Arsenal's Osimhen Pursuit, Plus James Benge on Bruno Guimaraes' Arsenal Fit | Ben Jacobs' Mailbag
Kate Mason and Ben Jacobs are live with another edition of Market Madness, as the Championship season gets underway and the transfer window enters its final two weeks. EFL expert and Not The Top 20 co-host George Elek joins us to preview the new Championship season, from the promotion race to the club that's spent the smartest. Plus, CBS Sports' James Benge breaks down Arsenal's summer business, including how Bruno Guimaraes fits into Mikel Arteta's midfield and who could be pushed out the door before deadline day. Ben also delivers the latest breaking transfer news, answering your questions in his weekly mailbag, including: Arsenal's business before the window closes: the latest on Victor Osimhen and Jarrell Quansah What can we expect at Man Utd after Carrick’s call for more signings? Are Liverpool closing in on Bradley Barcola or Ibrahim Mbaye from PSG? All that and more on Market Madness. CHAPTERS 00:00 Championship Promotion Race: Wolves, West Ham & More 05:44 Championship Transfers: The Smartest Summer Signings 09:03 Wrexham & Southampton: What to Expect This Season 11:53 Championship’s New Playoff Format Explained 13:46 Middlesbrough to Win It? George Elek’s Predictions 16:07 Enzo Fernández to Man City? Chelsea’s £120m Deadline 20:31 Arsenal Transfer Mailbag: Osimhen, Quansah & Martinelli 26:27 Man Utd Transfers: Alex Scott, Lewis Hall & a New No. 9 30:13 Liverpool Transfers: Barcola Priority & Ibrahim Mbaye 32:52 Aston Villa Transfers: Palhinha, Nicolas Jackson & Konsa 35:49 James Benge on Bruno Guimarães & Arsenal’s Transfer Plans Arsenal TransferNews MarketMadness You can get in touch with us too! Streaming on YouTube, Facebook, and X – or catch up anytime on your favourite podcast platform. You can watch the show live on… YouTube: / givemesport Facebook: / givemesport X: @Givemesport Listen back later on your podcast app of choice… Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1h6IrtpKRvgXiOc3N1FBQn Apple…
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[music] [music] >> Hello and welcome to Market Madness, the podcast from GiveMeSport where every day is like deadline day. I'm Kate Mason and we are live. If you miss anything here, catch up with us on Market Madness on your favorite podcast app and on givemesport.com. You can also find us all across X and Insta. I'm on @kvl_mason. And it's great to have you with us today on day one of the new Championship season. In honor of that, EFL expert Not The Top 20s George Elek joins us plus CBS Sports James Benge will be here to talk Arsenal's summer business including how Bruno Guimarães and the rest of Mikel Arteta's new arrivals fit together. And with us today as well, get Ben Jacobs is in the house. GiveMeSport senior football correspondent is here. Gents, great to see you both. Are you excited for the new season, George? >> Yes, so excited. Um normally come opening day, I'm kind of really buzzing. It feels like it's been ages since we've had any football, but the World Cup feels like it ended kind of yesterday. So it's a bit of a different feeling uh this time around, but um yeah, really excited for it to get underway and a really good game tonight between uh Championship new new boys Wolves after seven seasons uh in the Premier League and Blackburn under Tony Mowbray again. >> Um but I'm surprised to see that you're not at George's watch party for the game, [clears throat] but perhaps [laughter] you'll be going along later. >> Yeah, I'm waiting for the invite and I'm waiting for the window to shut and I'm waiting for Leicester to be back in the Championship because it feels a bit demoralizing seeing Championship season kick off and my team the Foxes not there. But George, just kind of wondering with the three that have gone down, who are best equipped to come back up? >> I think it's possibly Wolves. I mean, West Ham are the bookies' favorites to to to win the league and you can understand why. Um you know, Jarrod Bowen staying at the club and signing that new contract where seemingly he's going to be rewarded um should they win promotion this season with a bonus and will be allowed to leave at the end of the season should they not not win promotion. But the quality that he possesses it is very obvious. Um but I do worry that there are some holes in the squads. You know, we've seen a lot of key players leave West Ham over the course of the summer. Um and in Nuno, if you look at kind of recent league-winning managers in the Championship, you know, Frank Lampard's won but more Vincent Kompany and Enzo Maresca, you know, these guys are now managing, you know, Bayern Munich and um and uh and and and uh Manchester City. And even Marcelo Bielsa, Daniel Farke. Like the the blueprint for managers to win this league is to dominate. To dominate the ball, dominate in every area. Whereas we know that Nuno is a manager that likes to not have the ball, keep things very compact. When he went to Tottenham and again was kind of expected to maybe