Arsenal Eye Ngumoha, Arteta Deal & Spurs January Move | Ben Jacobs' Newsletter
Arsenal are monitoring Rio Ngumoha as Liverpool push to secure the youngster to a new contract, while Mikel Arteta edges closer to extending his Arsenal stay and Tottenham assess a potential January striker move. Ben Jacobs breaks down the latest on Ngumoha's Liverpool future and Arsenal's interest, Liverpool's search for a new sporting director following Michael Edwards' departure, Arteta's contract talks and Arsenal's upcoming transfer priorities. There's also the latest on Tottenham's plans to potentially add another source of goals during the winter window, plus a major update from inside FIFA as Gianni Infantino opens the door to an independent review of the organisation's governance. Chapters: 00:00 Gianni Infantino & FIFA Governance Review 04:52 Arsenal Monitoring Rio Ngumoha 05:43 Liverpool’s Sporting Director Search 06:41 Liverpool Ownership Transition Latest 07:38 Mikel Arteta Contract Update 08:01 Arsenal’s Next Transfer Priorities 08:43 Tottenham Eye January Striker Move Arsenal Liverpool Tottenham Subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/user/GiveMeSport Follow GiveMeSport! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GiveMeSport/ X: https://twitter.com/GiveMeSport Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/givemesport/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@givemesport Our Website: https://www.givemesport.com/ For copyright matters please contact us at: legal@givemesport.com
Transcript
Hello and welcome along to the latest of my GMS newsletters. Ben Jacobs with you, great to have your company. I'm about to head to Portugal for the Portugal Football Summit. I will be moderating for GMS. Stay tuned for more details and content throughout the week. Before we get into a few bits of transfer news, let's just talk about the FIFA situation because the FIFA Council meet on October the 15th and ahead of that meeting, Gianni Infantino has written a very interesting letter making two key points. The first is he's open to an independent review of FIFA's governance and he will task the FIFA Council with deciding whether or not to proceed with that. And then second of all, Infantino has written to FIFA's 211 presidents of the member associations and the FIFA Council and he's offered a what he calls time-limited consultation process in order to pitch various initiatives, proposals, or reforms. And this is off the back of the failed FIFA Forward Enterprise project in which Gianni Infantino had tried to part privatize FIFA. There was a backlash and the plans were scrapped. And Infantino states in his letter, in the first real acknowledgement to all parties, at least within FIFA, that the proposal did cause concern. Now, he argues this is because it came out before it was ready. And yet other sources tell me that there was a point in time when Infantino had planned this project for a year, was looking to release the plans himself before the media on the eve of the World Cup final. But he didn't and then they came out and FIFA kind of had to scramble. So, Infantino argues in this letter that he understands why many were concerned. But he adds very clearly that FIFA Forward Enterprise was only a proposal and not a decision. UEFA and CONCACAF don't really see it that way, at least many of the members within those two confederations, and this is why Gianni Infantino has had several endorsement letters withdrawn, particularly from UEFA. Infantino plans to fight on. There's no candidate at the moment that's come forward to stand against him. The deadline, if somebody is to do so, is November the 18th, and the election takes place next March. So, Infantino will feel that he's starting to build bridges. On the point though of FIFA governance, UEFA insiders tell me they would prefer the possibility of an independent review into FIFA's governance is put up for vote to all 211 members, rather than only pitched to the FIFA Council. And they also want specifically a review into FIFA Forward Enterprise, and also the red card of Flo Balogun at the 2026 World Cup against Bosnia in the round of 32, which was suspended, allowing Balogun to play in the game against Belgium in the round of 16. And off the back of President Donald Trump admitting publicly that he called Gianni Infantino, an exclusive that I broke, to ask Infantino to review that particular red card. Now, FIFA have always argued that it was an independent disciplinary panel, a one-man panel it has to be said, and therefore Infantino could not have influenced the process. But Debbie Hewitt from the FA and several others in UEFA want a review into that incident. They want a review into FIFA Forward Enterprise, and they want a review into FIFA's governance, and they want this possibility of all three either baked into one or independently put up for vote to FIFA's 211 members. On the second point of time-limited consultations for different proposals, there's already one that's been made by Victor Montagliani and Aleksander Čeferin, the heads of CONCACAF and UEFA, and they've written a letter to Infantino asking that each member federation is given 10 million US dollars in funding on top of the existing funding cycle and taken from specifically FIFA's reserves. And that would be an investment of over 2 billion, 10 million US dollars per federation times 211. And this is now supported by the AFC president, Sheikh Salman, as well. So, one way maybe that Infantino can smooth things over with the AFC, CONCACAF, and UEFA is agreeing to that proposal and using some of FIFA's