punt now, Rhys Nelson,

43:07

for a buyer on the money

43:09

that he's on, and considering that

43:12

Arsenal would want a decent fee as well.

43:15

I think that's a big gamble to take.

43:18

And maybe it'll be a club who

43:20

are gamblers. Maybe it'll be a Brighton.

43:22

You know, someone who sees something in

43:25

those FB ref metrics, in those underlying

43:27

data figures, who persuade

43:30

them to say, well, we'll take this gamble on

43:32

because we think there's going to be a return

43:34

there. Yeah. I think you're

43:36

right. I mean, I think when

43:40

you consider where he might play, that

43:42

was what occurred to me is like,

43:44

go to France. Go

43:47

to Holland. Go

43:49

to Germany, maybe. And

43:52

I think he would probably do

43:54

quite well there, but the deal he signed

43:56

at Arsenal makes that very difficult unless there's

43:59

a big deal. as significant

44:01

compromise on whatever fee there might

44:03

be. The fact

44:05

that he did sign a new deal quite

44:09

recently makes me wonder if Rees

44:11

Nelson might go on loan this

44:14

summer, if that might be the

44:16

easier way to, I

44:18

don't want to say get him out, but

44:21

maybe the club might gamble, if

44:24

you're talking about gambling, on a

44:26

successful loan deal, raising

44:29

his profile a bit and maybe getting a

44:31

few people more interested

44:33

this time next year if he goes

44:35

somewhere and plays well and

44:37

scores some goals and makes some

44:39

assists that there might be a

44:41

Premier League club more willing to

44:44

pay for him next summer rather than

44:46

this summer where he

44:48

really hasn't played, he started one Premier

44:51

League game since 2020, there

44:55

won't be too many banging down the door for a

44:58

guy who's going to be 25

45:01

in December as well, he's not a 21 year

45:03

old anymore, so I think

45:05

you have to maybe overcome

45:07

the perception that your career is

45:09

maybe a bit like Emil Smith

45:12

Rowe sort of stuck

45:14

in the mud a little bit. Yeah,

45:16

I mean, look at Ainsley-Mate Lenard, I think his

45:18

career was in a similar

45:20

position and he got

45:22

free transfer to Lyon and he's

45:24

been doing pretty well there, playing

45:27

in midfield and I think having a good time of

45:30

it, scoring penalties and all sorts.

45:33

And I think I can imagine Nelson

45:35

going to Liga or somewhere similar

45:38

and impressing and doing enough to

45:41

entice a West Ham

45:43

or something into buying him. But I just think

45:45

Arsenal at this point in the window would

45:48

probably be reticent to sanction a

45:50

loan, I think it would kind

45:53

of set them off on the wrong foot

45:56

potentially, like if they

45:58

loaned Rees Nelson. then you

46:01

know do they have to loan Aaron

46:03

Ramsdale or Eddie and Ketia you know what I

46:05

mean like yeah other players

46:07

are going to come and say well you

46:10

let him leave on loan so why can't

46:12

they have to go on loan. I think

46:14

Arsenal will try to

46:16

make those early departures decent

46:20

sales and then I think loans

46:22

out is probably something they're going to

46:24

be more open to towards the end

46:26

of the window typically. A

46:29

lot of moving parts aren't there when

46:32

you when you break it down and

46:34

that point about you know if you're going to give this

46:36

guy a loan deal why can't I get a loan deal.

46:40

The other thing is and I don't know what you think

46:42

about this but do you think there's any case that Arsenal

46:46

might need to keep some of these

46:48

guys around for the start of

46:50

the season because there'll be that

46:52

kind of awkward period where maybe

46:55

we haven't got guys back from the Euros

46:59

and you know we need a bit more

47:02

cover at that point in time. I

47:06

mean the ideal situation is if your mind is

47:09

made up about these players and their futures is

47:12

to sort of get them out and

47:14

get the get the new guys in and that

47:17

way you don't necessarily have to consider

47:20

that as an issue but I suppose

47:22

international tournaments do complicate the summers and

47:27

you know it's not just about what Arsenal want to

47:29

do it's what other clubs are prepared

47:32

to do and when they're prepared to do

47:34

it and when they're actually capable of doing

47:36

it because it might be a case you

47:38

know someone like Crystal Palace for example if

47:41

they have an interest in Eddie and Keddie or if

47:43

they have an interest in Reece Nelson I'm not saying

47:45

they do but like they

47:47

probably can't do anything until the

47:50

futures of of Eze and Elise

47:52

and Margahey are sorted out one

47:54

way the other because

47:56

you know they will maybe want to

47:59

keep them. but be realistic enough to

48:01

know that if the right offer comes in, they've

48:03

got to take that, then they've got that money

48:05

available to spend on whoever it

48:07

is. But maybe those offers don't come in on

48:09

those players or those deals don't get done until

48:12

who knows when, July, August,

48:14

who knows? So it

48:16

is, you're dependent on the market as

48:19

well a bit. Yeah, and I think

48:21

it's a fair generalization to say that

48:23

typically in a tournament summer, the

48:25

market takes a bit longer to get going. You

48:28

know, there'll always be one or two outliers, deals

48:30

that get done early, that fans

48:32

will point to and say, why can't we do

48:34

that? But I think my perception of

48:36

the way things are at the moment is that,

48:38

you know, it's going to

48:40

take some time for the market to get fully into swing.

48:44

Okay, well, yeah, we'll just

48:46

have to bide our time and wait and see, I

48:48

think. We've done plenty

48:50

in part one, so there are probably going to

48:52

be more questions about transfers and stuff. So why

48:54

don't we take a little break here and we'll

48:57

pick this up and come back with your questions

48:59

more in part two right after this. This.

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50:02

back to the Arsecast. Next, sir, this is part

50:04

two of the show where we answer questions that

50:07

you send to us on Twitter at Gunnar blog

50:09

and at Arse blog. Also on the

50:11

Arse blog, Discord chat server, which you get access to if

50:13

you are an Arse blog member on Patreon.

50:15

Before we get into some of the questions, there

50:17

is a big deal that got done this week.

50:19

Big surprise. I don't know if you've heard this.

50:22

Killian and Bape going to Real

50:24

Madrid. A bolt from the blue. Wow.

