Alexander Isak to Liverpool? And your questions answered: Football Weekly

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Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

It's transfer time.

Louis Diaz out.

Alexander in.

Question mark.

Liverpool coming very close to winning the window with more than a month to go.

Another open top bus parade beckons.

Meanwhile, what would that mean for Newcastle?

Quickly, someone say Benjamin Sesco.

James Trafford's gone back to City instead of St.

James's.

So Aaron Ramsdale might take a suitcase of short-sleeved shirts to the northeast.

Jack Greenish to Everton.

Is he Everton-y enough?

How pleased did Morgan Gibbs White look and sound as he celebrated his new contract with Evangelos Maranakis breathing over him?

Great news for Forrest.

Not great for Spurs.

They need more than kudos to get real kudos from the fans.

Then there's Xhaka, Paketar, and Jao Felix.

We'll do some more basking in the glory of the Euros final.

Answer your questions.

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, welcome back from Nova Scotia, Barry Glendenning.

Hello, Max.

How are you?

I'm very good.

Thank you.

John Bruin.

Hello.

Hello.

Hello.

And from the racing post, Mark Langdon, welcome.

Hi, Max.

Let's begin then, shall we, with the future of Alexander Isaac.

Eddie Howe says his future, quote, has to to be right for Newcastle.

He didn't travel with the squad to Singapore last week, with Newcastle saying he had a thigh injury.

Obviously impossible to take a long-haul flight if you have a thigh strain.

He will be aware he is in the news every day.

I'm sure that's not easy for anyone in that situation.

Conversations that happen with Alex and the club, or Alex and myself, will stay private for obvious reasons, says Eddie in his very footballer speak.

No one speaks football better than Eddie Howe, do they, John?

But what do you think?

I mean, if he goes to Liverpool, like, it's...

And obviously, you know, with all the caveats that transfers don't necessarily work out, and before we work out how they can afford it, this is a brilliant signing.

Yes, he's the market leader, he's the best striker around.

Liverpool are already the best team around.

What could possibly go wrong once you've signed that player?

It all adds up if you're a Liverpool fan.

It's all pretty doomy if you are a Newcastle fan.

The minute I heard the word thigh strain, I thought, yeah, they say that, you know, he wants out.

Because uh, speaking to an ex-pro last season, he told me that there's a couple of injuries that you can tell the medical staff that if you don't want to play, so you don't want to do a long trip to you know Cardiff or whatever.

Uh, the back, because no one knows how backs work, and it's the thigh and the groin.

And you know, they just can't get to the bottom of it, they can't prove whether it hurts or not, or whether it's going to cure.

So, that's the one

there are certain mystery injuries that mean perhaps the player isn't interested in playing at this moment in time.

And as it turns out, that is the case.

Alexander Isak wants out, exploring his opportunities, as I think is the phrase.

Again, very football these days, modern football.

That's the way that we are operating.

And we're sort of we're in an era, aren't we, of LinkedIn slash football man?

It's sort of the two are merging together into this new lingo.

And anyhow, as you say, the finest

of its

evangelistic push for this new language that we've got.

But I'll tell you what, yeah, Liverpool, well, they should be unstoppable if they sign EZAC.

But I have memories of certain huge signings that couldn't possibly go wrong.

I'm thinking of my Manchester United signings, Juan Sebastian Veron and Rud Van Nistelroy.

They would blaze to the title, wouldn't they?

They didn't.

Chelsea signing

Shevchenko.

Do you remember that?

Back in 2006.

I remember I was in a bar in Toulouse and I watched Shevchenko play his first game.

I think it was obviously the Community Shield.

And I thought, the season's over.

Well, no, it wasn't.

So

the problem is for Liverpool is they've got to fit Isaac into that team.

Now, you would suggest that wouldn't be too hard, but they have Mo Sala.

They've also signed Hugo Ekitike.

They've got another raft of other good forwards.

It doesn't necessarily going go to win the title.

It probably suggests that they've got a great chance.

But what it also does is this is the summer of strikers.

It moves that transfer market around, doesn't it?

The obvious one is this guy, Sesco, to Newcastle.

But Eddie's powers of persuasion haven't been so good so far, have they?

Because they've been after just about everybody.

You mentioned James Drafford there, and none of them have joined Newcastle.

We're beginning to wonder what's afoot there.

Mark, what is Liverpool's starting three then?

If Isaac joins?

This came up in Pep Confidential, the book where

Guardiola was followed around in his first season of Bayern Munich, you know, what's Bayern's best 11.

He just started laughing at the journalist and then said, well, you haven't said who we're playing and that.

So there will be times when

you need different variety in those attacking positions.

I would say that if it was, say, the Champions League final, which is always the one that you go to if you're thinking, right, we're going to pick our best 11.

I would have thought that that front three, if Isak signed, would be Salah,

Isak,

and then it would depend, I suppose, how Ekitike starts and whether he stays out on the left, but probably at the moment, Gakpo,

maybe, on the left.

You'd have Wertz in behind them, probably the two that played in midfield for most of last season, Gravan Burke and McAllister.

Then, the back four, you'd have you Koke's left back, Van Dijk and Canate, centre-halves, you'd have Alison in goal.

The right back would probably depend on whether they wanted to be attacking with Frimpom or more defensive with Bradley.

I think that might be their sort of best 11 inverted commas.

But Salah is going to be missing

a decent chunk of the season if Egypt go far.

