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A
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B
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C
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D
The Athletic FC
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E
hi there and welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me Adam Leventhal live in New York as we gear up to the first semi final of this World cup between France and Spain. Yeah, hi there everyone. Welcome to the Acast HQ here in New York, our home for the final week of the tournament. So we're getting ready for tonight's huge game in Dallas. France looking to reach a third consecutive World cup final. The European champions Spain standing in their way. A big focus on transfers today as well, on the emerging talent who could be on the move like Ayub Boadi, wanted by Manchester City. Also more established names as well that could be switching this summer. Joining me today is David Ornstein once again. Look at those legs all covered up, David.
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D
Such a shame I didn't. I didn't feel as brave today.
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E
No, it's good, it's good to see you. You alright?
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D
Likewise, yeah, very good. Looking forward to this round of four.
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E
No, round of four?
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D
Is that what we're calling? That's what we're calling. There's been so many round offs. Now we're in the semi finals.
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E
Let's bring it on the semi finals and Ruben Pinder, our roving reporter for the World Cup. How are you?
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F
Exhausted, but really pleased to be here.
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E
Yeah, no, it's great to have you. Ruben, I'm going to start with you because you have had quite an adventure. Just for people who, you know, don't know what you've been up to, who haven't been engaging in our social content. What the hell have you been doing? What have you been doing? You've been. You've had a camera and a mic in hand.
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F
Yeah.
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E
You've had an amazing journey for the last, what, 30 odd days?
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F
Yeah. We've been across five cities. I want to shout. Joe Crisali, my. Yeah, my colleague who's been traveling around and deserves probably most of the credit. Yeah. We're in Los Angeles for sort of 12 days, I think Mexico City briefly as well. Dallas, Miami and now in New York. So five cities, about 10 games, lots of different fan bases and, you know, one. One social video every day, which, like I say, if people haven't seen them, then that's a failure on our part. But if they want to go through and watch them, then the Athletic FC's
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E
social channels, well, you know, what we should probably do is this feels a bit like Big Brother back in the day, or other sort of talent shows. Let's have a look at your best bits so far for this tournament. A little compilation, your World cup roadshow. Let's have a look.
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F
Will the USMNT ever win the World Cup?
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G
Ever.
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D
Ever's a long time, so I'm going to have to say yes on that.
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G
How much?
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A
1200.
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F
1200? How did you feel about paying that much?
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E
Uncomfortable.
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D
The team plays for the people, not for any government, in my opinion.
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E
And so that's why I'm always proud
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F
to support the team. If you could make one change to Thomas Tuchel's England squad, what would it be?
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D
Cole Palmer.
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E
I don't think he deserves to start
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D
after this season, but to not have him on the bench, I think is criminal.
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F
What are the top five countries that players at this World cup were born in?
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E
Is Spain one of them?
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F
Spain is the fifth most common birthplace.
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G
Thinking it.
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F
No, no, it's not here.
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A
France.
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F
France is top. No way. Kevin de Bruyne or Bruno Fernandes? We love Manchester United. Do you guys have anything nice to say about Lionel Messi?
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G
Magician.
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D
The ball is a magnet to his foot.
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E
Greatest playmaker of all time, Great dribbler
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F
of all time and, you know, much respect to them. And Sergeant C, do you have anything nice to say? About Cristiano Ronaldo.
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D
He does have great thighs. Rugby, afl, basketball. Because I just like basketball. No, it's soccer.
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F
A Norway fan teaches an England fan how to pronounce their players names.
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E
Sander Berg, Sonder Berger.
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D
Drew Bellingham. You're the hero of the nation, mate.
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F
Keep on playing.
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D
We're all behind you.
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E
See you in New York.
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D
He's probably the best player we've ever produced. The moments like that, we really needed him.
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E
It's made the whole thing worthwhile.
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D
I think we can go all the way because of Jude. Hey, Jude.
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E
Keep on going all the way because
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F
we are knight him already.
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E
He's the best person I've ever met. I haven't even met him.
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F
Absolutely outstanding.
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H
Couldn't be any prouder, you know.
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E
So good. It's good to see that England fan once again. What were your highlights? Is it quite nice to just sort of reflect on everyone that you've met and all the fans that you've seen along the way?
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F
Yeah, it's. Yeah, it's quite nice to watch that back. Like I said before, so many different fan bases. Meeting the Mexican fans in Mexico City, kind of thinking little window behind a window into our, you know, planning for the audience here. We're planning ahead, thinking we might meet Mexico in Mexico City. That was after we played Ghana and thinking, let's get their take on England right now. Just after a bad performance and sadly for the man in the. In the sombrero there, we weren't. Well, we are probably still one of the weakest teams, but. Yeah, I don't know if you recognize the Australian fan in that video.
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E
No, no, I didn't.
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F
It was Iggy Azalea. Popstar.
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E
No, I've heard of.
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F
Well, that was one of our most successful clips where we. We got out the car, we got the camera set up, I said, that's Iggy Azalea. So we just grabbed her and got her to rank the top five Australian sports. So that was a fun kind of spontaneous thing where you don't get from a studio, do you?
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D
It's that modern pop knowledge that gets rubes out into the field and us left in.
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E
Very much so. Very much so. Is there anything sort of like good, bad or ugly that happened along the. Along the way that that sort of sticks out for you?
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F
I didn't want to. That you can talk about meeting the Argentina fans and kind of do. Being able to speak to both Argentina fans and Portugal fans to get them to speak about the obvious, like other hero of the opposite fan base. Ronaldo Messi. That, that was really fun. Kind of begrudging respect among them. Some of them kinder than others. That was, that was good fun.