50:27

What do you think? Out of nowhere. Well,

50:30

you know, they're doing all right with Allian

50:32

Madrid. Sorry, I was looking at the time. Did

50:35

you watch the final the other night? I did.

50:37

I did. Did you? Yeah.

50:40

Like, I mean, as Dortmund missed

50:42

chance after chance in the first half,

50:44

I'm afraid the outcome just became very

50:47

inevitable. Yes. I mean, I was

50:49

looking at it and it just, you know, we've

50:51

been through some stuff as Arsenal fans, but it

50:53

just occurred to me it must be utterly exhausting

50:56

being a fan of Borussia Dortmund. Just,

50:59

I mean, the way they, what

51:02

happened to them in the league last season

51:04

and losing a

51:06

Champions League final, not the first time they've

51:09

lost a Champions League final, it just

51:11

seems to be hard work,

51:13

hard going. It's so

51:16

close. Yeah,

51:18

I guess they do have that nearly thing to them,

51:20

don't they? Very

51:23

emotional, Andrew. A very emotional club. Too

51:26

emotional, perhaps. Too emotional, that's what people

51:28

say. Yeah, I

51:30

did watch it and I

51:33

saw Rio screaming Ballon d'Or, Ballon d'Or, Ballon

51:35

d'Or. What was that?

51:38

What was he doing? I don't know. I don't

51:40

know. Is it almost as if he knew there

51:42

was a camera on him and he was acting

51:45

performatively in some way? I

51:48

couldn't believe it. To try and go viral or something?

51:50

I don't know. I couldn't possibly say.

51:53

That was quite strange. But

51:55

yeah, Mbappe, I mean, he

51:58

had that deal. Written

52:02

in the stars and probably on a contract for some

52:04

sort for quite a long time napkin. I think they

52:06

use Right. Yeah, okay

52:09

Florentino Perez and this big napkin. Mmm.

52:12

I mean that's a And what

52:14

a bargain Andrew free transfer

52:17

free Why can't I also get a very different

52:19

for a time answer? Yeah, of course, of course

52:23

I did I did enjoy the yeah, he'll only

52:25

be earning 250,000 a week Like

52:28

yeah, right? hundred

52:31

billion signing up exactly His

52:34

basic might be that but it can be quite

52:36

sure that there's a lot more going into his

52:38

bank account than 250 grand

52:40

a week, which is you know not to be sniffed at I

52:42

don't think All

52:45

right, have you got a question let's

52:47

let's yes I do We

52:50

had a lot of questions.

52:52

There's obviously a sad week in a lot of ways

52:56

as Said with

52:59

the devastating news Cedric leaving

53:01

Arsenal What is your favorite

53:03

memory of him and also your favorite memory

53:06

of the true gent that is Mohammed El

53:08

Nene? My

53:11

favorite memory of Cedric is him turning up

53:13

with a broken leg to sign for our

53:15

so was it broken leg or something? I

53:17

don't know something as in that Kim Charles

53:19

from tradition. Yeah, like I was

53:21

never a big fan of the player But

53:24

like if you're 28 and you're at Southampton

53:26

you have a free transfer to Arsenal You

53:28

know, why the hell wouldn't you take it?

53:30

You know, my issue with him was always

53:32

about the That deal,

53:35

but thankfully things have improved in that regard

53:39

Is there a favorite Cedric moment I Quite

53:43

enjoy this is scrap with Lacazette. Oh, yeah

53:45

in the all or nothing. That was quite

53:47

good. I Quite

53:49

like that Little legacy all the

53:52

pictures. He's got himself into so many

53:54

pictures, you know, yeah, you know in

53:56

the yeah He's just there

53:58

first in need to celebrate something When something

54:00

happens, Cedric is there first.

54:03

When the royal family have

54:05

a baby, there he is. Yeah. When

54:07

the fireworks go off in Sydney to

54:10

ring in the new year, the first place on

54:12

earth, there's Cedric. He's right there sitting

54:14

atop the Sydney Opera House. He's

54:16

just always there to celebrate. He's

54:19

got a knack for it. He sniffs out a celebration.

54:23

What about El Nene? El Nene. Oh, memories

54:25

of El Nene. My favorite El Nene moment

54:27

is the goal he scored against Barcelona, because

54:30

I was there. Yeah.

54:32

In the pissings of rain. Yeah,

54:35

at the top of the fucking crumbly old

54:37

new camp back then,

54:40

and it was pretty miserable, but

54:42

that was a nice

54:44

moment in an otherwise sort

54:47

of depressing 90 minutes of

54:49

football. It just wasn't a

54:51

great game. And did we lose 3-1,

54:53

or I think it was 3-1. But

54:56

that was a lovely goal. And he just seemed like

54:58

a great guy. Didn't he,

55:00

El Nene, just full of positivity and full

55:02

of, actually,

55:04

my favorite El Nene moment is

55:06

the tweet to

55:08

Alexis Sanchez. What

55:11

was that, Andrew? He's sort of

55:13

standing on one of the golf carts at

55:16

the training ground. Right. And

55:18

I could be wrong, but it says something

55:20

like, who's coming to join me at the

55:23

World Cup? Not you,

55:25

Alexis, something like that. I

55:29

have to look this up now. He takes no prisoners,

55:31

basically. No, no, no, but he did it with a

55:34

big smile on his face. Yeah,

55:36

you'd get away with anything with that smile. Here it is. Mohammed

55:40

El Nene, leaning out of the

55:42

golf cart, who

55:44

will come with me to Russia, where the World

55:46

Cup is? And he tags in Mesut

55:49

Ozil, Mustafie, Olivier Giroud, Alexander

55:52

Lacazette, Lauren Cachelny, Hector Beller,

55:54

and Nacho Monreal, David Ospina.

55:57

And then he says, sorry, my friend, Sanchez.

56:00

is there is no place for you. So

56:07

yeah, that's my favourite Elnenny

56:09

moment. He was on something there as well. What

56:11

about yours? Have you got a favourite Elnenny moment? Or

56:16

a favourite Cedric moment? I

56:18

can't think of a favourite Cedric. Did he score

56:20

on his debut? He certainly scored

56:22

pretty early on Cedric from the edge

56:24

of the box, a deflected volley I

56:26

think it was. In Covid times? I

56:29

think I've heard Cedric memories. That one time he did

56:31

a cross, remember just the one time he did a

56:34

cross? Just once in his entire

56:36

career. He just put in one

56:38

cross. That was lovely. I enjoyed

56:40

that. Elnenny, I'm actually going to

56:43

go for when we won at Old Trafford,

56:45

as if you remember this, but we won 1-0 at

56:47

Old Trafford. Yes. At the start

56:49

of the season, Elnenny played next to Partay.