In AFCON.

That starts earlier than ever before, starts before Christmas and runs into

sort of at least the middle of January.

So that there might be sort of between four and six Premier League games that Salah could miss.

So I think really Liverpool, they sold Diaz to buy Munich.

So they're definitely sort of raising some money as well.

And they didn't spend anything really last year.

So, you know, while other teams were wasting 100 million left, right, and center

they just felt there wasn't anybody on the market that improved them significantly they've waited um and then and now sort of um reaping the benefits of that so i yeah i i think it would be you know a fantastic signing but i agree with with john that i don't think any one signing just wins you the league i think that that's a far too simplistic view of what football is in chelsea that torres that was the final piece of the jigsaw at one stage and he had his his moments in the Champions League, but overall wasn't a success.

Lukaku, second time around at Chelsea, was the final piece of that jigsaw, and other pieces in the jigsaw then broke.

So it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll definitely win the league.

Yeah, the final piece of the jigsaw always fits, except in football where you just get another jigsaw, and it's just completely the wrong shell, just massively, just totally wrong.

What do you make of the Diaz to Bayern move, Baz?

I think I was a bit surprised by the fee, but otherwise it makes sense.

As in too much or not enough?

I thought it was an awful lot of money for a player who's decent, but not all that in my opinion.

I think it's probably a good move for him.

He apparently wanted to leave.

I think Liverpool will be fine without him and he will probably be a worthwhile addition to Bayern Munich's ranks.

So if it does work out for him there, it's kind of win-win.

Liverpool presumably need to raise funds if they want to bring in isaac newcastle fans are getting very agitated on on social media at least about the manner in which isaac seems to have been approached he as john says has said he wants to explore his options i think uh max if the current mrs rushton came to you and said she wanted to explore her options you wouldn't have to read too

hard between the lines to figure out what that meant but it's quite surprising that he's left it this late in the summer to say make it known that he wants to see what else is out there on the dance floor

when quite a few other high-profile strikers have been paired off already.

But he was apparently, Amanda Staveley last year promised him a new and improved contract, but when she left Newcastle and Paul Mitchell came in as sporting director, Paul Mitchell reneged on that deal.

So that meant Alexander Isaac was not a happy bunny.

I believe he's on 150 grand a week, which is obviously a lot of money, but it's nowhere near the amount he could earn elsewhere.

So I get why he wants to explore his options.

And while Newcastle did win their first trophy in Eon's last season,

he has a better chance of winning silverware with Liverpool than he does at Newcastle.

Yeah, I do like exploring options.

It should just be, I'd like to explore my option, or I'd just like to go to Liverpool, please.

But you can't quite say it like that.

What do you make of Newcastle then, John?

Because it's, you know, as you sort of alluded to, it's such a cliche that players, I saw someone, I can't remember on the radio, say, players just don't want to go that far.

You know, the sort of, it's too far away madness.

But, but, you know, they

Callum Wilson's already left.

So without Isak, what they'd have to stick what Fabian share up front in a sort of, he can't strike a ball.

But they would have a a lot of money, I guess.

They would, and they do have profit and sustainability headroom now.

The name, Barry mentioned there, Paul Mitchell, he's no longer with the club.

And one of the issues they've got is a shifting back room or front office or whatever you want to call it with directors of football and all that.

There isn't actually really anyone to do the deals.

As it stands, the recruitment team is...

is Eddie Howe,

one of the gentlemen, and his own nephew, I understand,

part of that team.

Oh, great.

I hope he's like a six-year-old.

That's just my image of a nephew.

I think he might be a grown adult, just about.

Although Eddie's not much of a grown adult, so it's because Eddie looks very young, doesn't he?

Maybe he does.

If you look younger than Eddie Howe, it's no wonder people are not joining.

It's like there's two children running this club.

Listen,

think of deals that have happened already.

I mean, James Trafford's one that you mentioned.

We've got Mateus Cunha and Buemo go to you know Crisis Club Manchester United rather than go to Newcastle Ekatike chooses Liverpool which supposedly was part of and this was how it's depicted in

the tableau and the market as a power play

which is Liverpool we're going to take him as well if I was a Newcastle fan you would be reasonably pessimistic because

you'd be very pessimistic because this wasn't supposed to happen anymore.

And then you're starting to worry if your better players like Bruno will start thinking of similar options.

That, you know, if Isaac's looking away, well, what's in it for me?

And you've got a Champions League season in which it's a very, very thin squad.

It is pretty desperate.

There are questions over how interested the Saudis actually are

in Newcastle as compared to, say, the running of the 2034 World Cup, as in

the continuing plumping up of the Saudi League.

The big promises have come.

I mean, we're not quite into Maya Cashley territory yet.

There is a lot of concern.

And

Newcastle have that sinking feeling they've had so many times before, haven't they, of watching star players leave?

You know, your Chris Waddles, your Beardsleys, your Barnes, generations.

Andy Cole's Gascoignes, you know, Andy Cole, yeah.

Generations of this.

And it's likely to be repeated with Isaac.

And as I said, this wasn't supposed to happen.

No, I suppose the one thing you the saving grace you would have is I think there were fears, despite they had Isaac another, you know, last season, that they would struggle and they didn't start well.

And yet, you know, Eddie Howe has proven himself to be a brilliant coach and they they sort of outperformed what they should have done last year.

They could do that again.

