Zubimendi seems done and dusted then. Great signing. I’m not quite sure what everyone was seeing on his Spain performance the general consensus is that it was a good to great performance. With a goal no less but small sample sizes lead to a wide range of interpretations. I doubt anyone’s seen more than two games he’s played in.

Partey is good back up but I’d like to see Myles deputise sometimes and have us develop him into the 6 role. He’s quite adventurous with his dribbling sometimes which he’d have to balance but being able to drive the ball as Zubimendi demonstrated on multiple occasions against Portugal keeps the opposition honest with a deep lying passer.

The Athletic has linked us with Guehi from Palace. I like him but we can't let any defensive signings restrict our spending on attacking positions. I think Newcastle went for Guehi last year and it was upwards of £50m. We went for Huijsen who ended up at Real Madrid for £50m.

If we ended the summer having obtained Zubimendi, Sesko and a top class left winger (Rodrygo, Williams etc) then that is a fantastic summer for strengthening the starting 11. If we sign back up players at a cost that hinders the quality of player we can get in attack then that is a problem, which is why Kepa at £5m for a back up gk makes sense.

The 3 above + Kepa would be fantastic business, but there is still a bit of depth required. I think if you went through the squad and looked at
a) the first 11, and
b) who the replacement is for the first 11 player
you could easily find some gaps in quality, or gaps full stop. Or the replacement is a long way below the quality of the player they replace.

Arteta spoke at the end of the season about needing a bigger squad, I'm not 100% convinced he really wants that as historically he seems to have preferred working with a smaller group of players which avoids having to leave players out of the match day squad alltogether (he's like Pep in that regard)

—
Guehi is a good young player but with Saliba, Gab, Kiwior, White & Tomiyasu - do we really need any more CD cover? Least of our worries, I’d have thought.

Agree that MA, whatever he says, tends to pick those who are (in his opinion) his best players. He doesn’t drop in reserves. As such, a large squad is only of value when there are injuries. Plan for the worst by all means but one can only hope we don’t suffer the catastrophic losses of last season. We should’ve had another striker but you can’t really plan for the others.

3 Arsenal boys start for England tonight.

Looking at the flurry of signings already by Chelsea and City, one can't but think that the financial cheating combined with the dominance of the PL is now pretty toxic for European football overall

The way the PL and these clubs are stockpiling young talent is grim imho. Can see many young players' careers ending at Chelsea as they simply cannot develop them all. They don't care.

If the links to Guehi are genuine that raises concerns to me. Can only be a replacement for Saliba. Palace turned down a bid from the totts for 70 million for him. He’s right footed like Saliba too. No chance are we spending 70 million on cover for gab and saliba even if kiwior leaves.

Found it a bit odd we were supposed to be interested Huijsen if I’m honest.

the young left back for Senegal looks good, Diouf. tall, strong, powerful, first time crosses. Looks like the sort of player a mid table prem team will go for - a classic Brighton type signing and then gets sold on for 4 times what they paid

MLS caught out for the Senegal goal. Such a basic ball over the top.

Here is a good conspiracy.

John Textor owns a controlling stake in Lyon and a 43% stake in Palace, he's also very good friends with Marinakis who owns Forest.

Forest loaned Andrew Omobamidele to Strasbourg and he conceded a last minute penalty on the last day of the season against Lyon which Lyon scored which was the goal which sent them in to Europe. Omodambidele was subbed on in the 88th minute, conceded the winning peanlty goal and got booked twice to get sent off.

Forest are close to signing 3 players from Botofogo.......Botofogo are also a club recently acquired by John Textor

Forest sold Niakhate and Mangala to Lyon last year for a combined 45m euros (about double their market value) - which was all but single handedly enough to save Forest from PSR related sanctions and likely points deductions.

The year before Mangala was loaned to Lyon for a fee of 11m euros.

Multi-club ownership is an easy gateway to game/cheat the system

Yep. If we had decent less corrupt governing organisations then we'd have decent rules to prevent multi club ownership. It stinks.

Had to read it a few times to make sense of that chain, the numbers do seem well off.

As I said before football legislation is no match for the kind of pressure international financial systems place on it, and this kind of (alleged) cheating, perhaps not at this level, has probably always been going on.