56:51

And I think we all briefly convinced ourselves

56:53

that Elnenny was the answer. And

56:56

then I think he was out of team again. Isn't

56:59

there another brilliant clip where he

57:03

was put on as a sub, we were winning maybe 1-0, it

57:05

was one of those, and he was put on as a sub

57:07

in the 94th minute of 95 minutes,

57:12

and it's one of those subs that's designed

57:14

to just take up a bit of time

57:16

and disrupt the rhythm. And he came on

57:18

the pitch and he fucking heard about it.

57:20

He ran like crazy for the 21 seconds

57:22

that he was on the pitch. Final whistle

57:24

goes and he's like, yes! We won.

57:29

Gotta love that. He loved it. He loved

57:31

playing for Arsenal. I actually think Elnenny... How

57:34

can I put it? I don't think he

57:36

was a bad player. I think he got a bit

57:38

of unfair stick actually. I think he was pretty reliable.

57:40

He just wasn't in any way spectacular.

57:43

I agree. I think he's like a 7 out

57:46

of 10 player most times he played. But

57:50

do you make progress in

57:52

the way that we've made progress with Elnenny and your

57:54

team as a starter? No, I don't

57:56

think so, but I think what's great

57:58

about him is he kind of understood. his

58:00

role and understood his place in the

58:03

squad and didn't ever kick up. And to

58:05

be fair to Cedric, that's not something he

58:07

ever did as well, despite being, you

58:10

know, pretty peripheral for the last year,

58:12

18 months. Players

58:15

want to play and they're competitive. So

58:17

it is difficult to, you know, to be

58:19

on the sidelines. But I think both of

58:21

those guys understood what was going on.

58:24

And. Oh,

58:26

I do remember a story about Mavidone and

58:28

E. I can't verifiably say

58:31

if it's 100% true, but. Basically,

58:35

in training, sometimes when they do the

58:37

small sided games, I wrote about this

58:39

in the athletic, but they they often

58:41

do like a mini tournament of like

58:43

England versus Brazil versus the rest

58:45

of the world. Sure. And

58:49

I was told by

58:51

one contact that El Nene frequently

58:53

plays for Brazil. He

58:56

just makes up the numbers for Brazil, which

58:59

I really enjoyed the kind of honoree

59:01

Brazilian. Yeah. Love that. Love that. OK,

59:04

here's a question from

59:06

Aaron on the Discord. He said,

59:09

would selling Kivior and Zinchenko then

59:11

buying Hatto be improving or weakening

59:13

the squad? And there were reports

59:15

as well that Kivior is a

59:17

target for for AC Milan.

59:19

We talked about the young academy players who

59:21

might be targets for for other clubs and

59:24

might be allowed to leave Kivior.

59:26

One of those where he might fall into that

59:28

category that you're talking about, is it the

59:30

right time to sell? Is it, you know, is

59:33

it a little uncomfortable? And I think it probably

59:35

is when you consider his place in the squad

59:38

and and, you know, what we might need him

59:40

for and some of the other options. But if

59:43

you're bringing in Hatto

59:45

from IX, where do you think that

59:47

would leave us? Yeah, I think it

59:49

is quite a good example, Kivio. You

59:53

know, if you could turn a 10

59:55

or 15 million euro profit on

59:57

a guy who's. you

1:00:00

know, not a first-choice player, maybe

1:00:02

it is the time to do that. I

1:00:04

think he'll always have interest in Italy because

1:00:06

he was very good there and

1:00:09

his reputation is really good there. And,

1:00:13

you know, when Arsenal signed him, there were some

1:00:15

big Italian clubs looking at him at that point

1:00:17

in time, but they were just too late. Essentially,

1:00:19

Arsenal had done a lot of the groundwork and

1:00:21

did the deal in that January, partly to see

1:00:23

off that interest. Do you think, had they waited

1:00:25

until summer, it would have been a bit more

1:00:27

of a tug of war? And

1:00:31

I think from his perspective, you know, it's

1:00:34

an interesting one, isn't it? I mean, you know, he had that

1:00:36

run in the side, but

1:00:38

it kind of was what it was

1:00:40

and it ended and... Yeah,

1:00:45

I don't know. Did he come back... No, Tommy

1:00:47

Astu came back in, didn't he, at the end

1:00:49

of the season? So he was kind of out

1:00:51

the side by then. He's never really got a

1:00:53

run of games at centre-half. I

1:00:55

mean, that would be the thing, if you do let him go,

1:00:59

I wouldn't be so worried about left-back, but

1:01:01

I would be a bit worried about centre-half. Yeah,

1:01:03

me too. I mean, Tommy Astu is a candidate

1:01:06

there, but I think you have to at

1:01:08

least be aware of Tommy Astu's injury record

1:01:11

when you're considering a sale

1:01:13

like Kiviore, where, you know,

1:01:15

he plays there for Japan, he's a very accomplished

1:01:17

defender, I think he's a very, very good player,

1:01:20

and would be probably, if

1:01:22

everyone was fit, even if Kiviore is

1:01:24

in the squad, he would probably be

1:01:27

my pick for Gabriel's

1:01:29

deputy if and when Gabriel can't play.

1:01:31

I mean, there are other options available

1:01:33

to us as well. The availability

1:01:36

of Juri and Timber means that you

1:01:38

also have Ben White and William Saliba

1:01:40

at centre-halves who could, you know, slot

1:01:42

in and do a job in those

1:01:44

positions if you needed to,

1:01:46

but it is a consideration, isn't

1:01:48

it, that backup to Gabriel? Yeah,

1:01:51

I mean, what was the question again?

