Alvarez to Arsenal? Ranking Every Premier League Transfer Window | Ben Jacobs Mailbag

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Olivia Buzaglo and Ben Jacobs are live with a transfer window review special on Market Madness, ranking every Premier League club's summer business from Excellent to Disaster. The Guardian's Jamie Jackson joins us to go through all 20 clubs one by one, giving his verdict on who won the window and who's got work to do. Ben also delivers the latest transfer news, answering your questions in his weekly mailbag, including: Jadon Sancho, Karim Benzema, Dani Carvajal and Yves Bissouma remain without a club, is there any concrete interest? The latest on Carlos Baleba's injury and when he could make his Man Utd debut Is Viktor Gyokeres facing issues behind the scenes at Arsenal, and could he move on in January? AC Milan reportedly preparing a move for Endrick, could Premier League clubs get involved? Will Arsenal go back in for Julian Alvarez in January? Chapters: 0:00 Market Madness: Transfer Window Review 2:34 Sancho, Benzema & the Biggest Free Agents 7:08 Arsenal’s Alvarez Plan & Gyokeres’ Future 13:43 Liverpool vs Chelsea for Lamine Kamara 18:27 Every Premier League Transfer Window Ranked 34:12 Chelsea’s Transfer Window Rated Excellent 47:08 Why Hull Won the Transfer Window 51:50 Liverpool’s Window: Did They Do Enough? 57:18 Man Utd’s Transfer Window Rated ‘Not Good’ 1:08:34 Tottenham’s £334m Summer Transfer Verdict All that and more on Market Madness.

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[music] Hello and welcome to Market Madness, the po the podcast from Give Me Sport where every day is like deadline day. I'm Olivia Bazaglo and we are live. If you miss anything here, you can catch up with us on Market Madness on your favorite podcast app of choice and on givemeport.com. Now, for this show, we've got a special transfer window review episode for you. Um, The Guardians Jamie Jackson is also going to join us as we go through all 20 clubs to rank how their summer transfer window really went. And with me as always is Give me Sports Senior football correspondent Ben Jacobs. Morning, Ben. You okay? >> Good morning. Good. and strange to be back with no live transfers apart from the odd window like in Brazil. >> I was going to say, has it has it all calmed down for you a bit now? Is it quite nice to have a few days where it's just a bit more relaxing? I don't know if relaxing is even the right word to be honest, but >> yeah, you sort of get phantom breaking news where you go off and have dinner and then after about an hour you're like, "Wait a minute, I haven't looked at my phone." And then you go to look at the phone in a panic and nobody's actually messaged you. But there's a few windows open. >> Is that nice though? Is that nice when you wake up and no one and you look at your phone and no one's messaged you? >> Yeah. You don't really know what to do with yourself. And it's kind of like as the summer goes on, you're sort of praying for rest and it for all to end because when you combine the World Cup and the transfer market, it was a long old summer >> and yet when it stops it is just a bit weird. And I think fans are kind of the same in some respects as well. the >> window shuts. Some are happy, some are sad, some need more, some feel like they didn't get enough outgoings. But then everyone just immediately looks ahead to January, which is why >> we just keep getting asked about transfers. And when you think that the winter market is basically open in 12 weeks time, it is almost a 365 days a year business, but now to late September international break into early October is the time to go to a beach and forget about everything because that is the quietest time of the year. I hope you're going to do that, Ben. I hope you're going to do that. >> Probably be on the Moldes in about three weeks. We'll see. But Market Madness will still continue. >> It absolutely will. Right. Let's get into it, shall we? With Ben's mailbag. This is Market Madness from Give Me Sport. >> [music] >> Well, as we said, the transfer window, even though it's closed, there is still stuff going on, still plenty to talk about. Um, so it's time to dive into Ben's mailbag for the latest um on all the biggest transfer stories. Now, Ben, there are quite a few bigname players without a club after contracts have expired. I mean, just to name a few, Jadden Sancho, Karen Benzema, Carvajal, Sterling, Pogba. Um, has there been any contact between clubs for those sorts of players? >> Yeah, there has. I mean, free agents are going to be really interesting in the next few days. Jamie Vard's already joined Burnley. Exclusive story across the GMS network. Genie Waldam to Aliti had on a one-year contract with a one-year option. Vard's deal, by the way, only runs until the end of the season. And he had offers from Rexom, Sheffield Wednesday had tried as well. Sour Paulo in Brazil, too. In terms of the names that are still free, Benzema Carvial are definitely two that I don't see being without a club for long. Leon had tried to resign Karen Benzema, but in the end that has fallen through, at least as of now. Raheem Sterling had an offer from Vasco Dama in Brazil and yet my information is that he would prefer to stay in England or certainly close to England for family reasons. And this is a big factor