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E
Yeah, no, it looks like it's been, it's been a great trip and you've got a few more, a few more games to go. Enjoying the last week here in New York. We're going to discuss the semi final a little bit later on. We do have a quiz though, as we did yesterday. And are you happy to join in on the quiz? Yeah.
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F
Ok, good.
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D
You need to perform better than Laura and I did yesterday.
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C
Yeah.
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E
You've got the answer in the end.
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D
In the end.
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E
Day 34 of the tournament. The question which I will pose to our guests today and then you can answer online if you're watching on YouTube and we'll reveal the answer and we'll reveal it to you a little bit later on. So day 34 of the tournament. Do you know which nation hosted and won their first World cup in 1934? That should be quite straightforward for a
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D
World cup historian if they're watching this.
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E
Okay.
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D
Not that I'm trying to limit our audiences.
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E
Okay, fine.
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F
Almost feels too obvious and I'm second guessing my algorithm.
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E
That's good. There is a flurry of correct answers coming through. Macha has literally answered it four times. Five, six, seven times. Maka, we see you. Don't worry. And you have got the correct answer. We will reveal it to our studio guests. Very, very short indeed. Let's look ahead to Spain against France. And you haven't been to Dallas, have you?
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D
No. That was England's first game.
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E
Yeah. So you haven't been there but you have been to Dallas?
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F
I have, yeah.
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E
Tell us about what the conditions are going to be like at 3 o' clock in the afternoon when the game kicks off local time here in the States.
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F
Well outside it will be oppressively hot. Yeah, those shoots were short and efficient for us and straight into the stadium. But the stadium itself is magnificent. I think that was the one that during England Croatia, Morgan Rodgers. Was it Morgan Rogers saying that he was distracted by the, by the big Jumbotron or one of the England players said that like. So wherever you are you've got a great view but it's climate control, it's air conditioned. It has to be. Yeah, it's. It's a really, really good place. We, I saw Jordan play Argentina there and the surface and the conditions inside the stadium are great. So I don't think either team will be struggling with that.
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E
Are you looking forward to this one, David. Watch it. Well, where are you going to watch it? You watch it in a bar somewhere.
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D
Largely in the air from New York. Oh yes, of course you're flying off to Atlanta, which is frustrating, but most internal flights in the US if you use a credible airline, have decent WI fi and so I can follow it in some way, shape or form and then I might catch some of the second half once I get to Atlanta and hit a sports bar. And I am really looking forward to it. Much more of a tactical encounter, I think, than this sort of emotional blood and thunder that we're expecting from England, Argentina. But the level of play and the contrasting styles and the form and statistics coming into it, the defensive resilience. France haven't conceded yet in the knockout stage. Spain have barely conceded all tournament. France going as the favorites. But you've got players like Mikhail Marino. I think he's the first player in World cup history as a substitute to score the winner in consecutive knockout stage games. Laminar, Will he come to the party? Bape Alise. So many great plot lines that I don't want to say it's the perfect appetizer for England. That's biased from our perspective because I mean it's worthy of being a final. Obviously. Spain knocked France out of the last Euros, beat them in an epic Nations League tie as well. I didn't realize that this is Spain's second ever World cup semi final. Yeah, only their second ever and we've come in recent history to just know them as the one of the dominant forces of world football.
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E
But they're in a similar, but I mean obviously a different status of side to England. But they're also getting used to being at the top of the game like England are as well, you know, getting regularly getting to semi finals. It was a, you know, for a long time.
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F
It's only really since 2008 that they've got that far in tournaments.
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G
Right.
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F
Before then they were quite England esque in their heroic failures. But then post 2012 when they had that three tournaments in a row, they've kind of been really disappointing. 2014 was group stage exit. I think 2018 was penalties against Russia, 2022 was penalties against Morocco and now, well obviously it's kind of the Euros was obviously that they won. But now this era feels like they've kind of the last two tournaments felt like stuck between two eras where you've got like Jordi Alba, Busquets Koke still knocking about. Jesus Navas started a game in the last Euros against France. Whereas now it feels like that era is behind them and they have a properly established new generation of players.
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E
Didn't you do like a comparison, a combined 11.
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F
Combined 11 video with a Spain fan before Spain, Portugal.
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H
Right.
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F
And kind of lost in the moment just going through the names. I kind of didn't pick him up on the fact that he chose Pedro, as in Pedro Rodriguez of Barcelona and Chelsea fame over Lamina Mal on the right wing. She kind of nodded along and went along with it, but yeah, that was, that was one of the bolder takes in there.
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E
Excellent. Well, let's get to someone who has been at the press conferences ahead of today's game between Spain and France and it's the Athletics Henry Busch. Now let's hear from him.
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H
My main takeaway from the pre match press conferences here at AT&T Stadium in Texas was that frankly, both France and Spain are ready for all the talking ahead of this match to end and for the semifinal to actually begin. The space here was packed standing room only hundreds of journalists from around the world, from both France and Spain, obviously, but also elsewhere. And there was some legitimate news. Didier Deschamps said that Kylian Mbappe is 100% fit after his minor ankle injury in the quarterfinal. He's ready for the match. We're expecting him to start. But most of all, there was just a lot of talk about the two previous meetings between these sides in the Nations League and the Euros. Recently, both coaches and players had to repeatedly say in different ways that the teams have evolved and they've grown since then. The players are different, it's going to be a new game. There was also some talk about Lamin Jamal's comment after the quarterfinal when he said that he didn't fear France and then if anything, France should fear Spain. He was asked if that comment had been misinterpreted or blown out of proportion and he said no, it wasn't misinterpreted. His exact quote here was, I was asked whether I feared Spain. I said, no, we are European champions and we don't fear anyone. Which I found notable because about an hour earlier, Warren Zaire Emery spoke for France and his exact quote was, we're the French national team, we don't fear anybody. So I think that sets the stage pretty well. These are two heavyweights, it's going to be a brilliant match and frankly, not much more needs to be said.