1:01:54

It was about Hato. Oh,

1:01:56

yeah, Jarel Hechtung, yeah. I mean... Was

1:01:59

it Hato? I don't know actually to be

1:02:01

honest with you but I think yeah

1:02:04

Arsenal really like this player and I

1:02:07

think he played seven or eight games as a

1:02:09

left-back for Ajax this season played most of his

1:02:11

footballs in the centre half. He

1:02:13

turned 18 in March

1:02:16

which means he's now sort of eligible to

1:02:18

move abroad but also he marked

1:02:21

that by signing a new contract his

1:02:24

previous deal expired next summer so Ajax

1:02:27

were in a bit of a precarious position they've extended

1:02:29

until 2028 now they

1:02:31

are a club that have

1:02:34

some history of extending

1:02:37

players and then selling them it's not impossible

1:02:39

that they would do that it would be about

1:02:41

ensuring they extract value you know that we

1:02:43

speak about clubs who are bad sellers

1:02:46

potential at Arsenal, Ajax are a very

1:02:48

good seller and they leverage everything that

1:02:50

they can to ensure they get value

1:02:53

but there are people in Holland who

1:02:55

say this contract is for

1:02:58

real and he doesn't want to eat he's gonna

1:03:00

focus on playing for Ajax next season so

1:03:03

I don't know I think when he is

1:03:05

on the market Arsenal will certainly be there because

1:03:07

they really like him would

1:03:09

that make the squad better? To

1:03:16

be honest it's really hard to answer that question without

1:03:19

knowing if people like Tommy Astu are gonna be

1:03:21

fit doesn't it it's like it's

1:03:23

so dependent on availability of what

1:03:25

we have. I mean would

1:03:27

you if the offer came in from

1:03:30

I mean this talk of Bayern Munich

1:03:32

being interested in Zinchenko

1:03:34

I think there might be

1:03:36

just a little bit of the well

1:03:38

Zinchenko and company used to play together

1:03:40

in Manchester City so he knows him

1:03:42

so let's link the guy with the

1:03:44

new job with a player who might

1:03:47

be available I'm not sure how much

1:03:49

truth there is to that and my

1:03:52

my guess is that you know Zinchenko

1:03:54

would probably prefer to stay at Arsenal

1:03:57

than to go but if there is

1:03:59

a realistic decision discussion about his

1:04:01

role in the squad and his position in the team,

1:04:03

then maybe he might be open to a departure. Yeah,

1:04:07

I think he does want to stay. His

1:04:10

Instagram post in the season was pretty honest,

1:04:13

wasn't it? You know, I don't know if you saw it, but

1:04:15

he basically said, look, I haven't had the best

1:04:18

season and I know that and I want to come

1:04:20

back and do better. But

1:04:24

two years left on the contract, no

1:04:27

talks about an extension. I

1:04:31

think clearly not quite where he

1:04:33

was in the pecking order under Artetta. So

1:04:36

I think if someone like Bayern showed interest,

1:04:38

Arsenal would jump at it. I

1:04:42

don't know about Bayern, you know,

1:04:44

it depends what company's plans are.

1:04:46

Arguably, someone like Guerrero,

1:04:49

they have someone who can do a similar

1:04:52

job from left back, stepping into

1:04:54

midfield. Again,

1:04:57

he's a player who is quite specific,

1:04:59

isn't he? You

1:05:01

need to really want what

1:05:03

he does, because he's

1:05:06

pretty unique and you need to be prepared

1:05:09

to kind of partly build

1:05:11

your model around that, which

1:05:14

I think is limiting, where you can go.

1:05:16

Yeah. I

1:05:19

think it's a question, is it? Yeah, probably,

1:05:21

let's have a look. Oh,

1:05:25

so Le Jackal says, what do you

1:05:27

think about Saliba and the Olympics? Would

1:05:29

Arsenal let him play if he wanted to go

1:05:31

or is it a flat no regardless? I sort

1:05:33

of imagine players would love to get a gold

1:05:36

medal. Yeah,

1:05:39

I mean, I think it

1:05:42

should be a flat no, absolutely. You

1:05:46

know, he's going to be at the Euros. Does

1:05:48

any footballer really dream of

1:05:51

winning the Olympics? Do you?

1:05:55

Is that something you dream of? I don't think so,

1:05:57

but I can see that it's a cool thing, you

1:05:59

know, in retirement. to be like, oh by

1:06:01

the way I've got to go medal. Like I

1:06:03

can see that there is an attraction to that.

1:06:05

Yeah but like I think if

1:06:08

you're a player like Saliba, basically

1:06:10

the best central defender in the

1:06:12

Premier League last season at

1:06:14

22 years of age, you

1:06:17

know you've got to leave the

1:06:19

smaller trinkets to the guys who

1:06:21

aren't playing as regularly elsewhere, who

1:06:23

are at a different stage in

1:06:25

their careers who are still doing

1:06:27

the medal. You've got to have a Premier League medal.

1:06:29

Of course, you won the European Championship medal and a

1:06:31

Premier League medal and a Champions League medal, which

1:06:35

I think you would have a better chance of getting if you

1:06:37

didn't play in the Olympics. And I can

1:06:39

completely understand why Arsenal decided,

1:06:42

you know, or put the foot down. What do

1:06:45

you think of Thierry Henry trying to take him? That's

1:06:49

not the actions of a true Arsenal

1:06:51

man, is it? I understand.

1:06:53

He wants his best players. I get

1:06:55

it. I get it. And I

1:06:57

think the expectation is that Saliba probably won't

1:07:00

play at the Euros. I had a question

1:07:02

on that actually. Oh go on. Joe,

1:07:05

who's at red and white

1:07:08

11, says despite keeping him injury free,

1:07:10

would it not be more beneficial for Saliba

1:07:12

to play high pressure games in the Euros

1:07:15

rather than sit them out at this point

1:07:17

in his career? I've seen a lot of

1:07:19

fans rejoice in him being snubbed. For

1:07:21

whatever reason, Didier Deschamps doesn't like some of

1:07:24

the things that William Saliba does. He made

1:07:26

that public last season,

1:07:28

which I thought was strange and weird, which

1:07:32

might also apply to Didier Deschamps

1:07:34

and some of... Yeah,

1:07:37

anyway. But Joe says,

1:07:39

I think he'd develop a lot by playing.