with a free agent sometimes that they can be very specific about where they want to play, which is why ultimately they can take a little bit longer to find a club. And sometimes people interested in a free agent wait for the market to shut because maybe they're focused or they prioritize a player that is still at a club and under contract. And then when that becomes completely off the table, there's a much smaller pool of players and that's when free agents can very quickly in the month of September find a team. Sterling ideally would like to stay in the Premier League. At the moment, I'm not aware of any offers. He did have maybe Fulham 6 to 12 months ago, but it's not active as of now. So, it's relatively quiet on the Sterling front. With Paul Pogba, there's some initial MLS interest and Pogba is open to that. And a couple of Turkish clubs have made an approach as well. You've got Anthony Martial who was offered to Everton. They had a very difficult end to the window where they're still looking for attack-minded reinforcements. I'm not aware, by the way, that Vardy was one of the players that Everton were ever interested in. There's links I've seen with Carvial and various Premier League clubs. Again, no offers as of now. In fact, it's the Saudi market pushing the hardest for Calval as things stand. And I sense with all of these free agents that they now will suddenly be in significant demand because, as I say, they can sign at any point. They're not bound by the window. Ali and Brovich, there's been links there, but once again, Alali wanted to sign Ibrahim Diaba transfer market and leave it at that for now. So, we're going to see this big mad rush now for some of these players and Benzema. I think we're going to see some surprises. Some teams in big five leagues, some teams particularly in Europe, even though inevitably they'll be Saudi. Benzema could consider retirement by the way and al-Shabaab in Saudi Arabia are one of the clubs that have made an offer there. And then regarding the sort of next steps for these free agents, some of it is going to be making wage concessions too. And that will particularly apply to Benzema because he's come off a Saudi wage. And in a perverse way, when you're part of a club, you can go and try and get a loan, for example, and the buyer can say to the seller, you got to pay some of the wage or you've got to make an amendment to your contract. When you're a free agent, everyone's aware that they can't do temporary and they're taking on your full wage and that can become a little bit of complication as well. And with Sancho, I know we see links with the Premier League, but keep an eye on Dortmund. And this was an exclusive that I broke on deadline day. Everyone had worked on the premise that Ethan Wieri to Dortmund equaled Sancho not going back to Dortmund. My information on deadline day was that Dortmund could do Wanieri and Sancho and that remains the case according to my information. So a third return to Dortmund not to be discounted as far as Jadden Sancho is concerned. >> Okay, perfect. So a few to keep our eyes on there. Um let's go back to what happened sort of sort of in this transfer window then and obviously we know that Mikuel Artessa spoke to Julian Alvarez and you know tried to get him to come to to Arsenal. Um, is that a move that you think Arsenal could potentially go back in for in January? >> Yeah, Julian Alvarez in January feels less likely because Athletes perspective is really clear to try and draw a line under this until the summer and then Alvarez still feels in summer 2027 Barcelona might be back. And it's almost like Barcelona and Atleti have got a year to try and repair things because Atleti don't want to sell to Barcelona, but who's to say that won't change in a year's time if the clubs can do this less publicly and with less games. So, Julen Alvarez had a difficult summer and it's not thought in January that he'll necessarily change his perspective of wanting to go to Arsenal over waiting out and hoping that he gets his Barcelona move. And then from Arsenal's point of view, no guarantee in a smaller market where it tends to favor the seller over the buyer that they'll definitively move for somebody on that leftand side. So my expectation is even with Gabriel Martinelli joining Alhilal that Arsenal will b their time and be quite patient because all the players they like are probably more summer targets than the winter market. And by that I mean Kenan Yiddil's signed a new Juventus deal earliest he'll be available summer 2027. Julian Alvarez, similar saga to last summer if we get to next summer and it looks untenable at Atletico Madrid. He'll likely have to go, but Barcelona will be the favorites if they want to enter that race. And Bar were quite smart in my opinion because they didn't sign somebody on a five-year contract that's Julian Alvarez's age. They signed Gabriel Jesus on a short-term contract which still gives them the opportunity to make an attack for Julian Alvarez in 2027. So Arsenal now are looking at other targets. And as with this summer, the only way that they would move audaciously for Julian Alvarez in January is if the player indicates and proactively goes to Arsenal and Andrea Bura in particular, who he knows and says, "Come and get me." If that happens in the winter market, different situation, but it's not the current