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E
Well, don't say it then, Henry. Thank you very much to Henry for sending that. So, yeah, he was in the the press conferences ahead of the game. It's interesting. Let's pick up on. On what Lamine Yamal said, basically doubling down on that comment that he doesn't fear France celebrated is 19th birthday yesterday. It is crazy, isn't it? I mean, obviously he's a huge talent and we know, you know, how prodigious a talent he is, but does he need a World cup moment in this tournament to sort of fully arrive?
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D
Yeah, I mean, he started.
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E
You would expect him to do it.
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D
He started, okay, and then it's fallen off. And it's quite interesting when there was vague talk about will England take Max Dalman or Rio Ngomoa? No way. It's far too early. Well, Spain did exactly that with the mean and it paid off at the Euros. He's had a difficult season for sure. I think I mentioned on here yesterday how I didn't like his behavior at all when he played at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea in the Champions League, chasing after the referee, calling for bookings rather than focusing on his football. He's such an incredible talent and yeah, for whatever reason, whether it be his physical condition, he's carried some injuries this season. This style of play that Spain are exhibiting, it just hasn't clicked and it feels harsh to say, but, yeah, he has to come to the party if he wants to be bracketed alongside the biggest names in world football. And, and he hasn't done so far, they all rise to these occasions and he's got it in him to do so. If he doesn't, again, extremely harsh, it will be a bit of a mark against him until the next tournament. And, you know, can he do it on this stage? And I don't, I don't think Spain necessarily play in a way that is best suited to him doing that. And, but, but then again, you know, players like Messi and, and Zimbabwe, how, however it comes about, they create the moments themselves and the magic and the spark, and Lamina is going to have to do that. He's more than capable of it. But I think France are not just narrow favorites. I think they're quite heavy favorites for this match and I would expect them to go on to the final. So Lemin might not get the opportunity to really show what he's capable of.
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E
Obviously, all the, all the fans that you've spoken to over the course of this tournament, I guess a lot of people are just in general talking about him. He's up on, you know, billboards here and not on billboards, they're digital screens in, in Times Square and things like that. Is he the. Is he the star that fans are talking about? Not just simply from Spain, but from other countries.
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F
I've seen lots of Lamina Mars shirts but I think mostly it's actually Mbappe with Ulise as maybe post third. So it'll be interesting to see how Elise and Lamina Mar kind of quite similar players obviously playing slightly different positions for their countries. Which one of them has a better of this semi final? David's right. I think Yamal has been slightly disappointing in his tournament. Barring his goal against Saudi Arabia, looks a bit better against Belgium. I think it must be a fitness thing. You know, he was injured before the tournament and he's kind of slowly getting back to full fitness.
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E
It's tough to work back to fitness within a tournament situation as well, isn't it?
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F
Yeah. And there's like games every few days and then as a collective, obviously with Nico Williams picking up an injury as well, they've kind of lacked the direct play on the wings that really help them in €24. So like without that they can. It's easy for them to go back into the kind of thousand passes without much penetration. Spain that kind of has. We've seen in previous tournaments. Whereas like having that directness on the wings will. Will really makes a massive difference. So that we're hoping that Le Minuel is fair enough to do that against France.
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D
I really like Baena and I did it Villarreal now at Athletico and he's had decent tournament but completely different style. Plays a lot inside compared to yeah, Nico and there's suggestions that Nico could be fit for today, which would be a huge boost for Spain and, and I think for the purists as well. We talked about him for so long. He did shine in the Euros, but he's. He's kind of slipped back a bit in, in the transfer world in, in the regard of many because of the physical condition.
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F
But did he also sign that incredibly long contract with Athletic Bilbao?
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H
Right.
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F
Yeah, he did.
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D
So it's, it's gone a bit quiet on him for that reason. And also his, his, his fitness, it would be, it would be so important for Spain to maybe and, and Yamal take more of the attention of the opposition and away from the right hand side and perhaps that could be part of the key to unlocking Lemine.
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E
Let's switch over to the France side of things. Do you think Didier Deschamps gets enough credit for, you know, molding this team? And you know, it's not that long ago that France were always a Bit of a basket case at tournaments and he has managed to fine tune, obviously, a hugely talented squad, but to make it function perfectly is to his credit.
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D
He's probably a bit under appreciated because
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E
the star names take the shit.
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D
I don't think he really cares. This is it for him, isn't it? He's moving on afterwards and the expectation is Zidane comes in. I mean, football people respect him wholeheartedly and he didn't have it all his own way. Was it 2020 when there was a bit of failure and rancor?
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F
That was when Corinne Bensm came back into the fold and they kind of had Rabiot and Pavar at wing back. So kind of it wasn't quite right. And that was. Yeah, obviously only two plus one year after they'd won the World Cup.
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D
Yeah, it didn't really get the right balance with Giroud being an option up front, Benzema coming back.
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F
Griezmann and Mbappe kind of got worse when Benzema came back in, which not a lot of people were expecting. But that was part of the era, right, where it was felt that you needed Giroud on the pitch even if he wasn't going to score. So that Agreesman and Mbappe would. You'd get the best out of those two.
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D
Yeah. And even in that tournament, you felt there was disharmony in the stands. There were reports of sort of animosity among families, entourages. We reported on that quite.
