JJ Gabriel Latest, Man City Appeal & Alex Scott Race | Ben Jacobs Newsletter

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Ben Jacobs on Alex Scott, JJ Gabriel, Man City's appeal and FIFA governance

Ben Jacobs runs through four main topics: Alex Scott's injury and 2027 transfer race, JJ Gabriel's future after turning 16, Manchester City's appeal against the Premier League verdict, and the Norwegian FA's complaints over FIFA and Gianni Infantino. His takeaway is that Scott's short-term future stays at Bournemouth but a big race is coming, Gabriel is more likely to move to Europe if he leaves now, City face an uphill appeal, and FIFA governance will remain a major issue into the presidential election.

Chelsea and Liverpool could be clubs to watch in the race for Alex Scott, while JJ Gabriel’s Manchester United future continues to attract interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs. Ben Jacobs brings the latest on Scott’s Bournemouth future and potential 2027 transfer race, plus where things stand with JJ Gabriel after turning 16, with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and PSG all discussed. Ben also breaks down Manchester City’s appeal following the verdict in their Premier League case, including the commercial-payment argument at the centre of their challenge and what could happen next. Finally, there’s an update on the Norwegian Football Association’s filings involving FIFA and Gianni Infantino, with questions being raised around governance, the FIFA Peace Prize, disciplinary decisions and FIFA Forward Enterprise. Chapters: 00:00 Alex Scott Injury Update After England Debut 02:19 Chelsea’s £64m Alex Scott Bid & Bournemouth’s Stance 04:34 Chelsea, Liverpool & the Race for Alex Scott 06:49 Man Utd Fight to Keep JJ Gabriel 08:18 Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern & PSG Eye JJ Gabriel 10:19 Manchester City Launch Appeal 12:18 Why Man City Believe the Verdict Could Unravel 14:01 Norwegian FA Files Complaints Over FIFA & Infantino 16:40 FIFA Governance Review & Presidential Election Subscribe for the latest transfer news, Premier League updates and football insight with Ben Jacobs. Transfers PremierLeague Football 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 my latest GMS newsletter, Ben Jacobs with you. Great to have your company as ever here on YouTube. Sign up and get all this information in your inbox as well. And first and Market Madness returns next week as well. And we'll be delving into the Manchester City charges. Four things to touch upon, two political and two transfers. We will speak about JJ Gabriel's future and Alex Scott. And I'll also tell you about a three-pronged action asking to investigate Gianni Infantino from the Norway Football Association. And we'll recap where we're at with those City charges as well with more to follow on Market Madness. Let's start with the transfers first. Alex Scott, unfortunately injured on England duty, feeling some pain before he made a superb debut in England's 7-0 win over Croatia. But now the expectation according to sources is Scott is going to be out for about two months with a thigh issue. Um the challenge of course for Bournemouth is that they've lost Scott and Junior Creupeland two injuries. So Bournemouth naturally very disappointed. And Scott chose to play in this game to make his England debut. And we have to understand that this was a very emotional week for Scott because he'd sadly lost his grandfather. And our thoughts and prayers with Scott and his family. And this was about reaching a very important career milestone. And to some degree playing through the pain. And everybody so proud of Scott and his achievements. And the feeling is that he's going to be a really important player for England for many, many years to come. But sadly despite his wonderful England debut he picked up this injury or aggravated pain that he already felt going into the match. And as a consequence, Bournemouth are going to be without Scott for up to two months. Now, Scott is expected to be back well before the Christmas period. There is another international break before then as well, but he will miss a number of games and tests are ongoing to determine the exact prognosis. But Bournemouth fear it's a couple of months based on all of the early indications. Now, Scott's future for 2027 is going to be a big talking point. Bournemouth's perspective is clear that they don't want to sell in January, much like they didn't want to sell over the summer. There will be clubs in January looking for a midfielder, Chelsea most notably because they didn't get Lamin Camara on deadline day, and Enzo Fernández went to Manchester City. But Bournemouth still intend to keep Scott until the end of the season, and if they can, beyond. He's contracted