Just on James Trafford, Mark, does he go in at number one at City?

I suspect maybe Edison begins the season there.

But I wouldn't be surprised if Trafford was number one by the end of it.

I think Edison has made too many mistakes really.

But with Trafford, you would potentially want to just ease him in.

It's a step up from

Burnley.

If you remember last time around in the Premier League, he actually had a difficult time

and was dropped by Burnley.

And so I think you want that backup.

just assurances that you've got an experienced goalkeeper because it's the one position really where you can't ease someone in

because every mistake mistake tends to lead to a goal.

I think it is a good signing by City because Trafford does seem to be the kind of future of English goalkeeping and Edison has, in a way, is not as reliable as he once was.

So it makes sense to do that.

Just going back to Newcastle, Liveramento has been linked with City as well, hasn't he?

So, I mean, that would be another real hammer blow for Newcastle, who appear to be struggling with PSR

as well as kind of of players wanting to leave for ambitious reasons as well.

We need

James Trafford

to win the game at Man United so young Trafford can win at old Trafford.

So, really, that's a key headline for this season.

Something to look out for.

Sorry, John, I interrupted you with something that probably didn't deserve to be said out loud.

Go for it.

I mean,

Anthony Gordon is another player that is slightly unsettled.

It has been said.

said.

The thing is that he's actually been linked with, guess what?

Liverpool.

Now,

we don't know how...

When are Liverpool going to stop being linked with players?

I'm sure Liverpool's operatives would tell me that that isn't going to happen.

But that has happened previously that he's been linked

with them.

He obviously didn't have the greatest relationship with Everton fans after his departure from there.

But that would be an interesting move.

And do you know what?

He would fit into that first 11, I think, that Mark Langdon talked of before.

You know, that Champions League final, you could could see Anthony Gordon, Mo Salah, and Alexander Isak quite happily fitting together.

Poor old Hugo Ekotike, he's just, you know, didn't have a game, you know, before becoming sort of like it's over for him,

Carabao Cups, Hugo Ekotike.

Well, we're on, you know, who's going to play down the left for Everton after Anthony Gordon, you know, left Jack Grealish,

perhaps to go there on loan, Barry.

Does that feel Everton-y, or not?

I can't work out if I can picture him in an Everton shirt.

I was surprised when I heard this.

And,

well, I suppose I'm obliged to say, with the greatest of respect to Everton, I

would consider that a big step down for Jack Grealish.

But if he's happy to go there, I think it would be a really good place for him to rediscover his mojo, which...

has been absent.

Although a friend of mine met him at an Oasis gig at Old Trafford, and let's just say he's appeared to be very much in tune with his mojo there.

And yeah, why not, I suppose?

He does need to kick-start his career because he's wasted a couple of years and or he certainly wasted last season.

Passed him by.

He's not wanted at City.

I would have had him down as a maybe off to Syria or Spain.

Yeah, Goodison Park would have been very low down my list of potential places for Jack Grealish to go.

Well,

Bramley.

Oh, sorry, of course.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's called something else.

It's like the Hilton.

What are they called?

It's the something Dickinson.

The David Dickinson Stadium?

That would be good.

Bruce Dickinson.

Yeah, Iron Maiden Memorial.

The Hill, yeah, the Bruce Dickinson.

Well, we'll have to call it the Bruce Dickinson state.

It's the Hill Dickinson.

Right, okay.

And

who is Hill Dickinson?

He sounds like somebody, a sort of a bit part character from the Dukes of Hazard, doesn't he?

Old Hill Dickinson.

He's in Boot Hill at the moment.

Yeah.

I think, if I'm correct, it's a law firm, a commercial law firm.

Okay.

The funny thing, you know what?

I could see Jack Grealish at Goodison, but I can't see him at a new stadium.

Does that sound a bit weird?

But

I know what you mean.

But it's sort of, you can see Grealish in the Gladys Street, and, you know, and it's Gladys Street.

Is that the right?

Yeah, in Gladys Street.

And that was Goodison.

We've forgotten it already.

In the Gladys Street and celebrating with fans.

Because Everton were a club, you know, weren't they, where they liked a bit of a Maverick?

And that could be

a Maverick who's flawed, like a Duncan Ferguson who played, you know, 20 times a season but was still amazing for the fans.

And

fans could get on your side, you know, like a

they're a sort of saviour club, aren't they?

They need a messiah.

Now, Jack grealish is probably a little bit old to be a messiah but you could see him that but if he played like he did at aston villa if it's still possible then yeah he could be an everton guy it's just that does he fit into the david moise style well david moise may had with lucas baquetti we'll discuss later had a very good season under david moise so why not i i we i think we'd all like to see the return of jack grealish as we recalled him at villa because he was such an exciting player do you remember how excited people were?

Remember that idea of the Gammon choir wanting Grealish in the team during Euro 2020?

That idea was everyone's favourite, the new Gazza.

The clamour, the clamour for Grealish.

He is too old to be a Messiah, but he's not too old to be a very naughty boy.

No, that is true.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But like him, him and Illian and Die.

I mean, if they had a centre-forward, Mark, and I forgive me, I don't know who if they have one.

Betto, is he still there?

Yeah.