expectation. >> Um, just sticking with Arsenal then quickly. Um, Victor Okarez, obviously we've seen struggling for game time. We know that Kai Havvers is the preferred uh choice up front for Mikuel Artetta. Obviously, they're in a lot of competitions, have a lot of games. Um is there any issues going on there with Joarez and Arsenal? Do you see him staying there for the full season? Yes, at the moment, but with the Julian Alvarez situation, one kind of structure tabled was that it was cash plus Jockarez and Atletico Madrid really liked Yarez, but as long as Julian and Alvarez stayed at the club, it wasn't as urgent for them to bring in a player like Victor Yarez. But it's true to my understanding that Yarez was not entirely unsellable and was touted to the Saudi market as well. And this is where the manager always wants plausible deniability because he'll accept the project decision to sell a certain player, but if they stay, the manager tells you that they're 100% invested and he wants to keep them. And that's been the case with Jore. Mikuel Artetta said in the off season that Yres would 100% stay. And that is my expectation through the season, but nobody's guaranteed a starting spot under Mikuel Artetta. And my information remains that actually Artessa really likes Gabby Jesus too but was prepared to sanction that exit. And Yokarez and Havz are very different because Kai Havvertz can play in a number of different positions. He's maybe a little bit more versatile with his movement and he has the aerial prowess that Yarez also has. But Yokarez is a little bit more of a box kind of striker or somebody that can run from central areas. Havvertz is somebody that I think is a bit more intricate, can play behind the striker and has proven at Arsenal and for his country that actually he can play in a variety of different positions. I think from memory Julian Nglesman used him as a fullback too. So Arteta really values that and this has been something for several years we've seen that Arsenal don't always play with that lead defined old-fashioned striker in the same way for example that Manchester City do with Erling Harland. So Yres is going to have to be patient. Havvertz has started the season really well. That's ultimately why Joarez has had limited opportunities, but I'm not aware of anything behind the scenes trying to force him out of the club or any imminent winter exit. But it will be true over the course of the next few windows that if the right offer comes in that meets Arsenal's valuation and is something Yokarez wants, then I don't expect Arsenal to stand in his way. But I'd be surprised if that is in a winter market when he'll still have value to the squad. But in the summer of 2027, Yarez's future may become more of a topic of conversation. >> Okay. Now to a signing obviously that United made in the summer. Carlos Belaba. Um everyone was very excited about that. Obviously he's injured. Um when do you think he could be ready to make his Manchester United debut? Yeah, I don't think we have to wait too long because the injury was not deemed as particularly serious and Manchester United waited a little bit in terms of moving on that deal whilst they understood the injury and in a best case scenario from the day he joined it was kind of gameweek two game week three and in a worst case scenario it was precautionarily speaking and to allow him to climatize get him back on the grass but don't bring him back before the first international break. So if that proves to be the case, it won't be that this injury is more severe. It will just be Manchester United making sure that they don't rush him back too early. And that's the sort of two extremes here that it might only be a week, 10 days before we see him kind of back and technically available, but given he's new at the club and hasn't played any game time with his teammates, they might actually protect him through the international break to make sure that when he returns he's 100% fit, but the injury is nothing serious. >> I'm sure Manchester United fans will be loving that update, Ben. Okay. And just finally, um, what does the future hold then for Lem Kamar? We all know what happened on deadline day. It was a huge debacle. Chelsea looked to sign him. Then Monaco pulled the plug. Um, but it looks like there's potentially another Premier League club that could be interested ahead of maybe January and next summer, annoyingly. >> Yeah, I mean, you say annoyingly, but Chelsea fans, I think they're going to go big on Alex Scott, and I think he will be their 2027 midfield name. and the players very open to the move. Of course, there may be competition and a bit like Lewis Hall, we may see a new contract first, but that doesn't mean in the case of Scott anyway that there won't be a release clause. So, clubs can have targets in and around deadline day, but then when they've got a bit more time or other targets are available, they can change. So I wouldn't be that disappointed if I was a Chelsea fan because if they want Kamar they can go back for Kamar but there will be other names including Alex Scott that will form a relatively high part of Chelsea's thinking in 2027 whether in the winter market or summer 2027 with Lee Kamar go to gms.com because I kind of wrote this whole backstory so I won't go into as much detail on this show but in essence Chelsea's