dominate a bit more, it didn't work out very well. So, I'm not sure it's a great fit. Um whereas Wolves have made the decision to to hire a new manager in Sa Espirito Santo, who we are told is going to play that kind of front-footed aggressive attacking football. Uh similar with Nicky Hayden, the new Burnley manager, but their squad looks a bit thin, too. So, I'm going to say Wolves, but that might look stupid in 5 hours time when they get beaten at home by Blackburn. >> That's the great thing about talking to, you know, in the off season. We can always just make whatever predictions we want and we applaud [laughter] it. Uh yeah. And also with Wolves as well because of course they uh didn't Well, they planned to stick with Roberto Edwards and in the end that that is not how it transpired. But look, you're you've been thinking much more about uh you always think about the Championship. So, it's it seems unfair to start grilling you on how the Premier Premier League sides are next to you. >> [laughter] >> But in terms of one, I guess, Premiership Premier League coded question, is that the quality of those two sides that did get promoted last season, they then that stayed up in the Premier League, which is not been something we've seen the previous two seasons, right? What do you think that tells us about where the championship is at at the moment? >> Yeah, it's interesting cuz the two kind of big outliners for different reasons. Um I think that Leeds team is one of the best teams we've we've ever seen in the championship. They they should have been promoted the season before. Um but were unable to to to do so. They had been in the playoff in the playoff final, but I think they probably should have finished in the top two. They were able to strengthen again in the the year after and they won the league um you know, on final day in the last kick from Adam Armstrong. Um and they just I think having come down once, they knew what they had to do in in order to um to adapt. We also saw Daniel Farke, you know, his third attempt of trying not to get relegated after getting promoted out of the Premier League into the Premier League and he changed. He adapted. You know, we saw them not necessarily in the way that maybe Vincent Kompany and Russell Martin really stuck to their guns. Farke was happy to adapt and become a more counter-attacking team, which was important. With Sunderland, they basically looked at it and they were like, right, we've been promoted out of out of um the championship with I think 77 points or something. What was it? We don't We need a whole new team. So, they just basically bought a new side. Um their difference, you know, it's kind of the reverse of what I said about Nuno and West Ham where they are a rare example of a team who got promoted out of the championship with a manager and Regis Debray who didn't really want the ball, who was happy to play counter-attacking football. And they made it when they came up, they were already therefore playing a style that was much more suited to trying to stay up rather than um trying to trying to dominate the ball and and the their recruitment has been so strong for a number of years now and the players they brought in to to settle very quickly. So, um yeah, different uh blueprints, I guess, for success. And we're we're certainly seeing Ipswich in particular kind of go down maybe the the Sunderland model of spending a lot of money on a lot of players to try and level up very quickly. >> Yeah, and of course um we generally are following kind of European signings here and Premier League signings. So, um could you give us a sense of any championship signing or particular signings you feel that have flown under the radar maybe in the more like mainstream top tier podcast such as ours that people should be >> All of them. >> All of them. [laughter] Yeah, too right. Just list them out. Do the whole lot. >> I mean I think that I mean I know I saw Ben story yesterday about about Jordan James and where he's going to end up going with with seemingly you know Wolves being the more likely place he'll end up. I think he's an unbelievable player. I think he's a player that should be playing Premier League football. He was again as Ben will know the best player for Leicester last season by absolutely miles playing for a terrible team and he was still phenomenal and won the young player of the season award. Wherever he ends up and I Middlesbrough have been in for him as well. Wherever he goes I expect you know Middlesbrough and Wolves will be two teams who are competing right at the top of the league and I expect he will be a key player for whichever one he does go to. Um Bristol City made a couple of interesting signings in Lauren Tolaj and Don Ballard amongst others. You know two of probably the two best strikers in League One last season. They splashed out about 9 million quid seemingly on the on the two players which is a big outlay for two League One players. Um which will be interesting. Um Bear Hal the um USA center midfielder who's been brought in