1:07:41

Like, would you prefer Saliba to play for

1:07:43

France or just kind of sit

1:07:46

there this summer and maybe

1:07:49

get on in a game that's been won

1:07:51

when France have qualified if and when France

1:07:53

have qualified from their group, et cetera, et

1:07:56

cetera? Well, maybe

1:07:59

I'm a bit naive. but I kind of feel like he's

1:08:02

already there. Do you know

1:08:04

what I mean? Like he's already there. He's

1:08:06

already training every day. He's with the squad

1:08:09

for as long as they're in the competition.

1:08:11

Hmm. I'd kind of

1:08:13

rather he played. If

1:08:16

he's going to be there anyway. Um,

1:08:20

maybe that's a bit of selfishness for me. You know, I'm going

1:08:22

to be watching the tournament and I want to see the Arsenal

1:08:24

guys play, I want to see them do well. I want to

1:08:26

see them happy. I want to

1:08:29

see them succeed and thrive and come back,

1:08:31

you know, feeling positive and energized and buzzy.

1:08:35

Um, so I

1:08:37

think I'd probably rather see him play, but

1:08:39

I do understand people who are like, well,

1:08:41

he won't. I suppose I just, I

1:08:44

suppose I just feel that those, those 90

1:08:46

minutes on

1:08:48

top of the training he's doing anyway, I'm

1:08:50

not sure how much difference they make. Yeah,

1:08:53

I would prefer to see him play as well. You

1:08:55

know, I think it could for his development.

1:08:57

Of course, of course, you know, playing, um,

1:09:01

you know, the business end of a summer

1:09:03

tournament like the European championships, I think can

1:09:05

only be, can only be good for

1:09:07

him, you know, the, the only

1:09:09

reason that you don't want him to play is in

1:09:12

case, you know, he gets injured in a game. Someone

1:09:14

kicks him or he lands awkwardly or something like that,

1:09:16

but that could happen just as easily in training as

1:09:18

it could in a match. So, uh, I

1:09:21

would prefer to see him play. I don't think he

1:09:24

will unless he's an injury or a suspension to somebody

1:09:26

else. Uh, I don't really

1:09:28

understand why Deschamps is going with, with

1:09:30

other players ahead of him, because it

1:09:32

seems pretty obvious to anyone who watches

1:09:34

the premier league on a

1:09:36

regular basis that, that Saliba is one of

1:09:39

the best players in the league and one of the

1:09:41

best central defenders in Europe. But then I

1:09:43

was speaking to Philippe Auclair on the Arsecast

1:09:45

a couple of weeks ago, and he said,

1:09:47

Deschamps has never come to, uh, England

1:09:49

to watch a premier league game in

1:09:52

his time as France manager. So that's

1:09:54

just weird as well. So

1:09:56

nice, Saliba is his only player here as

1:09:59

well. Very strange. Listen,

1:10:05

Stelieber is so good, and

1:10:08

France is so prone to occasional

1:10:10

combustion in tournaments, that it wouldn't surprise me

1:10:12

if even if he doesn't start the

1:10:15

tournament in the team, he could force his way

1:10:17

into contention. He really is just that good. So

1:10:21

let's wait and see. But yes, I

1:10:23

think that his participation

1:10:25

in the Euros just makes

1:10:28

the Olympics complete nonstarter. And

1:10:31

I don't think we'll see any senior

1:10:33

Arsenal players take part

1:10:36

in the Olympics. I can't see

1:10:38

the club consenting for that. What about this

1:10:40

one from David MacNamara at DVDMCN? That

1:10:46

guy. He says having listened to the

1:10:49

football V-pod, never heard of that, some guy

1:10:51

called Bill Costas is the presenter. I don't

1:10:53

know if you know it. Anyway, he was

1:10:55

talking about South America and

1:10:58

South American football last week. Is it

1:11:00

a bit frustrating that despite having a

1:11:02

Brazilian sporting director, we haven't been able

1:11:04

to attract more of what seems to

1:11:06

be generational talent that is coming through

1:11:08

from there? And there was another little

1:11:10

question here. I don't want to...

1:11:13

Please, forget about Marquinhos. Forget

1:11:15

about Marquinhos James. I told you last week...

1:11:17

That's the mantra for the summer. Forget about

1:11:19

Marquinhos. Forget about Marquinhos. And actually, there was

1:11:22

another question which I can't find now. Oh,

1:11:25

no, here it is. It's from Messy

1:11:27

Music and Ball, who's at Messy Music

1:11:29

with a K on Twitter. He

1:11:31

says, we've been linked with EZAC and Bruno to

1:11:34

name a few this season. We were also linked

1:11:36

years ago, Bruno in Brazil and at

1:11:38

Leon and EZAC, when he was at

1:11:40

Real Sociedad. He said, now they're worth

1:11:43

even more. Do we need to

1:11:45

trust our talent ID more and take more

1:11:47

risks so we can get these talents earlier?

1:11:49

So maybe tie that one in to

1:11:51

the question about South America and

1:11:53

then players from Brazil. Well,

1:11:57

the Brazilian one is interesting. I mean, I would say we

1:11:59

found Gero Martin. in Brazil and

1:12:03

that hadn't turned out too badly. We

1:12:08

obviously, when we dispensed with the

1:12:10

vast majority of our scouting team,

1:12:13

we maintained our scouts

1:12:15

in Brazil. So we've had continuity there.

1:12:18

We've actually since added, I think, another

1:12:20

South American scout. So we

1:12:22

have quite a big presence there. And

1:12:25

so I think it's at least

1:12:27

three staff members maybe working on

1:12:29

South America. Obviously,

1:12:31

Eddy has the contacts. I

1:12:34

mean, do you expect maybe in a summer where,

1:12:38

you know, we've talked about the deals that Arstil

1:12:40

will do, they're not gonna be the mega deals.

1:12:42

It's not gonna be the Declan Rice deal. It's

1:12:44

gonna be, you know, the 20, maybe

1:12:47

the, you know, 15 to 30 to 40 million pounds. You

1:12:51

know, would you expect

1:12:53

that maybe this summer we could

1:12:56

see a deal or two involving

1:12:58

players coming from Brazil where the

1:13:01

fees are not going to be

1:13:04

anywhere near as much as they are in the Premier League

1:13:06

and certainly in other parts of Europe.

