The Truth About JJ Gabriel's Man Utd Future | Tuchel + England with Henry Winter
Ben Jacobs has the latest on JJ Gabriel’s Manchester United future, Michael Carrick and Roberto De Zerbi, while Henry Winter breaks down the Premier League and England ahead of their clash with Spain. JJ Gabriel’s future is approaching a crucial point, with Real Madrid and Barcelona among the European giants in the race for the Manchester United youngster. Ben explains where United stand, why Gabriel’s 16th birthday matters and what could happen next. There are also updates on Michael Carrick and Roberto De Zerbi, Martin O’Neill’s Celtic future, the free-agent market and Manchester United and Tottenham’s interest in Igor Matanović. Henry Winter then joins Kate Mason and Ben to assess the Premier League season so far, including Manchester City’s start, Chelsea under Xabi Alonso, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham’s struggles. Attention then turns to England, Morgan Rogers and Thomas Tuchel ahead of England vs Spain. Plus, former Newcastle, West Ham and Southampton manager Alan Pardew joins GiveMeSport for an exclusive interview. Chapters: 0:00 Carrick, De Zerbi & O’Neill Futures 7:11 Benzema, Martial & Free-Agent Latest 10:12 JJ Gabriel: Real Madrid vs Barcelona? 14:23 Henry Winter: Premier League Season So Far 19:22 Chelsea & Xabi Alonso 21:04 Liverpool & Manchester United 27:37 What’s Going Wrong at Tottenham? 42:34 England, Morgan Rogers & Spain 54:43 Exclusive Alan Pardew Interview ManchesterUnited PremierLeague England All that and more on Market Madness. You can get in touch with us too! Streaming on YouTube, Facebook, and X – or catch up anytime on your favourite podcast platform.
Transcript
[music] Hello and welcome to Market Madness, the podcast where every day is like deadline day. We are coming to you from Give Me Sport Live and I am Kate Mason, your host for today. If you missed anything here, don't forget you can catch up with us on Market Manor. Search for that on your favorite podcast app or you can also find us on gimmeport.com and do stay in touch on Twitter and on Instagram as well. We have a bumper show for you as ever today. Ben's mailback is Ben's mailbag is back as he answers your questions on all of the latest transfer news. Plus, Henry Winter joins us to look back at the Premier League season so far and ahead to what is next for the England football team. And stick around until the end for an exclusive interview from Gimme Sports very own Sam Cohen with former Southampton, West Ham, and Newcastle manager Alan Pu. And with me as ever in the studio is Give me Sports senior football correspondent is Ben Jacobs. Everybody bringing us the latest news live I think from Portugal today. Is that correct? >> Yeah, that's correct. I'm here at the Portugal Football Summit and I'll hopefully be getting some exclusive content for Gimme Sport throughout the afternoon. So stay tuned. Are you are you going to tease anything for us? Are you going to give us a little hint? >> Not just yet. Let's make it a surprise. All I can tell you is that a high-profile former Manchester United manager and a sporting director of a big European team are both speaking to the media in the next hour, so stay tuned. >> Lovely stuff. You can send in your comments if you want to try and figure out who those are ahead of time. But for now, let's get into your mailbag, Ben, and talk about where we're at with some of the futures of big clubs and big managers. Let's talk about well, the ones that have been under pressure, Roberto Deserby and Michael Carrick. What is your latest on where those two men are? >> Yeah, the situation with Michael Carrick is Manchester United continue to back him through the international break. Of course, there's normal succession planning. We've heard some reports in Italy suggesting Antonio Conte is being lined up. That's not my understanding at this stage. There's still support for Carrick. All well-run clubs have to succession plan, but we're not in a position where there'll be a knee-jerk reaction to the current form as of now, but it's a resultsdriven business. And of course, Manchester United with both Ruben Amarim and Eric Tanhog back the managers only to sack them shortly after. So, I would expect Manchester United to be well prepared and there's certainly plenty of candidates out there. Julia Nglesman is a free agent. Simony and Zar is at Alhilal at the moment. But that may not continue in the long run. And then when you think about Eddie How being a free agent too, who was the candidate that was put forwards by Dan Ashworth when he was at Manchester United, it's very expected that we'll have this kind of speculation. But as of now, Manchester United want to continue with Michael Carrick. And that means that after the international break, he'll have an important run of fixtures as we head towards the Christmas period. >> Yeah. And one of those fixtures is going to be up against uh Tottenham Hotspur. So what is the story there in your view? >> Yeah. Roberto Deserby joined on a long-term project. And my feeling with Tottenham is there's not really a sporting infrastructure in place to make a decision on the manager because the manager's kind of come in first. There was a period in time where Tottenham were looking to replace Fabio Paratici with a co-porting director and in doing so build a sporting structure that would