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E
Rabiot and Mbappe's some.
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D
Something along those lines.
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F
Rabiot was involved.
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D
Yeah, he's always involved. Rabiot, his family. But I think one of the keys now is it does seem very harmonious and Deschamps has almost reinvented himself on this team. I mean, it's hard not to succeed with this depth of resources. Pretty much everyone fit, by and large. I know Tchuameni has had a bit of a problem, but you'd expect him to come back and start even if he doesn't complete the game. But they've been flowing. I mean, the fact that people are talking about Dembele Ballon d' or with goals to his name in this tournament quite as much as you normally would if it wasn't for Mbappe Elise is. Is pretty remarkable. He's suffered his own tragedy in this tournament, the loss of his mother and he had to fly home, came back out, it seemed to strengthen the bond. I noticed how Mbappe was first over to kind of or straight over when he scored, to embrace him, which was lovely.
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F
And.
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D
And they're Hungry. I mean, we were, we were in. It was Lusail Stadium for the final four years ago and, and that was a painful night. They were Kola Moane shot and Dibou Martinez foot away from winning the World Cup. They were brilliant that day as well. And so that seems to have motivated them even more to put another star on that shirt. They're a joy to watch. I, I think everybody's in awe of France and is hard to see past them for the title.
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E
Yeah. Liam Toomey was saying he's. He's getting sort of Brazil 2002 vibes from them, that they deserve to be the winners of the, of the tournament and they're the most flamboyant and you
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D
know, just a quick point also, when they bring in someone like Manu Kone, I thought he's. He's been excellent in this tournament and there's so much chat and we'll probably come onto it in a bit about midfielders in world football in the transfer market at the moment. I know he's getting a few links now, but in terms of his box to box capabilities, the legs, the technical precision, intelligence. Yeah, he's got a lot of development still, but he's at a really high level and it's, you know, from what we hear, a great market opportunity, the value that you could get him from Roma and then if he's going to start this game, but excellent when they, when they've called upon others as well. Nothing but admiration for what's going on there.
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F
They've kind of been looking for that player for a few years. Right. Like post Pogba, Matwidi and Kante, which won the World cup in 2018, they've kind of chopped and changed that position a bit. They had Camavinga in the last World cup, they brought Griezmann back to play as more of an 8 and then post his international retirement, they've kind of needed somebody alongside Rabio or Tchouameni to knit it all together. And yeah, like you say, he's been brilliant.
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E
Predictions who's going through to the final?
- [23:39]
F
France score 2 1.
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D
Ah, took the score line. I was trying to say you're going
- [23:44]
E
France 21 as well. Absolutely, yeah.
- [23:46]
D
Okay.
- [23:46]
E
All right, cool. Well, we shall see, won't we? Don't forget the Athletics World cup coverage is free to read throughout the tournament if you haven't got the app already. So there's plenty to get stuck into ahead of tonight's game.
- [24:06]
C
I've been getting really excited about all the fanfare surrounding the FIFA World Cup 2026. And luckily for me, the Active Cash Visa credit card from Wells Fargo scores unlimited 2% cash rewards on all types of fanfare purchases tickets to a game, Thunder sticks to make some noise, commemorative scarves to wave around. 2% cash rewards on all of that is a big win in my book. Terms apply visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Visa Worldwide Partner of the FIFA World Cup 2026 if your team's communication is messy, customers feel it. Mixed messages, drop threads, slow replies. It's one of the easiest ways to lose momentum. And that's why today's episode of the Athletic FC is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q U O the business communications system built so you never miss a call. Kuo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3,000 reviews built for how modern teams work more than 90,000 businesses, from solo operators to growing teams, rely on it to stay connected, professional and consistently reachable. Quo works wherever you are right from your phone or computer. Keep your existing number, add teammates in minutes, sync your CRM and let the call routing handle itself as you scale. Money is on the line, so always say hello with Quo. Try quo for free plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.com athleticfc that's Q-U-O.com athleticfc. If your team is dealing with more support tickets, more channels and higher expectations from customers, you've probably thought about using AI for customer support. And you've probably seen how limited or time consuming most options are. And that's why I'm excited to tell you about Decagon. Decagon helps companies create personalized concierge style customer services with AI agents across chat, email, voice and SMS. They're available 24, 7, feel natural to talk to, and can resolve customer requests on their own so businesses can keep up with requests without losing their personal touch. And because workflows can be updated using natural language, teams can make changes themselves without long engineering cycles. That means less time spent managing workflows and more time focused on customers and ROI in just weeks. Ready to transform your customer support? Go to decagon AI AthleticFC to get a personalised demo and see what Decagon can do for your team. Check Decagon out at decagon AI athleticfc that's decagon D E C A G O N A I athleticfc.
- [26:37]
E
Time now for our discussion of the day sponsored by Threads. Now. Last night we asked our Threads followers, which World cup star do you Want your club to sign this summer? Quick one from Ruben. Who do you want your club. If you're not aware Ruben is a Crystal palace football club supporter. Who would you like your club to sign from the World Cup?
- [27:02]
F
It's not a very exotic answer.
- [27:04]
E
Okay, but for us then, I mean
- [27:08]
F
we've covered Chelsea's interest in Maxence Lacroix. Right. And Crystal palace in Europe again for another season. So whatever happens with Lacroix, I think we need another centre back, especially with kind of the injury record of chatty Riyadh. So I'm going to say out of contract. John Stones. Oh wow.
- [27:24]
E
Okay.