No, they signed, uh, they signed uh Barry uh from

from villarreal um so um yeah he's um he's going to be the hope really in terms of scoring their goals david moi has been very unhappy um in in pre-season and

sort of they're one of the teams everton that slip under the radar unless you follow them you you're probably not sort of um you know david moi's press conferences are probably not on your sort of go-to watch list over the summer but he was really annoyed after a 3-0 defeat to bournemouth saying he needed 10 new players uh which

is a lot.

It doesn't say much for what he thinks of the current squad.

He then said maybe five or six was

more realistic.

And Grealish, I think, would be

the type of player that the Everton fans would love.

The kind of marquee play you would want to open a new stadium with.

And I'll fall into cliché territory here, but it's a World Cup year.

So those on the fringes need minutes.

And you would assume that if Grealish has any ambitions of playing for England at the World Cup, he needs to be playing

at a club where, with all due respect to Everton, he's one of the first names on the team sheet.

And a pound, of course, for the first person who tweets in to say, when Barry does score a header, perhaps set up by Grealish, whilst Barry's header better than Barry's header.

Anyway, that'll do for part one.

Part two, we'll begin with the Morgan Gibbs White saga.

Hi Pod fans of America, Max here.

Barry's here, too.

Hello.

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Digital notebooks that give you everything you love about paper, but with the power of modern technology.

But there's something new and exciting.

The remarkable paper pro move.

Remarkable, a brand name and an adjective, man.

Yeah, it's their most portable paper tablet yet.

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Suffs, the new musical has made Tony award-winning history on Broadway.

We demand to be home.

Winner, best score, we the man to be seen.

Winner, best book.

We the man to be quality.

It's a theatrical masterpiece that's thrilling, inspiring, dazzlingly entertaining, and unquestionably the most emotionally stirring musical this season.

Suffs, playing the Orpheum Theater, October 22nd through November 9th.

Tickets at BroadwaySF.com.

Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly, the 11th of September.

We are playing the Troxy in London.

Barry, it's exciting times for us back on a stage for the first time in two years.

Will we remember how to do it?

Well, I hope so.

Yeah, hopefully

lots of listeners will come along.

I had a look.

I think ticket sales are quite brisk.

And

yeah, please come.

Please come.

Yes.

Did that sound?

Didn't sound desperate.

It just sounded like surprise that anyone might consider doing it.

Getting towards early September, I'll start.

Sound desperate.

Theguardian.com slash football weekly live.

If you're not in London, we are live streaming it around the world.

So it is the same link.

Theguardian.com slash football weekly live.

I'll begin tweeting about it hourly.

I imagine in the week building up to it.

The link is in the pod description

or it's posted over Football Weekly's Instagram, Blue Sky at our TikTok account, which I hope is going great.

Guns.

Let's talk about Morgan Gibbs White.

Neil says, if a rival pod triggers Barrier's release clause, would producer Joel take the money or hit the roof and refuse to let him go?

I think we all presumed he was going to Spurs and all the in the knows

said, you know, this will just be done in a matter of days.

He signed a new deal with Nottingham Forest, three-year contract.

Forrest described it as a record deal for the club.

He gave an on-pitch interview with Evangelist Maranakis standing very close to him.

You know, it did feel blink twice at the social media intern if you're in danger, Morgan.

I believe in what we're building here.

And with the backing of Mr.

Maranakis and the enormous ambition he has, I want to be part of making something special.

I'm excited for what's to come.

What do you make of it, Mark?

From a Tottenham point of view or from a Nottingham Forest point of view or from a Morgan Gibbs wipe?

Well, I mean, it's brilliant from a Forest, but just so interesting from a sort of Gibbs wipe.

You know, I imagine if your release cause is triggered and then you think you're going somewhere and then it's just quite an interesting time for him, I guess.

Yeah, I mean, there have been sort of other suggestions that the release cause was more complicated than just, you know, 60 million and he's yours.

It might well have been, you know, whether that was upfront or, you know, certain other conditions that has been suggested Tottenham didn't meet.

It did also look like Mr.

Maranakis may well have sort of been moving those conditions, even if Tottenham would have matched whatever, because he was desperate not to lose face here.

You know, he clearly was upset with the way that Tottenham or maybe it was Morgan Gibbs White or the people around Gibbs White had gone about trying to make this transfer happen.

I think from Nottingham Forest's point of view, it's fantastic because they had a great season last year.

They're in Europe.

They've just lost the language.

To have lost Gibbs White as well would have,

I think, potentially put them them in danger of slipping back towards where they were being discussed this time last year, which was a relegation candidate, given the amount of extra fixtures they've had to deal with.

From Gibbs White's point of view, it does depend, doesn't it, whether he was desperate to join Tottenham and then it's fallen through or whether he is genuinely happy to stay at Forest because you need a happy player.

Otherwise, you won't get the Gibbs White to the level that he was last season.

I think there's a lot of people that feel like the, they're referred to as the Sky Six, aren't they uh we used to be the the big six but kind of bullied the other teams and uh this was kind of uh the little guy uh mr maranakis standing up to the big guy mr daniel leavy mr maranakis is many things he is not a little guy

i think we all thought it barry yeah no it's it's interesting and from a total point of view mark you know since you are a total fan like That signing was like the day after Mohammed Kudas and you start thinking, okay, this is exciting.

Now it's gone very quiet.

Lots of rumors about Human Sun leaving, ludicrous rumors about Rodrigo, which seem ludicrous.

But they do need to do something, don't they?

The squad does not look,

you know, they didn't finish very high in the league last year.