pick the manager. In the end, they did it the other way around and they hired Roberto Deserby. They've given him full control in the market and as a consequence he becomes accountable for far more than just football because he's been given so much say in the market and ultimately a lot of money to spend. Tottenham's beginning to the season has been nothing short of a disaster. They haven't been scoring goals. They head into the international break bottom of the table. So if these results continue, again, all well-run clubs have to think about a succession plan. But like Manchester United, I'm not at this stage expecting a surprise departure for Derby during the international break. but he will know that he has to turn results around because unlike when he took the job and had no control in the market, now he's had full control in the market. And Tottenham's aim for the season, according to my information, is not just to get European football, but to try and get into the top five and get Champions League football and they're miles off that at the moment. The mitigating circumstances, they didn't get Cody Gapo. They have had the whole situation with Rishison and Deserby seems adamant that he won't play for the football club again. So they're lacking goals ultimately and Mudriick got injured as well. So he's not going to be able to have an impact from a wide area at the moment. But behind the scenes at Tottenham, they're relatively calm. And I'm still told the intents is to explore whether another sporting official, a co-porting director or some form of senior executive is necessary. And maybe only after they find that name in whatever capacity will they start to understand if they to assess Roberto Deserby. He came in for a long-term project. Some of the teething project aspects that have slowed Spurs down have been expected. I don't think Deserby felt that everything was going to improve overnight, but there's no doubt that they don't look any better than they did last season and we're in a results driven business. So, Carrick and Deserby to some degree are in the same boat. >> And let's move up uh up to Scotland and talk about Martin O'Neal at Celtic. He received the uh dreaded backing from the club just two days ago. Where do you think that leaves him after this run of uh poor results? >> Yeah, Martin O'Neal will be able to decide his Celtic future on his own terms. I don't see anything acrimonious. And was he to depart in any capacity? My expectation is it be driven by O'Neal deciding it's time to go. Celtic haven't made a positive start to the season. Rangers are looking much stronger at the moment. So it's a big few weeks ahead and most notably Robbie Keane's right there in a free agent and before Martin O'Neal got the job there was one other leading candidate and that was Robbie Keane. He'll have other interests. Premier League clubs and championship teams have looked at him as well but in essence Celtic and Robbie Keane is going to be a narrative to potentially watch if Martin O'Neal chooses to depart. But given the manner in which O'Neal came in and kind of saved the club from a period of turmoil, my expectation is O'Neal and the Celtic ownership are on the same page here. If O'Neal says to the ownership he thinks it's time to go, there'll be a mutual parting of ways. If he wants to battle on during the season, I think it less likely that the board will force him out. But if they do have a vacancy, we need to keep an eye on Robin Ke. >> Okay, very helpful to understand at this point. And uh of course the transfer window is well closed now, but can you explain to me the situation with with free agents or free transfers? Are there any that are possible to be made in the Premier League at the moment? >> Yeah, free agents can move at any time. They're not bound by the window and there's this big long list of names, some of which are very interesting. Jamie Vardy was of course one of them and he ended up joining Burnley. Karen Benzema is a free agent. He could choose to retire. He's got Al-Shabaab in Saudi Arabia that would like to sign him. I doubt we're going to see Benzema in the Premier League. Leon with a club that had tried but it wasn't possible. French law doesn't allow a player like Benzema just to come and play essentially for free or on a wage below their valuation. So Leon couldn't find a way to make that particular deal work that Benzema is still a free agent. And now we're in a position where clubs that pick up injuries or clubs that were indecisive as to whether they wanted a free agent only have those free agents available because you can't sign a contracted player until the winter market. Everton were offered Anthony Martial to give you another example, but they're choosing to wait as of now and maybe move for another striker in the January market. But several names are available. Riyad Mahrez is another one to keep an eye on as well. and I still think he could do a job for a Premier League team as well. So, if there is to be any movement between now and the winter market, it will be for free agents. And again, to reiterate, the rules are clear. If you're a free agent, you can move at any time. So, in essence, for those free agents, the market is open 365 days a year >> as it always is for Ben Jacobs and Gimme Sport. And market madness, of course, not just for those free agents. Um, looking ahead actually to the January