- [27:25]
F
Would be. Look, he may, he may well go to a much bigger club but on a short term deal, somebody who's used to playing in back three and a back four. I thought he was, I thought he struggled against Croatia playing on the left side, but since he's come back in like against Norway, he was brilliant. Kind of playing on the right and then tucking into the middle. So yeah, that's my kind of slightly unexotic answer. I'd like to see John Stones at Selhurst Park.
- [27:48]
D
Unexotic John Stones, multiple trophy winning England center, half the shoulder.
- [27:54]
E
Shoulder.
- [27:54]
F
I mean very familiar with our audience that, you know, not a breakout store.
- [27:59]
D
I think he may have more exotic plans at Christmas.
- [28:01]
C
Yeah, I'm sure he will. I'm sure he will.
- [28:02]
D
I would love to see him at the Coliseum.
- [28:04]
E
Okay. And I guess we'll find out more after, after the tournament. One has come in from Ryan Bradley Barkala for Liverpool. David Possible.
- [28:14]
D
They really like him. Understandably so. Who doesn't? You've seen links with Arsenal also and various other clubs. PSG would like to keep him, but they're realistic. He's got only two years left on his contract. He's not a regular starter. He wants to be. So I suspect he would be open to a move if the right opportunity arose. And Liverpool clearly have him high in their thinking. And you would imagine Barclay himself would be attracted to clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal and so on. Interesting because he plays mainly off the left and Liverpool are looking more for somebody to replace Mo Salah off the right. So if they did follow through with this, is he happy to play on the right or do they need to rejig things? Maybe they move Zimo. They've signed the Spanish player to the other side. Let's see. We're getting a bit of ahead of ourselves there. The price would be very high. You know, when you see somebody such as Elliot Anderson moving for 116 million pounds and you look at Barclays attributes and his medals for club and sort of country what, what he's achieving and his age and his age and, and everything about him that fee is going to be higher. Yeah. Is somebody willing to pay it? I would if I was one of the, one of the top suitors I'd seriously consider it but it will be off putting for some as well. Not because they don't like him because that's a tough one to do. Some big decisions need to be that made at PSG of course with the pursuit of Diamonde what's going to happen to somebody like MBE another really impressive talent and, and so yeah of course we've got to keep a close eye on, on Barclay and Liverpool but at this moment in time I'm not sure it's at an advanced stage. France are still in the tournament PSG I think or I'm told didn't want to trouble him or, or take his focus away from the tournament. So like with many situations and we'll come on to speak about them shortly, I, I would imagine that this one starts to develop in whatever way, shape or form whether that be staying or going Liverpool or elsewhere post tournament.
- [30:26]
E
One to watch. Honorable mentions and thanks for getting in touch. Man in Ware, Julian Alvarez. More to come. Harry Kane Tottenham fan here. Oh, you want him back?
- [30:38]
F
Morgan Roger, Michael Alise as well.
- [30:40]
E
Michael Alise desperately want Michael Alise back. For your chance to be featured in the next discussion of the day feature, head over to Threads, follow the Athletic FC and join the conversation. Now many people on YouTube have been asking questions of you David because we're going to head into our transfer chat now. Maka in touch again. What are Liverpool planning to do? Bradley Ornstein. You don't mind just Ornstein. We need Liverpool news and there are many people asking about Manchester City, Arsenal as well. So let's get stuck into it. First up we're going to just talk about an emerging talent from this World Cup. The transfer deal sheet dropped on the Athletic this morning. It's well worth checking. Checking it out. Your one to watch was Ayub Bouadi who you were sort of on quite early and obviously being talked about a lot pre tournament and Manchester City's interests. What's the status check on that quickly?
- [31:44]
D
Well I wasn't as early on this one as I mean outside of our reporting circles there are clubs that have been across his progress for some time. Came into Lille at the age of 14 signed by Luis Campos who is now at PSG we mentioned in the deal sheet that PSG are not pursuing him this summer. They've got enough resource in that part of the pitch and the price is going to be extremely high. What Lille would, we understand, consider to sell him is in around 100 million euros, which is obviously massive, but there'll be clubs looking at it. 18 years old and with his absolutely precocious talent ability now and potential for the future as a good investment, and we know about amortized fees over the course of long contract, you know, this might, if, when it happens, be seen as good value for money. We're talking about Declan rice, Arsenal, 105 million pounds, and the Arsenal fans saying, we got him half price. We know the way the market is going, even though it feels crazy, it's. It's the way of the world. Manchester City have been looking at him for some time. It's been well documented. My information is that they are really pressing, pressing and pushing hard for Boadi now. They want to get a deal done for him. And whereas many clubs who have looked at the situation, are looking at the situation would be in favor of him staying with Lille for a year to continue his development, which many would say is the right thing. Manchester City would like to bring him in immediately and integrate him into Enzo Maresca's first team squad. And so let's see what happens on that. City are among a number of clubs who have been in touch with his camp. He's represented by his family for some time now. Whether they can do something club to club. Olivier Latong. Lille is known to be a tough negotiator. Let's see. I think his decision now that Morocco are out of the World cup and, and he's, he's away from the tournament is going to come soon on where he wants to go and how he wants to continue and, and see his future. Leo always planned to let him get through the World cup before sitting down, surveying all the options which will include him staying at Lille before coming to a decision. They've got a really good relationship with Boadi, so the bond is there to do what's right for the boy. If City prevail, and they certainly hope they do, it'd be remarkable because they've already spent £150 million on Elliot Anderson. This would be there or thereabouts, £100 million and there's probably other bits they want to do in the market as well. We could see more departures. Bernardo Silva's gone, of course, so they've got a hole to fill. Rodri is into the last 12 months of his contract with no news on his future, whether he would be staying going, resigning or not. There's been speculation over Nico Gonzalez, over Tejani Reinders, and it's really intriguing to see how this and the wider Manchester City picture develops. You know, Arsenal really like Bodi, but I don't think that's developing right now. Manchester United too, but the price and. And looking at other targets for that midfield position, even though I'm sure they would love to do it, is. Is probably a bit unrealistic. So, yeah, one of the real key situations of the market, even though people are saying that's crazy for one World Cup. It's not one World Cup.