reserves. And that will be one to watch and to see whether or not this gets moving off the back of the FIFA Council meeting, which takes place on October the 15th. Now, let's move on to the players. I want to speak about Liverpool and Rio Ungo Moua. It is true, to my understanding, that Arsenal retain an interest in the player. Leipzig have looked in the past, and Bayern Munich liked Ungo Moua over the summer, as well. But, Liverpool made it clear in the last window, Ungo Moua was not for sale. And the player was told that his pathway will give him opportunities on the left and on the right. And as a consequence, more minutes and appearances, as well. And Liverpool's intent is to get Ungo Moua to sign a new contract. We wait and see what the player's perspective is, but Arsenal are kind of monitoring the situation. Nothing more than that at this stage, because Liverpool have made it clear over the summer that they were not going to entertain any business as far as Ungo Moua was concerned. And still, they would prefer to keep, and they want Ungo Moua to sign a new deal. So, Liverpool, as it stands, feel quite calm about that particular situation. Regarding the Liverpool sporting director, it's worth noting as I've reported in the past that Julian Ward is a serious contender to get the role of sporting director in the absence of Michael Edwards. And Liverpool were not surprised by the departure of Michael Edwards. It came out officially in the media after the window passed that Edwards was joining Al-Hilal, but Liverpool knew that Edwards was leaving after the winter markets. They've had plenty of time to plan. And interestingly, it might not just be a sporting director because Liverpool could potentially make some tweaks to their sporting department. And as they decide and interview, they're also speaking to external candidates as well. And Lee Dykes at Brentford is another name who is appreciated. So, let's see whether Liverpool make an internal hire, whether they make more than one hire, and then a bit further down the line, so not now but in the future, if the Amit Bhatia-led consortium own the football club and FSG ultimately depart, then some people within Liverpool's sporting team with FSG titles will need to either come into the new consortium, maybe just a straight move across, of course, come into Liverpool, or develop new roles or titles. And one of the parts of appeal, according to my information for the Amit Bhatia-led consortium, is this slower transition. So, they can start with 38% as they've now got. They can assess over the next year. They've got the option to take control of the football club, and they've got a year to determine what's needed, what kind of roles are necessary, and that should also create a very smooth transition if they choose to increase their stake. But for now, the priority is for Liverpool to find a new sporting director, and Julian Ward is a leading contender, but as I say, Lee Dykes at Brentford is also appreciated as well. A quick word again on Arsenal. My expectation is further progress is made during the international break on Mikel Arteta signing a new deal. The nuts and bolts of this are already agreed in principle. Only final details remain and the international break should afford a good opportunity for Arteta and Arsenal to speak further. And my expectation is that Arteta will sign his new Arsenal deal sooner rather than later. Now, Arsenal is still looking for a starting left winger. Maybe more likely for the summer and Kristoffer Soles has begun his career at Arsenal in a very impressive way. And a right back is on the agenda for Arsenal as well. For Tottenham, they are prepared to add another striker mid-season in the winter market if goals continue to dry up. Richarlison doesn't appear to have a future at the football club. Roberto De Zerbi has been clear on his position there. And even though Omar Marmoush has arrived, Igor Matanovic and Tottenham could be one to watch. And as I exclusively revealed over the summer, Spurs and Manchester United both appreciate the player. He scored 15 goals for Freiburg last season. And he's got six in seven already this campaign as well. He's big, he's tall, he's a target man. He's a little bit of a different profile to the kind of striker that Tottenham have already got. And yet there's no guarantee anything is going to be possible here mid-season. So, we're going to have to understand whether Tottenham are going to be really aggressive for a particular target in the winter market or if they're going to back what they've got and then ultimately wait until the summer. My info as of now is that it's not ruled out they could add another source of goals mid-season. But of course, players are harder to get in the winter market than in the summer market due to the fact that there's less time and generally clubs with players they want to keep are less willing to sell mid-season because it can be highly disruptive. But Igor Mkhitaryan Tottenham could potentially be one to watch and they're assessing the situation now. They've got plenty of time before the winter market opens, but don't rule out the possibility of Tottenham adding another source of goals mid season because they've naturally made a very disappointing start to the season. So that's the latest from my GMS newsletter. Great to have your company as ever. Market madness is back. Now the window has shut. Stay tuned for more details and timings on that one and stay tuned to the GMS network as well for all of the latest transfer news. That's it from myself Ben Jacobs for now. Thanks so much for watching.