transfer window. Fryog's Eagle Matanovic is being tipped with a move. I mean, that feels like one made in heaven potentially for for Spurs or Manchester United to to try and get hold of him. Yeah, I read an exclusive a few weeks ago, Kate, that Eagle Manovic was on the radar of Manchester United if Joshua left because they're not that dissimilar in profiles and also from the perspective of Tottenham. They were looking at another goal scorer, somebody tall and a target man with the likelihood at that stage when I reported it that Rish Allison would leave and he's effectively left at the moment because he's being frozen out. And then if you think about Mudri being injured, Savio being a wide player, yes, they've brought in Omar Marmush and I have to say there's big faith and support internally at Tottenham for specifically Domank who Roberto Deserby really likes. So I don't think Deserby will paint this as a striker crisis, but I do think that Tottenham will be in the market for another forward either in the winter or the summer 2027. Manovic is not going to be easy to get out of Fryberg mid-season. He scored, I believe, six goals in seven games this season and 15 in all competitions last campaign. And that's why a lot of European and English clubs are starting to look. Manchester United and Tottenham are the two that I've heard have made inquiries, but I would personally be surprised if Fryberg sanction a mid-season exit. >> Okay. And last one before we get to our next special guest. Um, this is a the young man JJ Gabriel has was dominating all of the headlines last week and it's sort of dropped off a little bit. Do you have any insight onto what's happening with him now? >> Yeah, I don't think it's dropped off so much as JJ Gabriel doesn't turn 16 until the 6th of October. So once we get there, he's eligible with an Irish passport, which I'm told he's got to move to Europe. Whereas if he had an English British passport, then he would only be able to make that move when he was 18 years of age. As far as English clubs are concerned, there's less urgency because Manchester United are not going to cancel the registration. So was he to move to Manchester City who tried to sign him before or alternatively to Chelsea who hold an interest. You're talking about the summer of 2027. Whereas the European clubs may and I stress may be in a position where once he turns 16 on the 6th of October they can sign him right away and that's highly significant. So now JJ Gabriel in not training for Manchester United has been traveling around to France to Spain meeting various clubs. Now you may hear some reports that certain super agents are involved but we need to be clear here. He cannot have a formal agent until he's 16. And it may be the different agents, intermediaries involved, also acting on the mandate of the clubs in approaching the player and pitching their academy. It seems to me that we've got four clubs in the mix from outside of England. Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, and Bayern Munich. And we've got two front runners, Real Madrid and Barcelona. And a few weeks ago, JJ Gabriel and his entourage, if you like, his family, they met Real Madrid. And in the last few days, there's been meetings with Barcelona, Barcelona, Lamasia, Famed Academy, and Real Madrid have got the Castillia team, which allows a lot of competitive first team football and development, allowing JJ Gabriel to eventually come through the Real Madrid system. And I would bill it as of now as an Eláico battle. And just remember one other thing, Manchester United haven't entirely given up on persuading the player to stay, but there's no confidence at the moment because my understanding is that the player wants a new challenge. He's lost faith in the Manchester United, not just academy, but pathway because he didn't feature in the Champions League. He didn't get that many minutes in preseason. Manchester United's counterpoint would be you can't just compare him to Max Stalman now. He's only 15. he needs protecting and all of that, but other clubs are outlining a clearer pathway to the eventual first team and JJ Gabriel is very keen on that. And the final thing to say is just JJ Gabriel, even with an Irish passport, can't just leave unless Manchester United agree to cancel the registration. So, he may have to appeal his case to the Premier League or to FIFA. And one of the ways that you can win that case, in fact, the slam dunk to do that is if you show your family are relocating and they've got a source in that relocation of non-foot income unrelated to JJ Gabriel and his career. So, if the family have built that in Spain, for example, they've got him his Irish passport and he turns 16, there may be very little that Manchester United can do. And that's why there's urgency now. And that's why the European clubs are circling because they know after the 6th of October, they can start to get a final decision out of the player. But until we get to the 6th of October, it's likely to go a little bit quiet as JJ Gabriel meets as many clubs as he can before making his final decision. >> Not long to go now. This one will run and run and still just 15 years old, the young man. It is extraordinary. For more information on all of these stories and plus much much more including that exclusives that Ben has mentioned, head over to give meports.com. This is Market Madness from