until 2028. Now, Bournemouth and Scott were in contract renewal talks, and then Scott made it clear he wanted to pause them. Chelsea, as I exclusively revealed over the summer, made a bid of £64 million, and it was rejected. And the Chelsea belief at the time, like Manchester City and Manchester United, plus Spurs and Arsenal, was that Bournemouth just weren't going to sell at any price. And all clubs were also dealing in a very inflated market. So, although true to my knowledge that maybe internally there was this number, Scott's worth about 80 million, that's not the same as saying they would have accepted an 80 million pound bid because you take that market valuation, and then you look at all the other deals, and the fact the club doesn't want to sell, and likely to start a conversation with Bournemouth, they would have wanted 100 million or more. And even then, Bill Foley still might have turned a bit of that magnitude down because Bournemouth's perspective is essentially they've got European football, the project is moving in a very promising direction, and they've got a new manager in Marco Rosa that the club wanted to back. So, the mantra was about keep the stars and support the new boss and then discuss the futures of some of these players in 2027. Ryan's release clause kicks in over 100 million pounds. Some sources saying it's closer to 150 million and then Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott as well. So, it wasn't about just cashing in at any number. It was about backing this Bournemouth project. But, heading into 2027, we're going to have suitors for Scott. So, January could be quite difficult because Bournemouth still don't want to sell. Summer 2027 is going to be really interesting. Chelsea expected to be one of the clubs, very possibly Liverpool as well. They also like Manu Koné and Lamine Camara at Anfield. And then, you have some other clubs such as Manchester City and Tottenham and Arsenal like I mentioned before. From Manchester City's point of view, they've kind of done their midfield revamp. Arsenal could still be in the market for another midfielder in summer 2027 and the same could even be said for Manchester United. Although, naturally, Carlos Baleba and Andrey Santos have both arrived at the football club and Youri Tielemans is there as well. So, Manchester United seemingly well covered, but you can never say never, especially if Bruno Fernandes, for example, was to depart in summer 2027. But, the club have got the option to extend that contract by an extra year and even though they've not made a breakthrough yet, Manchester United are in talks with Bruno Fernandes about extending his deal. So, there's probably going to be a mad race, particularly from Premier League clubs, for Alex Scott. I also heard that Bayern are another club that appreciate the Bournemouth midfielder, but difficult to do anything mid-season. And from Bournemouth's perspective they're still willing to reignite contract talks with Alex Scott even though there was no breakthrough over the summer. And Bournemouth's position is essentially they'll give Scott wage matching, perhaps some of the figures that other clubs would have been prepared to pay him had he moved over the summer or at least close. And they'll give him an out, a release clause in 2027. It remains to be seen and I think it's unlikely speaking to sources that Bournemouth would want to now give Scott a January number as they did with Antoine Semenyo. If a contract was agreed in the early part of the summer, maybe Scott could have got that concession as well. But regardless of anything mid-season because like I say Bournemouth don't want to sell in the summer, it is very likely with Scott to suddenly now decide to resume talks and sign a new deal and get a short-term pay rise that he would get a release clause in and around market valuation for summer 2027 because Bournemouth don't unduly stand in players' ways. So we need to understand now while Scott is injured, can Bournemouth persuade him to sign fresh terms and still have that out and that ability to leave in 2027. But Chelsea and Liverpool could certainly be two clubs to watch. Now JJ Gabriel, a bit more of an active situation compared to Alex Scott because he's turned 16 and can move with the right passport, Irish or Cypriot, to Europe. You have lots of interest from elite clubs and now the player's 16, he can seek formal representation. Manchester United are still hoping to salvage the situation. Chelsea have been interested in JJ Gabriel but their perspective is he's moving abroad to a European club but Manchester United still get a say in all of this and it's worth noting that JJ Gabriel can't just go. The family have to show relocation and a non-football-related income prompting the move. And then