- [35:10]
E
No.
- [35:11]
D
This is a player that everybody knows has got an incredibly high bar. They've been watching him for a long time. I was privileged to speak to him in the mix zone after Morocco, Brazil. He came over and talked in English. Lovely boy. His language is clearly proficient. His game is more than proficient. He did have a bit of a baptism of fire against France.
- [35:33]
E
I thought it wasn't the best performance, was. It wasn't. It wasn't the way that he would have liked to have ended the tournament. Let's move on to Liverpool because lots of people have asked in the chat about Liverpool mentioned in the deal sheet. Big news in the boardroom. Michael Edwards stepping down as the CEO of Fenway Sports Group. How do you think that that's going to affect business? Because Andoni Raiola, in his unveiling yesterday, said that Liverpool do need more players. I mean, it's not going to surprise anyone that that is the case, but has it disrupted things?
- [36:07]
D
It's obviously not ideal and it sounds like FSG were keen to try and change his mind and keep him on, but it's also not a massive surprise. This has been coming for some time because Michael Edwards returned to oversee the second club purchase that FSG had seemingly committed to and that isn't happening. It appears to have been, at best parked and at worst ditched. So his raison d' etre doesn't really exist anymore. Of course, he was overseeing football at Liverpool as well and I guess Richard Hughes, a sporting director, reporting into him. But their plans would have been in place for this summer and Edwards would have been part of that. There's no way, I think he would have walked out if that wasn't the case. And. And so they'll feel they're in a good enough position to go and execute. With Hughes leading as sporting director and Mike Gordon coming Back to the four is. Is what we're hearing and he's been in that position before. You know, he's very familiar with the role at Liverpool. On behalf of fsg.
- [37:15]
E
You don't want to be doing this now though, do you?
- [37:17]
D
I, I just.
- [37:18]
E
You don't want that to be getting in the way of a. Of a rebuild.
- [37:21]
D
No, of course. But his contract was ending next summer anyway and so I, I don't think it has the most material impact on the business is what you're saying, you know, because that's really the domain of Richard Hughes now. There is uncertainty about what's going to happen with him. Yeah, I'll hillel pursuing him and obviously Simon Francis who was his assistant at Bournemouth and they're very close. Being announced by Al Hilal now. And there's an expectation in some quarters that Hughes will follow. Not during this window. And it's important to say all of our information is that he's completely, wholeheartedly committed to the job at Liverpool for now. But let's see what happens when the window shuts because Hughes contract is the summer of 2027 as well. And in normal circumstances this is your last big window if. If you're going to be out of contract. January would normally be preparation for the summer. So yeah, it's significant news that Edwards is leaving within his term after coming back. But really his job was to bring in a new sporting director which he did to oversee the appointment of a new coach post Klopp he did trying to get things moving in the right direction in the market. It was obviously a quiet one initially but then they did a lot last summer. They've done a bit in preparation for this summer with Jacque. They've got Munoz through the door and they need to do some more. We talked about the wide player ongoing process. A lot of speculation about midfield. I think that would only be one that might happen if somebody leaves. And Boadi who we've talked about before. Liverpool are among the clubs that love him. As I said previously. Who doesn't? So we'll have to see on that one.
- [39:05]
E
Okay, Liverpool fans watching. You've got your update in full. Just a quick one from Ruben. Do you fancy Iriola to do well at Liverpool?
- [39:14]
F
Yeah. But it will be interesting to see how. How long it takes his methods to click.
- [39:18]
E
Right.
- [39:18]
F
Because.
- [39:19]
E
And how quick quickly the fans.
- [39:21]
F
Yeah, because at Bournemouth he had a more of a kind of grace period. Right.
- [39:26]
E
Like when you're doing it in the periphery of football as well, in the
- [39:28]
F
smallest stadium in the league. But like he said in his farewell speech after those results, the crowd were probably thinking who the bleep is this guy.
- [39:38]
E
Yeah.
- [39:38]
F
And at Liverpool obviously now we know what he's capable of. Having led Bournemouth to, you know, constant kind of improvement especially while losing, constantly losing his best players. It's horses of courses with managers, you know, overachieving with a mid table club is very different to sustaining a title challenge with one of the elite where you've got different egos to manage and the squad like, you know, like this. The reason why they need to do so much business is because the squad is quite unbalanced at the moment, especially in attack. It's two nines. Who can they play together? Nobody really knows those two ANVIRs. They all favor kind of like the left side of the pitch. So it will be a much. It'll be a very different challenge. I do fancy him to do well but yeah, those first couple of months will be really interesting.
- [40:26]
E
Patience is a virtue, Liverpool fans. It may well turn out lovely.
- [40:35]
G
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B
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- [42:08]
E
A couple of quick ones from You,
- [42:09]
D
David Quick being the optimum word. I've not got Laura here today to be the disciplinarian.
- [42:14]
E
Rubes is I tried yesterday on Aston Villa, obviously Tillerman's heading to Manchester United, which you. You brought us yesterday. Lucadinha heading to Paris Saint Germain. Is that that's happening?