1:13:09

I think that's eminently plausible. And

1:13:13

I think it's equally plausible that we might

1:13:15

not know a great deal about it at

1:13:17

this point in time, because, you know, European

1:13:20

journalists, a lot of their contacts are in Europe.

1:13:22

And Pablo Marie, it

1:13:26

kind of happened very quickly in

1:13:28

media terms, you know, because there

1:13:30

isn't quite the same network of

1:13:32

contacts and thus potential leaks. So

1:13:35

yeah, that I think is plausible. Clearly

1:13:39

there is a lot of talent out

1:13:41

there right now, but

1:13:44

I do think that a lot of European

1:13:46

clubs have a well established

1:13:48

in that market. You know, you think of Real

1:13:50

Madrid, I mean, they've been doing it for years,

1:13:52

right? Cherry picking the best of Brazilian talent. And

1:13:55

I think probably a lot of South Americans, you

1:13:58

know, they love the idea of the Premier League. but

1:14:01

there's a more natural cultural fit maybe

1:14:03

in Spain or even in Southern Europe

1:14:05

and Italy that

1:14:08

may give those clubs some precedence there.

1:14:10

I think language and all

1:14:12

things like that help. But yeah,

1:14:15

I take the point. It feels like

1:14:17

a market we could be exploiting more

1:14:20

and the appointments we've made to the

1:14:22

scouting team seem to suggest that's our

1:14:24

intention. So maybe it's

1:14:26

time that bears some fruit. Yeah, it's

1:14:29

a former Real Madrid guy or one

1:14:31

of the Real Madrid guys

1:14:33

in South America is the guy that we

1:14:35

appointed out there. So let's

1:14:38

see. I enjoyed this one before

1:14:40

you go next. The Baron

1:14:42

on Discord says, is Danny Sibios

1:14:44

the Cedric of Real Madrid? Very

1:14:50

possibly. Well,

1:14:53

you know, he might be the LN. He might

1:14:55

be a guy who recognises I'm

1:14:57

a squad player, but I'm at one

1:15:00

of the biggest clubs in the world. And

1:15:03

club I dreamed of playing for and

1:15:05

I'm getting myself a nice little

1:15:07

medal collection while I'm at it. There's

1:15:10

a lot to be said for that. You

1:15:12

know, it's interesting, isn't

1:15:15

it? I think when you're winning everything, everyone's

1:15:18

happy to play their part. That's

1:15:20

true. So

1:15:22

yeah, it's

1:15:24

sort of a dilemma for players, isn't it?

1:15:26

What's more important to play regular first team

1:15:28

football or to stick it out

1:15:31

at a club where you can pick up a load

1:15:33

of medals and have a lovely Wikipedia

1:15:35

entry at the end of your career. Lovely time.

1:15:37

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Lots

1:15:39

of bus parades. Oh,

1:15:44

I like this one. Snooner Gunner. Goodly

1:15:46

morning. After Eddish quotes this week about

1:15:48

having 180 page documents

1:15:50

for each transfer target, which

1:15:53

Arsenal signing in the Ofteeta era would

1:15:55

you like to read the document for?

1:15:58

Would it be a marquee signing? like Rice

1:16:00

or a player like Runicin slash Nuno

1:16:02

Tavares to see exactly how they filled

1:16:05

up those pages. Big

1:16:07

fonts, big fonts. I cannot imagine that

1:16:09

the dossier on Alex Runicin was 180

1:16:11

pages, maybe 180 characters. It

1:16:15

was probably just a reference letter from

1:16:17

Yaki Kanyo, a cover letter. A single

1:16:19

tweet. I

1:16:21

know mine actually. Right. You'll just start.

1:16:24

Well you go with yours and I'll... Mine's a bit

1:16:26

of a cheat, so mine is a player that we

1:16:28

did not sign. I would

1:16:31

love to read the 180 page

1:16:34

Michael O'Myrdrick document. Oh,

1:16:36

that's a good one. Yeah, yeah, that is a

1:16:38

good one. I'd be fascinated to see like the

1:16:40

terms in which we discussed him,

1:16:43

his role in the team, his potential

1:16:45

impact, because we obviously regarded him incredibly

1:16:47

highly and it's not worked out for

1:16:49

him yet at Chelsea. So I think

1:16:51

that would be a really interesting read.

1:16:55

That would be good. I'd like to see that. I

1:16:59

think I'd probably like

1:17:02

to see the Ramsdale one,

1:17:05

given how things changed a bit

1:17:07

quickly. With

1:17:11

his situation and maybe there was an element

1:17:13

of opportunism with David Ria, but that would

1:17:15

be quite a good one. Also,

1:17:18

Havarts. Yeah.