No, those 17 last season, yeah, that's Bill Bauer's success feels a long time ago for a certain section of the fan base that have

now kind of all in on sort of

being anti-Daniel Levy once again.

They definitely need signings.

There's There's no doubt about that.

Even if some were to stay, I think that they'd still be one short in the attacking areas.

Like if Thomas Frank wants a dynamic number 10, they maybe haven't got that in their squad.

And that's what Gibbs White was going to be.

Definitely need a defensive midfielder to come in as well.

And then there's an issue with the sort of club-trained players that means...

they're likely to have to go into the Champions League with a much smaller squad than you're allowed to because they haven't got enough players to sort of fulfill the quota of those club trained players.

Just sorry, just club trained is sort of like homegrown, but a different version of it, right?

Yeah, so that's why they were linked with Carl Walker Peters

because he was club trained.

This is great news for David Howells and Steve Sedgley, isn't it?

Yeah, exactly.

So look,

Harry Kane was

a club trained player back in the day, but obviously no longer at the club.

Fans are upset.

Like, the Rodrigo links feel ambitious back to the days of, who was it?

Was it Rivaldo wrote a letter to Tottenham thanking them for their interest?

It was certainly some really high-profile player.

And you just end up being mocked for even having the ambition to look to see whether you could afford somebody like Rodrigo.

No idea why he would want to go to Tottenham at the moment.

No, I mean, this was a team that struggled last season.

And even if you expect Thomas Frank to improve on what Andrew Postakoglu did sort of week to week and sort of be better in-game with his approach, they were a long way off where kind of they want to be.

And you're in the Champions League next season.

So those eight games take a lot out of the club between sort of September and January.

And the squad just doesn't look good enough to compete on multiple levels at the moment.

John, any any strong thoughts on Gibbs White or Spurs?

I think Tottenham will miss a play like that because he is, as Mark says, he brings dynamism to that number 10 position.

He isn't what you call a classic Tottenham number 10, but the fact that he works quite hard.

Yeah, I mean, they've got that in James Madison.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, they could have played both of them together, of course.

It's just the thing with Tottenham, isn't it?

That they break that duck and then the summer arrives and misery descends once more Because as soon as the transfer window comes, there's just this

existential crisis over and these fears that Daniel Levy will not spend money.

Now, he has spent money in the past, and he's spent money on young players in the past, and it doesn't quite work for Andrew Postacoglou because

there was a point last season when he was having to rely on two hugely talented players in Lucas Bergval and Archie Gray, and it was ahead of schedule.

And, you know, maybe

they're a year on, and that will be of use to Thomas Frank.

But, you know, if I was a Tottenham fan, he'd be excited about Thomas Frank because I think he's a good manager and he has a lot to offer.

And he has a lot more Premier League, maybe know-how than Andrew Postacoglu had.

But yeah, that's just that.

It's just

football.

So if you were to Daniel Levy, you'd sort of want to just say, right, I'm done here.

I've won the Europa League.

Can we just stop football now?

Like, I've done this.

I've done what you've always wanted me to do.

But it doesn't happen that way.

Just the next day, it's like, why haven't you bought us a striker?

Why haven't you bought us a midfielder?

Why are we short here?

It's, you know, Daniel Levy doesn't need sympathy from anybody, but

he's under criticism as soon as

soon as the champagne's gone flat from winning a trophy.

As soon as they're sweeping Tottenham High Road of the

parade, yes, Mark.

Yeah, but he said, I want to win the Premier League.

I want to win the Champions League.

He said that this summer.

So i i mean you if you say that um and then you know spend sort of the amount of money potentially that they're going to there's still a way left but you know he you know dead there are um you the youtube footage of him saying we want to win the premier league we want to win the champions league in an interview with the new ceo and so you know if you set the bar there and then don't match that then the the flack will come look i just want one night's sleep but we just can't have what we want that's you you know, that's the truth of things.

They might be in for Johan Wisser, he might be off to Newcastle as well.

So, presumably, if Spurs and Newcastle are after him, he won't go to either.

Um, Barry, Granite Xhaka, uh, Enders says, with Xhaka at Sunderland, is he a given?

He scores a screamer and gets a red card against Arsenal.

Uh, yeah, set to sign in for 17 million, 30 million up front, four million in add-ons.

You spent over a hundred million pounds, Barry.

How excited are you?

I'm very excited about this.

I think if it happens, and uh, we're recording on Thursday morning, he's due to he's in

Sunderland.

I think it's Tuesday.

I think it's Tuesday.

God, whatever day it is.

Seasons haven't even started yet, Barry, but that's okay.

Sorry, we're recording this on Tuesday morning.

He is on Weir's side, due to have a medical today.

I think he would be an excellent signing.

Swiss legend

on again, off again, Arsenal legend.

Won the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen.

Last season in the Bundesliga, he was second for passes completed.

2,501 passes, Max.

Completed.

That's a lot.

That's a lot of passes.

That's loads, yeah.

Second for touches of the ball, 3,117 touches.

Oh, good stuff.

And second for final third passes completed.

Don't have the number exact number of those.

He's a great leader.

He is prone to the odd tantrum, but I think he's mellowed a bit in his

recent years.

And Eric Ten Hag who is the manager by Leverkusen didn't want to let him go because he's already lost Lorian Vertz Jeremy Frincong and Jonathan Ta

but Sunderland increased their offer I think by about three or four million so Leverkusen have decided to let him go so I'm I'm delighted I think Sunderland have done what appears on the face of it to be some very good business this summer.