Senegal deservedly beat England.
England have some very talented players but have big gaps in quality in the starting 11 and some fairly average players who make up the depth.

England really lack technical players in the middle of the pitch - it's all still so 'English' - Rice, Bellingham, Gallagher, Henderson(!), Rodgers, Eze - all good players (not Henderson now) - but not technicians who control the flow and tempo of the game.

Konsa and Guehi could make a decent CB pairing but the quality in central defence is really poor. No offence to Konsa and Guehi who are decent players but they're playing for Villa and Palace, look at the past list of CB who couldn't even make the team back in the 2000-2010 era.

England need to give up on players who just aren't going to make the world cup squad. Walker, Henderson, Dan Burn.

Pickford, Trent, Konsa, Guehi, MLS, Wharton, Rice, Bellingham, Saka, Gordon, Kane - you could take Wharton out for Palmer if you wanted a more attacking midfield.

That team is ok and should make a world cup QF but the depth of talent in other big nations will knock this team out unless they get lucky

Some b%*&s%*^ in disallowing the equaliser, but England well beaten really by a smart dynamic Senegal team.

New manager and mixed up side meet a settled outfit on a really good run is how I see it. England at a tournament with a decent build up will be the same as they’ve been recently which is good for a QF; maybe SF with a favourable draw.

Another pointless fixture. It’s all utter bollocks, isn’t it? All those players should be on beaches with their families.

Totally pointless.

Also now you have an 18 year old getting slayed because he made a mistake in a pointless game that’s worthless in a totally knackered team.

Next up the club World Cup! I mean wtf

Wirtz to Liverpool for £126m. That’s a huge signing. I wonder who in their starting 11 he bumps out because for that money he has to start every game and if we’re honest he has to be one of the best players in the prem as soon as he hits the ground

I think MLS made the mistake by pushing wide to cover the winger, full backs shouldn’t push that far wide when they’re high up the pitch. But once he did then the England midfielder didn’t track the runner who moved in to the space.

MLS is an incredible talent but he’s still learning at left back. I think Calafiori gets more than a decent chunk of games there and could become the bonafide first choice as MLS comes out of the spotlight when the timing is right

Lamine Camara very good for Senegal as well, has done well at Monaco. I’d go for him if Partey doesn’t extend his deal. £30-40m should be enough.

And next year you have a few injuries and all the fans will be saying why didn’t try some other players for England. When?

I won’t be saying that, Gaz. Trust me.

Who would have thought trying to charge people 130 to 900 quid for a concert ticket in one of the most deprived boroughs in London would lead to not selling out. It’s ok we’ve given a few tickets to people at food banks! I’m sure thats a big help to them hearing Beyonce knock out Texas hold em before heading back to the estate!

https://metro.co.uk/2025/06/10/beyonce- ... -23379094/

Noticed that fat Podger Robbie Williams was at our place and all and that didn’t look a sell out either. Honestly I’m thankful I grew up in a time going to a rave cost *%^@ all and caesars on Old Kent Road cost 10 quid to get in and was all you could drink all night

Worlds gone mad

Sane signs for Galatasaray as a free agent. Apparently we were interested, his wages are sky high though - as they always would be for a player of his age and on a free transfer. I’m glad we didn’t go there

I don’t mind the fixtures, national teams have to play at some point. I think as a national team manager of a big team who ‘should’ be assured of qualification you need to pick players who you’re looking to build with for the next tournament so picking the likes of Walker, Henderson and Dan Burn seems pointless to me.

Still some noise around Rodrygo from Real. That would have Alexis Sanchez vibes about it. Rodrygo has been pushed out to the right wing to accommodate Vinicius on the left, but Rodrygo prefers to play from the left. Real have signed the young wonderkid from River Plate which could push Rodrygo out the door.

Man City now close to signing Sverre Nypann. We were heavily linked, then it looked like Villa had done the deal.
Would be City's 5th signing already this summer, and on top of the 4 players they signed in January. The thick end of 350m euros in 2 windows there.

Football is becoming a farce if it can't police its own rules properly. 2 years we've waited for a resolution on the charges against City - as we get close to the result City are hoarding young players and spending with abandon. Transfer ban as a punishment would have little effect.