1:17:20

I'd like to see what they put

1:17:22

together on Havarts and what, you

1:17:26

know, what their rationale for the signing

1:17:28

was and where they

1:17:30

saw him, because I'm

1:17:32

pretty sure, you know,

1:17:34

what Arteta said about sometimes a player tells

1:17:37

you where they should play. Didn't he say

1:17:39

that this week or this season? But

1:17:42

that's all well and good. But

1:17:45

when you're about to spend 60 odd million on

1:17:47

a player, you've got to have a firm idea

1:17:49

of what you see his role as within the

1:17:51

club, even if at some point

1:17:53

down the line it changes or doesn't come to

1:17:55

pass as quickly as you think. So I'd love

1:17:58

to know what they thought. I have

1:18:00

to think that there probably was an element of,

1:18:04

what did I say a few

1:18:06

times, that were a bit 5'9

1:18:08

in attack and Havarts coming

1:18:10

in would certainly give you a bit of variety

1:18:13

in that sense. So I wouldn't

1:18:15

say 100% that they precluded the

1:18:17

idea of him playing at Centreford, but I don't think

1:18:19

it was top of the list. No,

1:18:22

I mean at the end of the day, a lot

1:18:24

of these players are versatile, but at the end of

1:18:26

the day, Eddy's got a big diagram in his office,

1:18:28

right? And I reckon last summer

1:18:31

in that diagram, Kai Havarts was like in

1:18:33

the midfield bit. But

1:18:37

you know, part of football is about being

1:18:40

reactive and seeing what's working and

1:18:42

embracing it. And

1:18:44

obviously it really worked, you know, playing

1:18:46

Kai through the middle. And actually, you know,

1:18:49

if Sesco does end up being the striker

1:18:51

signing, I think that's sort of good

1:18:55

news for Kai Havarts. I think he's sort of

1:18:57

a similar moulder forward. And

1:19:00

I think because he's quite

1:19:02

junior, because he's quite young, the

1:19:05

likelihood is it means Kai Havarts would probably start

1:19:07

the season as Arsenal's number nine, which is, you

1:19:10

know, would be a big reward for

1:19:12

his performances. Yeah. But

1:19:15

what does that

1:19:17

tell us anything? Does the Sesco signing, if

1:19:19

it happens, does that tell us anything about

1:19:22

anywhere else? Does

1:19:24

that tell us what we need in midfield? Like

1:19:26

if your plan to sign Sesco is that long

1:19:28

term he's going to be your number nine, he's

1:19:30

going to be your starting striker, where does that

1:19:32

leave Havarts? Does it leave him

1:19:34

as an eight? What if you've

1:19:36

already repurposed Declan Rice as an eight

1:19:38

and you've brought in a six? You

1:19:42

know, are those the kind of moving parts that

1:19:44

Arsenal have to consider as well? Yeah, I think

1:19:46

those are the moving parts. I mean, you

1:19:48

know, in the

1:19:50

last few months, several times I've

1:19:52

heard, well, a lot depends on what we

1:19:55

decide with Declan Rice. And

1:19:57

as far as I'm aware... that

1:20:00

decision hasn't sort of firmly been

1:20:03

made. Now, either

1:20:06

that's because Arsenal think we don't

1:20:08

need to decide. We've got a guy who's

1:20:10

a great number six and a great number

1:20:12

eight. And why, you know,

1:20:15

why pin him down? Let's keep it

1:20:17

flexible. Let's have players who provide Michael

1:20:19

with options and versatility.

1:20:25

I don't know. I mean, I think when you look at the players we're being

1:20:27

linked with, they tend to be more number

1:20:29

sixes. You know, people like Zuby Mendy. Ciao

1:20:33

Nevez I wrote about today as a player Arsenal

1:20:35

like. Again, a number six. Bruno

1:20:37

Guimar is, I think, is going to be out of reach financially,

1:20:40

but again, number six. You

1:20:43

look at where Rice finished the season.

1:20:46

Number eight, number eight, number eight, number eight. So

1:20:49

my current feeling is that it

1:20:51

looks like it's leaning more towards

1:20:54

keeping Rice in as a number eight and

1:20:56

maybe signing somebody else to play as a six.

1:20:59

I also think the number eight market is

1:21:01

quite difficult. There's not a great deal

1:21:03

of options out there. So I think

1:21:05

that's the way it looks like it's going. But yeah,

1:21:08

you raise a good point. I mean, Sesco

1:21:10

coming in, that opens

1:21:13

up the question potentially of

1:21:15

how it's playing at number

1:21:17

eight maybe from time to time. And then

1:21:19

you've got Rice back as a six. So

1:21:23

there are a lot of moving parts in this. And

1:21:25

I think maybe

1:21:27

what we can ascertain from

1:21:29

the way Arteta managed the team last season

1:21:31

is that he quite likes having some of

1:21:34

those moving parts. And he

1:21:36

maybe that will be a lesson learned in some respects

1:21:38

from last season is that rather than having a fixed

1:21:40

plan, let's see how

1:21:43

those on-field relationships naturally

1:21:45

evolve. Yes. I mean,

1:21:47

that was something that he talked about at

1:21:49

the start of last season, was having more

1:21:51

variety, being less predictable. And

1:21:53

I think you can make a case that

1:21:55

Arsenal being a bit predictable

1:21:58

almost got

1:22:00

us the Premier League title, so there's

1:22:02

nothing necessarily wrong with that per se,

1:22:04

but you know, someone having

1:22:07

timber available all season would have given

1:22:10

us different options in different games at

1:22:12

different points of the season. So yeah,

1:22:14

I don't think they're going

1:22:17

to absolutely say right from now on, Declan

1:22:19

Rice is a number eight and that's it.

1:22:21

No, no, no. No way. You can't do

1:22:23

that because, you know, it doesn't really make

1:22:25

any sense to do that. But

1:22:28

it might be a case of, you know, where they

1:22:30

primarily see him in

1:22:33

terms of maybe what they can do or

1:22:35

the kind of player they can bring in.

1:22:37

What about this Gio Névez guy? Yeah, exactly.

1:22:39

What about this big question? Yes. Like,

1:22:42

I think it is informed by the market. I mean, it's all very well

1:22:44

saying like, well, we think Rice is a six or

1:22:46

we think he's an eight, but if you

1:22:48

can bring in a brilliant number six

1:22:50

and it means you've got to play Declan Rice as

1:22:52

number eight, that's fine, you know? So

1:22:57

yeah, we'll see. What about this Gio

1:22:59

Névez guy? Is he only

1:23:01

19 or something? Yeah, 19

1:23:03

years old. Interesting looking player

1:23:05

actually. I mean, Zubimendi and Névez,

1:23:08

I don't know either player especially

1:23:10

well, but there are certain parallels

1:23:12

between them, you know, a bit

1:23:15

more physically slight, but very tenacious,

1:23:20

you know, aggressive and ball

1:23:24

winners, but really good manipulators of

1:23:26

the ball as well. I

1:23:29

think a lot of big clubs are looking at Névez, you

1:23:32

know, he's like the next big thing to come out of

1:23:34

Portugal. Ben Fica at the

1:23:36

moment, I think he's got a release clause that's

1:23:38

very high. We're talking kind of Enzo Fernandez sort

1:23:40

of money. I don't

1:23:43

think Arsenal would go to that level for him, but

1:23:45

if he was available at less than that, I think

1:23:47

they'd definitely be interested. But yeah,

1:23:49

he's 19, so you know, do you

1:23:51

think he's ready? Zubimendi's quite a lot

1:23:54

older, I think he's about 25. So

1:23:57

that would be a more natural

1:23:59

sort of obvious ready to come straight into the

1:24:01

team signing. The

1:24:04

trouble is with Mendy is he

1:24:07

looks like he's having an absolutely brilliant time at

1:24:09

Real Saucedad, which is the club

1:24:11

he supported as a boy, the city he

1:24:13

grew up in. They're playing

1:24:16

the Champions League I believe next season.