I now think they won't get relegated.

Well Dingo Drum says, is this a good Premier League season for the promoted club?

Lots of teams in Europe.

A few may struggle with Thursday, Sunday schedule, opening the door for a few more points to be achievable.

What do you think, John?

Because they were so far apart, weren't they?

They were just so far away last season.

That golf meant that

we missed out on a Man United Tottenham relegation race, which would be absolutely amazing, wouldn't it?

So do you think they will compete better than last season?

Among my gravest disappointments was, you know, particularly Ipswich just dying on the vine last last season, and this year,

well,

let's go through them.

Sunderland, yeah, ambitious.

Coming from a long way back, you have to say, they've got a lot of young players there that did so well to get them up to where they did.

Granite Jacob, by the way, obviously has a fairly volcanic reputation as a player, but supposedly one of football's nice guys as well, like a very good team bloke.

Javi Alonso talked about that, you know, how what a great, you know,

one of those players that really knits people together.

A little like you say, see, Jordan Henderson, that type of character.

And

Burnley,

I don't know if Burnley's formula can work in the Premier League.

The one last season, what was it?

They didn't concede for about eight years.

But I've heard other people say exactly the opposite.

That actually would be exciting to see a team come up that are just really stoic and defensive compared to your, you know, your sort of budget, your little tick attackers.

Yeah, I mean, it's funny, isn't it?

The formula alters all the time, doesn't it?

Because the cliche is you need goals in your team, doesn't it?

And I'm not sure I see that.

With leads,

well,

leads are ambitious.

We know that Daniel Farker has done a fine job.

Are we wondering whether his job's under pressure

early in the season?

If it doesn't go well because of his previous issues in the Premier League,

I am someone, I say this as a Manchester United fan, I'd like to see a reasonably strong Leeds.

Not too strong,

but

I like the idea of Leeds.

I like a Yorkshire element in my Premier League.

Conceptually, you like the idea.

In reality, you don't, but the idea of Leeds.

No, I just sort of enjoy.

Leeds will not enjoy me as a Manchester United fan.

That is true.

And it can be very nasty to you, but you know, if you even mention that.

But I like the idea of Leeds, and I'd like them as a Yorkshire club.

I mean, we maybe talk about Geoffrey Wednesday another time, but but like we need Yorkshire teams in the Premier League and we need the regions to be filled.

And

I wish them well.

I wonder, yeah, I think that there will be a bit of pressure on them if they start badly.

Listen, all three have got a chance.

And

as the email said there, you know, there are teams that we don't, we have no idea who Brentford are.

I've just been writing a breview of Brentford.

What is this new Brentford?

They're the most enigmatic team because they've lost their entire coaching team, it appears.

They've got a rookie manager.

They've lost half the team.

They've had a shifted in the boardroom too.

Who knows what Brentford are?

I know we're an established club.

So there's a club that we don't know what's going to go on with.

West Ham don't seem very strong.

And, you know, you go through it.

And there are those teams that, you know, you're Nottingham Forest that may be stretched by playing in European competitions.

Crystal Palace may be stretched by playing in a competition that they don't want to be in.

Let's Let's see.

Yes, we've got to hope that one day, one day, that soon a promoted club can come up and be a revelation.

It's been a long time, it feels like to me.

Speaking of West Ham, Sky Sports reporting that Lucas Paquetta is set to be free to continue his career with the ruling in his betting charges case predominantly going his way.

He's been under investigation since August 2023.

Was charged with breaching betting rules in May 2024.

The hearing began in March this year.

He was accused of committing spot-fixing offences in four Premier League matches against Leicester, Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth over the years 2022 to 2024.

He didn't place any bets, denied any wrongdoing.

The bets in question are believed to have been placed by friends and family, around 60 bets in total for relatively small stakes.

It's interesting, Barry, isn't it?

I think we all feared, if this is what happens, we all feared his career might be done.

Then you think, God, that's such a long,

what a long period of your footballing career to be playing with that cloud hanging over you.

But if he is free, it's such great news for him and it's such great news for West Ham at the moment, although lots of clubs were interested in him before these allegations have surfaced.

Yeah, it's brilliant news for him.

I'm slightly surprised because I thought the evidence against him was quite damning, but I'm pleased for him because, as you say, he didn't place any bets himself and the amounts involved were very small.

I think a couple of hundred quid here and there.

And they're the winnings, not the stakes.

And I was wondering, because this has dragged on for over two years now, they cost him an £80 million move from West Ham to City.

And I wonder if he is completely exonerated, does he have the right to legal redress?

Do West Ham have the right to legal redress?

Because it's costs them both a hell of a lot of money.

Otherwise, there's talk he may leave West Ham.

He's been linked with Flamengo.

I think

Newcastle fans seem to have decided they want him.

He'd be a great asset for their club.

I think he's good mate with Brugino Jimeres.

And he's a great player.

He didn't have a particularly good season last season, and it's no surprise because he had this potential career-ending hearing hanging over him.

But we've seen him at his best for West Ham, and he's a good, good player.

Yeah.

And I suppose it is that...

Obviously, there are rules and the rules that footballers have to stick by, but at the same time, it always feels incongruous that the punishments, potential punishments for footballers are so huge when, you know, it's so pervasive.