- [42:28]
D
Yeah, that's on course. By the way, Telemans has completed his medical with Manchester United. At the time of US broadcasting, I don't think he' actually signed yet, but there's no concern that will get done. And Luca Dean, there's a release clause, I believe in his contract, which PSG seemed to be taking advantage of to provide depth with Nuno Mendes. Obviously the clear number one there. The French link, the PSG link.
- [42:53]
E
Good pronunciation on Mendesh.
- [42:54]
D
Nuna Mendesh. So, yeah, I think that is in process.
- [43:00]
E
Okay, good. Julian Alvarez, we showed his picture. Top of the show. Barcelona.
- [43:10]
D
Well, no soundings from Atletico Madrid have always been that they want to keep him. Despite his comments here at the World cup and the high profile pursuit of Barcelona, I think it's well known in the game that he really wants to join Barcelona. I think they've made an offer. It was turned down, nowhere near the asking price. There's massive admiration from Arsenal, but I don't think that this is an advanced stage in any direction right now.
- [43:43]
E
He's also busy right now.
- [43:44]
D
Yeah, he's got a lot on his plate. PSG is one that's been linked with him, but I don't think they're. They're on the case right now. I think their attack is plentiful.
- [43:52]
E
Someone has asked user hw9blah, blah, blah, could Arsenal sign him?
- [43:59]
D
I mean, they really like him and Andrea Berta signed him for Athletico Madrid in his role there. I don't know how good the relationship is between Andrea Berta and Atletico Madrid since his departure. Didn't we see him fighting on the touchline in the Champions League with Atletico Madrid staff members?
- [44:16]
E
Yes.
- [44:18]
D
And does Julian Alvarez want to come back to England again? There's been some suggestion that he and his wife are less keen on that. Their focus is Barcelona. If Barcelona doesn't happen but he can leave, would they be open to Arsenal? Would Arsenal be willing to offer the sort of money that Atletico Madrid would want, which at one point seemed far fetched. But now we're seeing the prices players are going for. You're thinking, if it is 150 million euros, that is not so wild and equally can Atletico Madrid with their Argentines and you know, he's Only been there for a couple of seasons. Can they convince him to stay and continue there? They're in a decent financial position, as far as I know. So it's just unresolved and I don't think it's at a stage where we can give a clear indication of what's going to happen.
- [45:08]
F
It's a bit reminiscent of when Griezmann was Atletico Madrid. Fancy to move to Barcelona. Right. However, I think this one would, if it were to happen, would be a lot more successful for Alvarez, who is much more of a proper striker. Barcelona, you know, Lewandowski has just left, so they do need a 9 to kind of probably start ahead of Ferran Torres. Whereas when Griezmann went there, he went to the only team in the world with a player in his position better than him, which was, you know, Lionel Messi. But yeah, it would be a tidy profit for Atlantica if that's the price, you know, two years after. What was it, around 80? Yeah. Yeah.
- [45:41]
E
Okay, let's rat tat through a few questions that have come in. Same, same guy, user hw, blah, blah, blah, blah. Is Bruno Gumires to Arsenal advancing?
- [45:56]
D
As far as I know, it's where we reported previously in that he had informed Newcastle of his desire to leave and join Arsenal and Arsenal were minded or willing prepared to pay in around, I think it was 60 million euros pounds we reported at the time. I don't know of it, you know, progressing particularly rapidly right now.
- [46:19]
E
And his desire carries more weight than Newcastle's reluctance to let him go.
- [46:24]
D
I, I don't think so. He's under contract there and he's their captain and they're not obliged to sell him. So I, I don't think his preference is any more strong than, than their desire. Obviously Arsenal haven't had club to club contact to my knowledge. I'm not sure if that's changed in the last sort of days. But you know, Newcastle, if they can sell, they need to have some offers to, to think about it and we don't know of those offers being concrete or formal at this point in time.
- [46:58]
E
Has this got the potential to be another ESAC mess,
- [47:03]
D
given the way things unraveled with Isak not training and, and being very determined to leave and showing that through his actions? I'm not aware of Bruno Guimaraj sort of looking to go down that route and given he's the skipper and has been very outspoken in his love and affection for Newcastle, it doesn't feel like that will be replicated. But clearly it's not an ideal situation for Newcastle. Maybe they would have thought about it slightly differently if Arsenal had been more concrete to this point, which they. They haven't yet. But that could change in days. You don't know how these things.
- [47:44]
E
And that was happening during the World cup whilst he was still playing.
- [47:46]
D
Yeah. But also Manzambi, you know, they were working on a deal to sign him. What a capture that would have been for their midfield. And ultimately Aston Villa arrived on the scene and now they're in the process of finalizing a deal. Another story we broke on the Athletic. So it's a complicated picture at Newcastle. There's a lot of concern among the fan base on what's happening. The big name players leaving. Some really good young players arriving, but some who haven't, you know, or haven't. They haven't been able to get over the line or have decided to go elsewhere. So there's concern, you can feel it. But yeah. No noteworthy developments on Bruno to bring the audiences just yet.
- [48:30]
E
Okay. Jay Ban, we've mentioned Arsenal with Alvarez, but has asked do you expect Arsenal to be busy? I'll give you 40 seconds for this one.
- [48:43]
D
Because of their success, they're looking at, you know, real top level additions that can really take them on to a new level, sustained success, Champions League title and so on. And it's really in that front line. So they're looking at their options and they're probably working through multiple scenarios for how to improve the left side with Trossard leaving for Beiktas and that's the key area of focus. Then of course, midfield. We've talked about Bruno. They'll have other options, I'm sure too. So I'm not in any doubt that Arsenal will get some good business done. It probably needs more time and patience and their record in the market in. In recent years has been pretty impressive and I suspect they'll add what they need to. To remain competitive as the window goes on. Maybe a bit of calm is needed.