The hoarding of players generally is awful for the sport, multi club ownership so those players can just be stocked elsewhere and picked back up if they turn out to be any good, safely away from the 'big' club having to develop them and count the cost of their mistakes.

I saw a table of clubs who have the most room for manoeuvre with regards to the PSR rules (£105m losses over a 3 year period allowed) and the club who supposedly run their club in the most profitable and sustainable way.......Chelsea

I’ve never in all my years had much interest in international football, Rich. I now have no time or any real interest for bloated tournaments.

I used to look forward to the 2-week 16 nations World Cup with a few qualifiers, but as FIFA’s strategy to control all aspects of football have grown, it’s now something else entirely.

48 nations next. 64 on the way. 4 weeks? 6 weeks? World Club competition? Where does it stop? UEFA are as bad. Poxy ten-bob Nations League? Who cares???

FIFA and UEFA need to remember they’re Club players. Clubs pay them and we fund those clubs. They are effectively our players - and they have limits.

R.I.P Brian Wilson
Travel well and Good Vibrations man

I agree with you about all the competitions. In reality if they all weren’t so self interested, fixtures could be cut. For instance the top 6-8 finishers at the Euros could automatically qualify for the next WC. But tell that to the FA’s and they wouldn’t want to miss the revenue.

Man City squad for the club World Cup. They’ve not even included Grealish.
That’s 28 players including Grealish meaning that for any given game in the prem 8 of these players aren’t even going to make the match day squad!

I have no doubt our first 11 competes with City but the depth here having spent £300m on 8 players since January is crazy.

One of the sounds of my youth provided by a wonderful musician. If California had little in common with Bermondsey and the beach at Leysdown, I Get Around transcended more than enough. God Only Knows is genius.

Spot on OMOH………for Bermondsey and Leysdown read Finsbury Park and Southend for me. The Beach Boys were a big part of the soundtrack of my life
God only knows is a great single…. In my all time Top 5……There is a compelling 7 minute You Tube video.. “Behind the Sounds: God Only Knows Part 1 “….that shows him at work… painstaking,demanding but totally collaborative with his musicians ……from the guy who intros the French Horn to the drummer coming up with the clippety clop beat played on two turned up plastic cups … punctuated by sleigh bells!
Interesting to note it and the LP Pet Sounds wasn’t a huge commercial success at first …Wilson and his co writer Tony Asher were at odds on whether the first line was too negative as well as having God in the title would be too much for America at the time…..it even got shifted to the B side with Wouldn’t it be Nice promoted to the A.side
Sorry if this is a bit nerdy but some serious hero worship going on here

Best opening line in popular music?

“Well, it’s been building up inside of me for oh, I don't know how long……”

And why not Andy! Was our generation the first to have musical heroes? I am not just talking about popularity - Jolson, Crosby and Sinatra for instance were hugely followed in the years before - but something more long-lasting. I can't define it clearly, but whatever it is Elvis, The Beatles, Dylan and The Beach Boys were for millions of us much more than popular. Highlights of my life include seeing Brian Wilson at the Royal Festival Hall with his Pet Sounds and Smile shows in the early 2000s. Surely no artist can have ever have received such a loving reception from an audience? Arsenal were pretty good too at that time.

A song, to borrow George Barker's line, as poignant as a swallowed knife. How could a young man as he was deliver that masterpiece?

Someone else who wasn’t half bad at penning a tune called God only knows the best pop song ever … I think there’s a duet of Sir Paul and Brian Wilson performing it.

Some will prefer Sesko and some will prefer Gyokeres. I am on the Sesko side

https://tbrfootball.com/arsenal-have-ju ... a-problem/

If this is true I cant understand the point of seemingly making Sesko the number one target then putting in a bid for Gyokeres instead!

I think Sesko could be the real deal in a few years time with more potential and more years on his side. He clearly has more to his game and physically more imposing as well as blessed with pace.
My fear is we could be missing out on the next Isak.
Yes Gyokeres will give us goals but i think we are missing a trick by not going for the more all rounded player.
Is this a possible tactic for Leipzig to reduce the price or payment terms?
I hope so.

Yes. A lot of California surfing songs. RIP

Not the opening line but another of my favourites:

"You know it's gonna make it that much better
When we can say goodnight and stay together"

It's all there, isn't it? The urgency of adolescence.