We mentioned it before, but you know, players who have been banned for betting while wearing a big football shirt with bet here, please click, you know, you know, like this QR code on my shirt will mean you can bet your whole life away, but I can't.

Anyway, that'll do for part two.

Part three, we'll do a bit of women's Euros.

Hi Pod fans of America.

Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Mateo says Sunday felt like the best day of my life.

Could the summers of 26 and 27 be better?

What do you think, Mark?

Pressure on the men now and Thomas Tuchel, aren't they?

Now the women have done it again.

There's always pressure on

the men's

England team.

Yeah, there will be.

You know, it's just be thrown in their face.

You know, you've got, you know, the women can do it.

Why, why can't you?

I think Tuchel, you know, that won't be the biggest problem for him over the next 12 months.

I mean, he'll get questioned over who's the fifth choice goalkeeper.

Why is this guy the full left back that you've got?

You know,

the questions on Tuchel and the pressure on him will be immense anyway.

It was a great afternoon on Sunday.

I really enjoyed watching the game.

Um, and uh, it does make it very awkward, I think, for the men that they just have to deal with kind of these questions.

But

yeah, I'm sure Thomas Tuchel

can handle it.

Yeah, I mean, we talked about it obviously on yesterday's pod, John.

I wonder, like, it was such an amazing tournament to win, you know, given just how many times they shouldn't have been knocked out, England.

You know, it felt so, I mean, they kept saying proper English, but you know, from you know, following England for so long, it felt not at all English, actually.

These are the times where you do go out.

Yeah, yeah.

We've seen those games played by the men's team and then they end up losing them.

You know,

those heroic games, say,

against Argentina in 1998 or Portugal 2006, those games where it feels like you've been there for absolutely hours watching this agony unfold.

Portugal 2004 as well.

You're there for hours and hours and hours and you know what's going to happen in the end.

You know that England are going to lose.

And

the women's team do the opposite of that.

And you know that if we do have to go through agony, they can turn this around.

You know, I had to do the TV review of this.

And one of the things is we talk about it,

the sort of maturing of the women's game and how critical you can be because we're still in this point of

pioneering the sport.

There isn't that much to be critical about compared to how many decades of misery we've sat through with sort of, you know, dour faced blokes just going oh god here you know here we go oh god you know we we're gonna lose because there's there's a lot to be positive and you know to to to cheer on and they they they you know they showed such a um a positive outlook in in in such adversity and the broadcasting as i say i was concentrating on um they did this piece which showed how far the game had come and they showed uh you know an itv guy giggling at this little attendance of a women's game and a Rodney Marsh comment about women making his tea and Brian Glanville being very dismissive of women's football.

And then

they cut to those that are involved in the game now and they were emotional about how far this had come.

The comparisons with men's football are uncomfortable for the men's game because women's football was you know shoed away from now but as a nation we're all lioness as fans because it makes us feel good as Englishmen and English people.

And

it was such a great event.

And

yeah, but unfortunately,

press men being press men and press women are going to ask Thomas Tuchel, hey, do you take inspiration from him?

And he can only give.

And Thomas Suchel's a very good responder to questions like that.

And I'm sure his answer will be full and not dismissive at all.

But you can only really veer into cliché with stuff like that.

and then after that, it will be right, and where are you going to play Trent Alexander Arnold?

And uh, and then we're straight into the we're straight into the misery, the pain, the the the self-reflection, the existential crisis that is supporting an England men's team, even at a point where we're actually quite good compared to what we used to be.

Yeah, I think the comparison thing is interesting because you know, as someone and we're all about the same age, growing up where, you know, when I was 10, women playing football was a joke, you know, that was that was what it was when you were 10 years old.

And so you're going on that inverted commas journey.

And for a lot of years, I would be comparing the women's game to the men's game while I was watching it.

And I definitely, you know, on Sunday, you know, through this tournament, I definitely haven't done that.

I haven't been, I've just been watching these games because they're games.

And I, you know, maybe that's just my own progress or whatever, but I just wonder, you know, that's what these players are doing is by just constantly being good.

And the exponential improvement in these footballers when they get professional, you know, when more money goes into the game and and the coaching gets better, all those things are just so obvious that, you know,

players will improve.

That has changed how I watch it, definitely.

Yeah, I mean, Hannah Hampton, you know, heroine of the penalties.

A friend of mine was telling me recently that one of the reasons women's goalkeepers are much better than they used to be is that now they actually receive proper training

like the men did to become better goalkeepers.

So now you are seeing, you know, that was always the, you know, the sexist guy, well, no,

they can't keep goal though, can they?

Oh, have you seen that?

Well, now they can.

And it's, and it actually seems trite to even talk about the goalkeepers being inferior now, because, as you say, Max, we have moved to the point where it's part of the national fundament.

The lionesses are right there, but they are household names.

And

as I said, they make us feel good about ourselves.

And that's a rare thing these days in this sceptred aisle.

I would say I think WSL still has quite a long way though to improve.

I mean I think we, you know, there's cheerleading and being patronising and there's a fine line between that.

When I sort of have watched WSL games,

the difference between the better teams and sort of the rest of the league is too great.

And we were speaking earlier about in the Premier League, you know, the been struggles for promoted sides.

But we're talking here about kind of mid-table teams not being able to compete properly.

And when I watch a lot of those games, they and I don't watch lots, actually, that would be incorrect.

But when I have tuned in, if it's a top game, then it feels at a good level.