at that point the player would have the ability to make the switch despite the fact his registration with Manchester United runs until the summer. Now, I did an interview with Deco in Portugal a few weeks ago that's available on the JMS website. And in that interview Deco said that Barcelona are not working on JJ Gabriel. And yet there has been meetings. So, I don't think we can yet say Barcelona are 100% out of the race, but publicly Deco has downplayed their chances. Now the player's 16, let's see whether that changes. In addition, Real Madrid still remain one of the leading contenders. Bayern Munich and PSG are two clubs that have held talks as well. Manchester United are not expected to cancel the registration for an English club. So, it wants JJ Gabriel to say he's interested in Chelsea or Manchester City who have tried in the past to sign him. And this would likely be more for summer and things would calm down. Whereas if the player wants to go now, it's much more likely because of the passport situation and the circumstances that I've outlined that he goes to Europe. So, Real Madrid, Barcelona despite Deco's denial have held some meetings as well. And then you've got Bayern Munich and PSG as four leading clubs. And no doubt there'll be more as well because JJ Gabriel is seen as an elite talent. And then there's a few big super agents in and around this deal that can now either pitch to the player or have mandates for particular big clubs that could be involved as well. And that's why there's a lot of noise because so many clubs either have pitched or will pitch. And now JJ Gabriel has two things to decide. One, where he wants to go, and two, if legally with his Manchester United registration, he can go there. And again, I reiterate what I said before, it's not just about a choice of club and a passport, it's also if it's a move to Europe, about the family having to show non-football income, and that is also why they are choosing to relocate. Otherwise, Manchester United have a little bit more control over the situation, and they would love to just persuade the player to drop all of the pushes and meetings and explorations of moves abroad and convince him that Manchester United is still the right place for his pathway. So, let's see if we get some movement now because Joe Joe Gabriel has turned 16 years of age, which is a crucial milestone for this particular story. Now, a quick word on Manchester City. We'll talk about this more on Market Madness, but there's these four phases, a verdict predominantly guilty. Then, you have the appeal, which Manchester City have now launched, and they will focus on the so-called sham commercial payments totaling 830 million over 9 years, and they will argue that that money came from the Abu Dhabi government rather than their ownership Mansour's private vehicle Abu Dhabi United Group. It's not the same argument really that City made at the Court of Arbitration for Sports and Etihad Airways said in an aviation case in 2015 that their money for Manchester City was paid directly to the club out of their own liquidity. City see that as backing up their argument, and there's kind of a gray area here because remember the sponsors in question that City will argue had government support as per the verdict which alludes to that. These are state-owned or controlled. Etihad Airways, Etisalat, the telecommunications provider, Abu Dhabi Tourism. So, there's somewhat of a semantics game at play because Etihad have argued that they get their shareholder injection, it's their own liquidity, and then they spend it on Manchester City. But obviously it still doesn't explain why if Etihad, for example, were paying all of this sponsorship, it would require two payments. One small non-disputed number directly from the sponsors, which across all of them in nine seasons totals the second one of 830 million over nine seasons. And they're lopsided, obviously. One is small and one is big. So, there's a lot of explanations still needed regardless of whether City think historical arguments tally with their position now or there appears to be a contradiction. But in essence, City are hoping that if they can remove this one guilty finding, so don't focus on the number of charges, but more the theme of them. And City feel if they can remove this one kind of umbrella guilt charge of the owner put money into the club disguising equity as commercial revenue, then a number of the charges will drop off and the very foundations of this guilty verdict will be undermined. And yet, this is not a retrial. This is essentially a new panel remarking the homework of the first panel, and a lot of the evidence has already been presented. And the initial panel in this 40 page redacted verdict decided that this argument it was not ADUG, Abu