Gimme Sports. >> Well, we teased him up, but he is about to join us now. One of the most respected voices in foot, of course, football writer, formerly at the times. And now for World Soccer, it is Henry Winter. Welcome back to Market Madness. Always great to see you. How are you? >> Hello, Kate. Hello, Ben. I'm very worried about Ben's umbrella, which looked like it was about to take off behind him. [laughter] >> Welcome to Windy Portugal, Henry. >> I either that or you've got a very large cocktail out there and the umbrella is is that was that was quite spectacular. I mean, it was funny. I was been at England this week at St. George's Park on on the last two days and and talking to the under 21s and the seniors just on the back of your JJ Gabriel thing. I mean, he's such a fantastic talent. We know all the sort of kid Messi Instagram stuff from early on, but you saw his hattick in the UEFA youth league the other day, but really he should be at St. George's Park. He should be continuing his footballing pathway building up connections with a generation of players who at Touchwood he will go on and play with the senior team for a decade playing against uh kids from all over the world getting to know them developing uh him and uh I think it's a pity there is this impass which you very eloquently outlined Ben but I think it is it is sad because he's a talent you want to see him playing and he's not playing at the moment. M yeah we will come we'll certainly come back to that more in future as mentioned but let's go to the Premier League Henry five games in we're at this international break this extremely extended as it feels uh international break uh the record summer we saw Premier League club spending 3.5 billion up in in pounds uh city have won all five the champions been beaten Spurs are bottom um what's your big takeaway so far >> Brighton I mean to to play like that with that intensity that physicality, that sustained stamina against Arsenal just blew them away. Arsenal sort of walked into an ambush. I don't think anyone apart from Fabian Herzel and his coaching staff and his players knew what was going to befall Arsenal. So, I think it's been a fascinating season so far. You've seen the teams who've come up even even Coventry have got going. Hull have been, you know, terrific um until recently. So yeah, I think it's a it's a very competitive division. Obviously Manchester City have impressed as they should do with the financial firepower they've got, but you know, we've seen managers come in and and try and take over from legendary managers. You know, it was an issue at Arsenal. It was an issue at Manchester United obviously in the post Ferguson 2013 era. and Moresca looks like he's just sort of stepped in and obviously knows the the club, but I think that's those two that individual result and Manchester City's impact and also the quality of the football they're playing. They're really good to watch City at the moment. So, uh, yeah, I think those two takeaways and some of the quality of, you know, Harland and the promoted teams. >> Yeah, so much to take in. So, perhaps it is helpful that we have three weeks to to talk all about it and digest it, Henry. Um, and you mentioned City of course has been a fascinating development in their life after Pep. I'm not sure I'm not sure what you expected heading into this because of course they're rebuilding their midfield. One of the greatest players certainly in recent seasons Rodri left the club and but possibly he's up there on the list of all time. Um, Enzo Fernandez came in quite last minute. They've managed to look like a a team that is flowing and and working together straight away. Um, do you feel like City they've set their stall out? They are just the team to beat again. >> I think it's a two- horse race if we can say that early this early in the season. I mean, Liverpool are showing signs of life. Uh, but Manchester City have been terrific. I mean, I live near Leicester and Leicester fans weren't particularly heartbroken when Moresca left. He obviously had the sort of slight standoff with with Chelsea in the middle of the the season, whether that was over recruitment or direction or or or whatever, but you could see in that uh Club World Cup, I think Ben was there, the Club World Cup final, the way that Moresca set Chelsea up and they actually blew PSG away, particularly in the first half. You know, you could see that there is a coach of genuine substance there. So, I flip-flopped a little bit with Moresca. you know, is the Morescala later, as we call it, going up or is it going down? But it's definitely going up at the moment. >> Yeah, I'm really intrigued as well, Henry, to see how Moresca fares. He obviously knows Manchester City so well, so there's a transition element there. We know Arsenal have got the momentum and the continuity. And then you think about the other big six teams, so much change. Carrick, we can kind of say continuity higher, but still relatively new manager. Chelsea for me are the most interesting along with obviously Tottenham because of what they've spent. So I'll let Kate ask you the Tottenham question, but let me press you a little bit on Chelsea. Jabi Alonzo. Is it going to work? And are we to take positives from how impressive they look going forwards or are we to take negatives by how fragile they look at the back? I think they need another center half an