You sort of Arsenal vit Chelsea.

If Arsenal are playing a team that's mid-ranked in WSL, the gap feels too big.

So there is a challenge there, I think, to make sure that the WSL rises because Lionesses are only really going to be at the forefront of most people's minds every two years

when there's a tournament.

It needs kind of the week-to-week um level i think to to be raised i think that would be the next step um for the english game i wanted to know if barry hated it because i think that would be a good sign of whether um kind of the women's game because because barca jim did barca jim was like something's happened here because when spain scored he was like jumping around the you know around the living room i am starting to really dislike the lionesses which i think

speaks volumes for the progress they have made.

The lionesses they seem a quite likable bunch, but um, yeah, all this

jingoism surrounding understandable jingoism is starting to grind my gears.

So, I guess that is a good sign.

Great to hear.

Chef's kiss, I say.

Tony says, I've been absolutely thrilled by the lionesses' successes, as well as other inspiring sporting victories of late.

So, I hope I'm not a sour-faced git, but is it unreasonable to ask that victory anthems such as sweet caroline and freed from desire are retired after, say, two years.

They make my teeth hurt with hatred and possibly camudgeny seem to add to the homogenization of sport.

I utterly hate both songs now, and I used to like one of them.

He doesn't say which.

There are many songs.

Please, more spontaneity.

Our music correspondent, John Bruin.

Yeah, Freed from Desire.

Yeah, that's been done to death.

And I think the death of it probably was

Uncle Gianni's adoption of it.

I think, you know, I think

it was the TV anthem, wasn't it, when they were showing the

Club World Cup?

Um, yeah, if you, if you, if you want to knock the sheen off anything, get Don Giani's your man there.

And listen, I don't mind a bit of Neil Diamond, uh, but yeah, it is overdone.

And, you know, if you go to boxing, you go to Cheltenham, you go to Darts, you go to

your local pub, you'll be hearing that song often done very badly indeed.

I still sort of quite like the song.

Uh, uh, you know, it is the classic pub rabble-rouser, isn't it?

But

what would we replace it with?

That's the...

Yeah, I mean, it has to be known, doesn't it?

The thing about the, I think, Sweet Caroline jumped the shark when the so good, so good, so good, that came in.

I hate that bit.

I hate that bit.

But the thing about Freed from Desire for me takes me back to, you know, the post-A-level holiday in Gumbet near Bodrum, and where it was the, it was very much the tune of the summer.

And, you know, credit to Gala that it's lasted you know it's even from when was that 1997 and it's still going strong it's something about whatever what's it called i'm going to embarrass myself now the drop or whatever but you know when it comes in that you can't help but move i think or maybe you can can you help but move barry do you move i can help but you can help but move when will be when will will we be freed from freed from desire is the when well that's a good question but like will will it be playing at you know, at the kid at my kids' wedding funerals?

Will that be the one where me and my wife start dancing together, going, yeah, na, nana?

And they're all going, who are these weird old people?

In the same way that, you know, when you saw grandparents at weddings when you were young, you know, dancing to sweet Caroline.

Oops, upside your head when everyone starts sitting down.

It's like, what's going on?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Oh, how funny.

Anyway,

Dar Foley says, How was Barry's time in Nova Scotia?

Any breweries, wineries visited?

Did he make it down valley direction?

What did you do?

Did you build yourself a yurt out of moose hide?

I scooped out a moose and lived in it for 10 days.

It was pretty quiet, to be honest.

I was visiting family.

My sister lives in quite remote part of Nova Scotia.

The nearest pub was eight miles away.

uh which isn't ideal

but uh yeah it's a very picturesque city halifax uh which was about a 40-minute drive away.

I spent quite a bit of time in there.

Lovely city, but quite small.

But it was a nice holiday.

You could have run to the pub every time for your half-marathon training, which I presume is coming along a pace.

The problem there was it would have entailed...

I have no problem embarking on a long walk.

That is not a problem for me at all.

But it would have involved walking along the edge of a motorway and potentially getting ending up as a roadkill after getting splattered by a massive lorry.

Was that a moose or a Barry Glendenning?

I don't know.

Did you see any mounties?

I didn't see any Mounties.

I saw a porcupine.

I didn't see any Mounties.

I didn't see any bears.

I saw some signs warning about the presence of bears.

Black bears are the native bears.

What are you meant to do for a black bear?

Are you meant to shout or cower?

If it's brown, lie down.

If it's black, fight back.

If it's white, say good night.

Wow.

That's that's your bear code there.

But apparently the the black bears sort of mind their own business, come out at night to go down to the lake for a drink or whatever, but um or to walk twelve miles.

Sounds like you, Barry.

So yeah, the the most exotic uh creature I saw was uh was a porcupine.

How impressive was a porcupine?

In person not that impressive.

Yeah.

The unimpressive porcupine.

But my it lives under my sister's garden shed, and apparently her dog,

an elderly beagle, learned the hard way that you don't mix with a porcupine.

Okay.

Oh, poor guy.

Anyway, it feels like very much.

That'll do for today.

Thanks, everybody.

Thank you, John.

Cheers, Max.

Thank you, Mark.

Thank you, Max.

Cheers, Barry.

Thank you.

For the Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.

EFL Leagues 1 and 2 start on Saturday.

Of course, they do.

We'll be back on Thursday Thursday to chat about them.

This is The Guardian.