Dhabi United Group, it was the Abu Dhabi government, was actually just an excuse, quote, concocted well after the event. So, that's where we're at at the moment. Premier League handbook says that City's appeal should take 12 weeks, but of course timelines have drifted in the past. And their success in this particular appeal against the verdict will naturally define the next steps. So, we'll have more on that on Market Madness, which I believe is going to be the 12th of October. And we'll do a bit of a City special ahead of football returning in the Premier League and City having to go to Anfield. And just finally, on the FIFA stuff, which has been a bit overshadowed by the Manchester City verdict being published. But yesterday, the Norwegian Football Association made two parallel filings to FIFA concerning three matters. The FIFA Peace Prize awarded to Donald Trump at the World Cup draw, then Folarin Balogun's suspended red card, and FIFA Forward Enterprise Gianni Infantino's controversial and now failed plans to part privatize FIFA and unite or merge the commercial and the event arms of the business. Now, the Norwegian Football Federation say the aim of these filings is to, quote, activate two separate FIFA mechanisms, one addressing individual conduct of Infantino, of course, and the other institutional governance and process. So, the first filing is a complaint to the FIFA Ethics Committee, and it asked them to look at the conduct of Gianni Infantino, as well as other individuals identified through the investigation for potential breaches of FIFA's code of ethics. And this will relate to, like I say, these three umbrella areas. Giving a FIFA peace peace prize to Infantino. Overturning the Balogun suspended red card in the Norwegian Football Association, like Debbie Hewitt from the English FA, want all the documentation as to how that came about and the reasoning to be made clear, published. Because naturally, it was relatively unprecedented territory where, as I exclusively revealed, Donald Trump called up Gianni Infantino and said, "Review Balogun's red card against Bosnia." It was subsequently reviewed, FIFA arguing it was an independent disciplinary panel, but it was a one-man judge called Mohammed Al Kamali, and subsequently, of course, Balogun's red card was suspended, allowing him to play against Belgium. So, there's a lot of questions about Trump involvement, about Infantino's relationship with Trump, and yet FIFA counter that and say it was due process, and Infantino was not directly involved. And the Norwegian Football Association is saying, "Okay, if that's true, release everything so we can see that and have the FIFA Ethics Committee look at it." And then, finally, the conduct of various individuals around FIFA Forward Enterprise. The second filing is a referral to another body, FIFA's Governance, Audit, and Compliance Committee. And this particular filing asks whether FIFA's governance, financial oversight, internal controls, and decision-making process has worked as intended. And this is going to be a much bigger debate around reform in FIFA that will bleed into the next election. And the Norwegian Football Association wants an independent review, all documentation released, and an expedited process because they want this out there and concluded before the next FIFA presidential election in March. And in that at the moment, Gianni Infantino is the only candidate. We wait and see whether anyone else comes forward between now and the deadline for another candidate to stand, which is November the 18th. So, lots going on in the world of transfers and politics. Let me know where you think Alex Scott will end up and if you think he might decide to in the end still sign a new ball with deal. JJ Draxler, can Manchester United find a way to keep him? Are Real Madrid and Barcelona going to go head-to-head? Are Real the frontrunners, which has been the feeling for quite some time? Can Bayern and PSG, or maybe even some other clubs, muscle into that race? The city charges, what's your reaction? And is this going to be resolved between now and the end of the season? And Gianni Infantino, is anybody going to stand against him? And can the Norwegian Football Association, with a lot of support, by the way, from within Europe, CONCACAF and even the AFC, get transparently all the documentation out there so we can truly understand the backstory behind the FIFA Peace Prize, behind Folarin Balogun's suspended red card and ultimately FIFA Forward Enterprise? That's it from myself, Ben Jacobs. Thanks so much for watching. Sign up and get all this information straight in your inbox. And once again, Market Madness is going to return on Monday when we'll have a Manchester City special. But for now, from myself, Ben Jacobs, thanks for watching.