relationship with Monaco is now damaged. Monaco thought they were going to sell Flo Balagan to Everton. When the deal was in doubt, they said to Chelsea, "You can have Kamar." When Balagan appeared back on, they pulled the plug on Kamar. They didn't sign a deal sheet. Time was ticking away. Everyone at Monaco and everyone at Everton assumed that Balagan would get over the line. And then the player said no. And by the time the player said no, even though both clubs had signed the documentation, Everton and Monaco, there was no time to resurrect Kamar because Monaco had refused to sign a deal sheet and Chelsea are furious. Now on August the 28th, Jabi Alonzo spoke to Kamar and he was sold on the move. And even though Thiago Skuru said very eloquently in a press conference that the player was professional, that he was always happy to stay at Monaco and it was communicated to the player that they preferred to sell Balagan, not Kamar. My understanding is a little bit of that conversation was left out and Kamar on deadline day when a rejected offer of 50 million came in. So not the 55 million euros that was accepted. When a rejected 50 million euros offer came in, the player said he wanted to leave. The player said that it was a once in a-lifetime opportunity and the player said that he wanted to join Chelsea and that part's kind of been missed out of the narrative. But now the deal is off and Chelsea are angry and Monaco are back up to a valuation of 70 million euros. It's going to be very difficult for that deal to happen to Stamford Bridge unless Monaco come down. And it's almost like if Monaco want to sell to Chelsea, Chelsea will likely want a lower deal to compensate them for the fact that Monaco messed them around on deadline day. At least that's Chelsea's perspective anyway. But then you have Liverpool in all of this. Now, as I exclusively revealed on deadline day, Liverpool's interest is not post deadline. Liverpool's interest predates Chelsea's interest, but they were never going to move for Lamine Kamar last summer because Alexis Mallister was still at the club and in the buildup to deadline day and on deadline day Liverpool were calling and calling and calling and making it clear to the camp of Kamar if you don't go to Chelsea. So they didn't have anything to do with it derailing but if you don't go to Chelsea we have you high in our thinking. That was the message from Liverpool and that remains to be the case. So Lem Kamar and Liverpool may be a bit easier than Lem Kamar and Chelsea because Liverpool still have a relationship with Monaco and maybe they're prepared to go a little bit higher in number if they choose to move. Whereas even though the player would also still be open to joining Chelsea, if Chelsea returned for Lem Kamar, it will likely be on lower terms and it remains to be seen whether Monaco are prepared to play ball on that. So, one of the craziest sagas of Deadline Day that I think I've ever covered. And Kamar and Balagan as it stands are both still at Monaco, which leaves the French club in a difficult position financially speaking. >> All right. Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Um, thank you very much for that, Ben. Now, for more information on any of the stories that Ben and I have discussed today, you can head over to givemeport.com. This is Market Madness from Give Me Sport. Okay, Ben, I hope you're ready for this. This is a big big part of the show today. We are going to be ranking every single team's summer [clears throat] transfer window. And joining us to do that is the Guardians Jamie Jackson. Morning Jamie. Okay. >> Good morning from Porto. >> Oh, beautiful Porto. It's lovely out there, isn't it? >> Yeah, it's very um Yeah, it's just nice to get away from sort of I'm going to say this where I I sort of reside which is sort of south of Manchester basically. It's very nice. Very the game tonight. So, I'm here for Port City. >> Lovely. Okay. Right. Let's get straight into the review then. Um how it's going to work is we're basically just going to go through every single Premier League club and for each one we are going to rank their transfer window. We're going to give it either an excellent, a good, a fine, a not good, or a disaster. So, you can see the graphic there, and we're going to be putting the clubs into each different category. I suppose it makes sense to start off with with the defending champions, Arsenal. Um, just first of all, I'll come to you Jamie. What did you make of their transfer window? You can see the incomings and the outgoings there. How do you think they did? Well, I mean, you know, most clubs were probably ill for those incomings or certainly most of them in the Premier League. Uh there was this is Junior, which is a little bit well, you know, on the one hand, you can maybe say it's amateurish, the fact that they thought they could get him, but definitely show ambition. So, I don't really blame him too much for that. So I wouldn't say it was absolutely excellent but I would put it maybe the category down from the very um you know they lost Martelli brought into Solace the sort of the guy who plays on the left he looked all right actually the game against Chelsea I have to say I wasn't that convinced in the earlier one he played he was taken off the previous game sorry I forget so yeah I would say that they pretty well but the t