1:24:20

I think the job is to persuade him to

1:24:23

leave his nice life in San Sebastian,

1:24:25

frankly. Yes, the Scotland of Spain. Why

1:24:27

would anyone leave? So

1:24:29

we shall see. I don't

1:24:32

think midfield, with

1:24:34

the front line you can look at Sesco and say, yes,

1:24:38

he wants to come to the Premier League, he

1:24:40

likes Arsenal, there's a release clause, it

1:24:43

all feels quite doable. I think midfield

1:24:45

is more complex at this point

1:24:47

in time. I think so. Alright, Boonana

1:24:49

on the Discord says, Goody Morning, the

1:24:52

Euros are upon us next week. How

1:24:54

invested are you or not? And are

1:24:56

there any players you'll specifically be

1:24:59

looking out for? I'm

1:25:03

not that invested as yet, but

1:25:05

I will be. I do like

1:25:07

international tournaments. You're not getting

1:25:09

the drums ready for Gareth Southgate's Beige-Cardigan

1:25:12

army yet? Not

1:25:15

yet, but by the time of the first game

1:25:17

I'll have the face paint and everything I imagine.

1:25:20

Beige, face paint. I watched

1:25:22

a bit of England last night actually and they were not

1:25:25

hugely exciting. Oh, were they playing?

1:25:28

Yes, they played now.

1:25:32

Did they play Montenegro? I

1:25:34

want to be sure. Don't ask me. I didn't

1:25:37

even know. They

1:25:39

played Bosnia, Bartzia Herzegovina.

1:25:43

What could go wrong in that mix-up by

1:25:45

me there? Did Saka

1:25:47

play? No, no involvement.

1:25:50

That precautionary absence

1:25:52

from the final day was enough of

1:25:54

a precaution to extend until June 3rd.

1:25:57

He was not even on the bench.

1:26:00

A bit of doubt over

1:26:03

him, but the expectation is he might

1:26:05

be in contention for the game later

1:26:07

this week at Wembley. It

1:26:13

was interesting, a very sort

1:26:15

of mishmash team. He's got to make

1:26:17

decisions, he's got a 33-man squad, he's got to get it down

1:26:19

to 26. But

1:26:23

the England Arsenal players were not involved,

1:26:26

Ramsdale on the bench, Declan

1:26:30

Rice I think was on the bench, but

1:26:32

not sure he got on, and no

1:26:34

saccharin the squad. So I think we might

1:26:36

see some of those guys later

1:26:39

in the week. I expect them all to be in

1:26:41

the final 26. Of course,

1:26:44

certainly of course in the case of saccharin Rice.

1:26:48

Who am I watching? Well,

1:26:50

I'll be watching Sesco

1:26:53

pretty closely. I

1:26:55

think he plays England, if

1:26:57

I'm right. Let

1:26:59

me have a look here. They

1:27:01

play Denmark, then

1:27:04

they play Serbia, and

1:27:06

then... Then

1:27:11

they play England, yes. England on the

1:27:13

25th of June, yeah. That

1:27:16

could be an interesting one, if

1:27:18

it's still a competitive game. That

1:27:21

is the final group game, so sometimes there can be a bit

1:27:23

of sting taken out of them by then. Who

1:27:28

else? Anyone, you've got your eye on particular? No.

1:27:34

I'm just looking forward... Nice to have Declan

1:27:36

Rice, nice to have an Irishman in. Well, that's it,

1:27:38

yeah. I'm just looking forward to

1:27:40

watching some football where I really don't

1:27:42

care who wins one way or

1:27:45

the other, and I can just watch football and

1:27:47

have a chat about it and all that. Got

1:27:49

a feeling on a winner for the tournament? Do

1:27:53

I have a feeling? I

1:27:57

don't know, a sneaky feeling for Germany. Wow

1:28:00

okay yeah

1:28:03

but beyond that not

1:28:06

really yeah not really

1:28:09

France are good aren't they I mean England are I

1:28:15

was gonna say England are at home

1:28:17

but they're not because in Germany in

1:28:19

Germany yeah I mean England should do

1:28:21

well England have the players yes you

1:28:24

know even in their weaker positions they

1:28:27

have experience so you know

1:28:32

England should certainly be looking

1:28:34

at semi-final and then we

1:28:36

shall see but who knows you

1:28:38

know that but I think you know tournaments are fun aren't

1:28:41

they it's nice to have free games on telly every day

1:28:44

exactly for Italian as well what a treat

1:28:46

yeah there you go so yeah I'm looking

1:28:48

forward to it I'm looking forward to just

1:28:50

watching and not caring and not being on

1:28:52

the edge of my seat and not having

1:28:54

heart attacks and palpitations and my Garmin watch

1:28:56

telling me that my heart is about to

1:28:58

explode because the stress of seeing Arsenal hang

1:29:00

on to a one goal lead for 20

1:29:02

minutes is too much for me so yeah

1:29:05

that's what I'm looking forward to this summer a

1:29:08

lot of people are asking us to do our

1:29:11

predictions you know ins and outs and net spends and

1:29:13

all that kind of stuff you know the thing that

1:29:16

we do every year and get completely wrong I think

1:29:20

we should maybe do that next week we'll have a

1:29:22

think about it you know we can put a little

1:29:24

bit of thought and planning into

1:29:26

it rather than just making it

1:29:28

up on the spot as we do yeah

1:29:31

it's better to be considered and wrong you

1:29:33

know yeah what we'll do later this

1:29:36

time next week we'll just make it

1:29:38

up on the spot but we're the week's

1:29:41

a week but I'll have let it

1:29:43

percolate yeah exactly exactly I have

1:29:46

some thoughts in my head about all this so we'll

1:29:48

do that we'll get it wrong as we always do

1:29:50

and yeah well we'll have that for

1:29:53

you next week so I think we should probably

1:29:55

leave it there for now get this podcast out to

1:29:57

people it is a daylight already so the sooner we

1:29:59

get it the better as ever. Thank you

1:30:01

so much for being with us. Thanks for downloading

1:30:03

and subscribing and all the things you do. We

1:30:06

really do appreciate it. Have a great week and

1:30:08

we'll catch you on the next one. Bye-bye. Meet

1:30:21

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