- [49:36]
E
Okay, that's good. Couple of questions, one that we'll bring up in a minute, but this one I just. Because I like it. Frankie Beans, I think he's called. Could Arsenal do a madness and try Barcola and Rodgers? David?
- [49:47]
D
Yeah, well, Rogers has been their. Their clear focus. But let's see. Villa, not, not easy. They. They don't want to lose him. The price will be high. So again, another one that I don't know of, sort of concrete developments on,
- [50:03]
E
but there's something, there's something in the air.
- [50:05]
D
Yeah, for sure.
- [50:06]
E
For sure.
- [50:06]
D
On Rodgers because it's a player Mikel Arteta wants Barclay. I don't know of developments on that front so they definitely. I wouldn't imagine two of them you could see like a Rodgers and an Alvarez. I don't think that's beyond. But before people get too excited we've explained why the you know where this is going.
- [50:25]
E
Please give context if you take David's words in isolation.
- [50:30]
D
Absolute murders there. Yeah.
- [50:32]
E
Social is going to be a madness with that clip. Quick one. Mick has asked what is going on with Adam Wharton this summer. This was obviously one that will interest Ruben as well and could Chelsea go for him?
- [50:45]
D
Oh I didn't know Chelsea were in the frame or where could.
- [50:49]
E
Where is. Is he likely to leave and where is he likely to go?
- [50:53]
D
You know his name was so heavily linked with. As Ruben's face drops Man United, Liverpool, Man City, top clubs and sure on the continent as well with his style but nothing concrete seems to be developing around Adam Wharton just yet. Doesn't mean it won't Crystal palace we always said they would look at the market valuations of players like Anderson. They rate rightly Wharton so highly and that's going to be a pretty penny if you're going to prize him from Palace. He's on a strong contract and you know I don't want to say this in a disrespectful way to palace to the contrary but maybe he is one that misses out on the move of the all these midfielders this summer and palace managed to hold on to him. I don't think that would be a bad thing for any party. Continue to develop more European football a great opportunity under PSA new coach. So yeah, I think the way things are looking would be for Wharton to continue at Selhurst Park.
- [51:52]
F
Great. I suppose him being left out of the England squad as well. I obviously don't know why but maybe there's like a physicality element to it where other players. The way the Premier League is going, Wharton is seen as maybe like slightly weaker out of possession than some others but if you know in the right system his in possession passing can more than make up for that. But yeah, I think another season of development would still allow palace to get a decent fee for him in the remaining time of his contract which obviously they didn't do with Gay. They sold him with a few months left. So yeah, one more year another Europe, you know another European trophy and then he'll already be at Champions League club. So there we go.
- [52:38]
A
Excellent.
- [52:38]
E
That would be the ideal Scenario cut to shot of David in two weeks time saying Chelsea have signed. Okay, that's all we've got time for in terms of the questions. And there is a lot more questions answered in the deal sheet which is available for you right now. You can go and get that on the Athletic. Remember, if you're not familiar with the Athletic already, the Athletic app, it's free for you all the World cup coverage. So get stuck in and enjoy it and join the family of the Athletic. Let's wrap up our quiz. As we mentioned earlier on day 34 of the tournament, who won their first World cup in 1934? Lots of wrong answers in the comments, but Maca was on it, answered it six times. Bosh, bosh, bosh. Matthias also answered it. Thomas Ferguson in there as well. Let's throw it to the sofa of knowledge. And the question that I asked was who, which nation hosted and won their first World cup in 1934?
- [53:41]
D
The sofa. I'm not sure the knowledge part because we got yesterday's question wrong.
- [53:45]
E
You're looking carefully tiptoeing up to the answer.
- [53:48]
D
Is it embarrassing to say Uruguay?
- [53:50]
E
It's not the right answer.
- [53:52]
F
I was gonna say that.
- [53:53]
E
It's not that.
- [53:54]
F
Is it Italy?
- [53:55]
E
It is Italy. Italy. Vittorio Pozzo guided Italy.
- [53:58]
F
Uruguay won two. Right, but they were.
- [54:00]
E
Uruguay won the first one in 1930. Italy won Pozzo. I have to say Pozzo again, just as a Watford fan. Vittorio Pozzo guided Italy back to, back to back World Cups in 1934 and 1938.
- [54:16]
D
He wasn't sacked in that time.
- [54:18]
E
He would have been. He would have been. Right. So that is that for today's show. Thank you very much, Ruben.
- [54:26]
F
Thank you.
- [54:27]
E
Really appreciate you being here. Look forward to your continued reporting over this next week. And same to you David as well. Enjoy the game. Gents, a reminder, as I've said, you can get all of the Athletic coverage throughout the World cup completely free on the app. So get stuck into that. You can listen to us wherever you get your podcast. Obviously we're live on YouTube but it is there as a good old fashioned podcast as well. Wherever you get yours. And do subscribe on YouTube as well. We're going to be back live tomorrow when we will know one of the teams heading into the World cup final and we will be gearing up for England against Argentina. So yeah, we'll see you tomorrow. Enjoy the game. Take care.
- [55:24]
B
Is your kid's birthday coming up? Don't stress the prep. The party shop at Michael's is your one stop shop for every theme from Bluey to Rodeo. Transform your space into a birthday wonderland with dreamworthy tablescapes and decor. Starting at $0.99 plus get free helium inflation on select balloon styles. Whether you're crafting a one of a kind bash or grabbing the essentials, Michaels has everything to make their big day legendary. Shop now and order ahead for delivery or in store. Pickup Michaels everything to celebrate anything Summer
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I
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