to replace Hayden Hackney seems like an amazing bit of business. You know they I think the Boro got in about 20 million quid for Hackney and they spent 1 million pounds on his replacement which if he's as good as he looks could be a brilliant bit of business. Um what about Dennis Cirkin as well who was a big player for Sunderland in their promotion out of the Championship. Um surprising to see QPR able to pick him up. I think there was an assumption he might go to one of the bigger clubs in the Championship but um should be a big signing for them at full back. >> Yeah, I think Middlesbrough have had a really good window George as you say. Bristol City one of their most important signings arguably Skubala somebody that Lincoln City didn't want to lose and now Lincoln have got this great infrastructure and they've put a big onus internally on promoting coaching staff. How well equipped do you think they are to stay in the Championship? >> It It's such a hard question to answer. Um naturally, they are expected to get relegated by basically everybody and the bookmakers. Having said that, they got 103 points last season in League One. Like if you take out Birmingham the season before with 111 points, they're basically the best League One side in modern in in the modern era. So, why is there this assumption that they're going to drop off? Like again, Skubala leaves, but the fact that they immediately appointed his two assistants as as joint managers suggests that they believe that, you know, the infrastructure they built is is the key to success in the same way that we often see Brentford, for example, you know, recruit from from inside when they lose managers because they don't think their success is down to the manager, it's down to the hard work that's put in as a as a whole. Um they've lost their best player in Jack Moylan, who went to to Cardiff, who were the team that finished second behind them. Um which will be a loss, but that their playing style again is very well suited to being a smaller budget club because they don't want the ball, they want to get it forward very quickly. They're direct, they're robust, they're good from set pieces. So, I I I definitely don't agree that that this is a a one-stop for for Lincoln, a one-season stop for Lincoln, especially when you think of you know, Charlton, who came up through the playoffs with 30 fewer points, they stayed up last season. My team, Oxford, came up the season before with 30 fewer points than Lincoln got and stayed up in their first season. So, the precedent is there for them to do okay, and and I think they will. >> Let me ask you about at the moment. Obviously, no one's got any points, but the bottom two teams, Wrexham [laughter] alphabetically and Southampton because of the >> minus four deduction. >> Yeah. >> For Wrexham's kind of model to work, stabilization wouldn't be a bad thing because if they keep leaping up and up and up, then from a budget perspective, they've got to fund that. And yet, they've been really aggressive in the market, Parkinson, for example, arriving, huge money for a goalkeeper, 8 million. How are they going to fare? And then for Southampton, is this almost like a player unity trying to prove a point after Spygate, or could the fact that Spy Gate's still on running FA investigation? Tom Decker could of course potentially be banned as well. Might that disrupt their chances? >> I mean I think you've hit the nail on the head there. It's all about what happens with the FA charge. Um because I think during Spy Gate initially Samson fans kind of rallied around Decker and then as the details came out, I think he lost the respect and the faith of a lot of them. But I think over the course of the summer now the um the fans are very much back on side and supporting him. But there's every chance we're suddenly going to see a news story saying that Tom Decker has been banned from English football for it could be anywhere between 6 months to 18 months. It might not happen, but it could happen. And if that is the case then their preparation is going to be derailed massively. What I would say is there is a you know, there's a [clears throat] a siege mentality at the club now between the fans and the players. They feel like they've been wrongly treated. They feel like they should be a Premier League club this season. They've recruited really well. Karl Larsson who was a big player for them last season on loan and had a good World Cup, he's now signed on a permanent transfer. Daniel Peretz, the keeper on loan from Munich who was sensational for them in the second half of last season, he's now coming too. So they should I think that that four points deduction should go pretty quickly. But it's all going to be about the FA charge. With Wrexham I I get them wrong every year. Like every year I think they're going to you know, drop off a little bit and then I've got thousands of Wrexham fans who are weirdly are based in America telling me that I'm an idiot in every summer when we do it again. And that's been the case this season cuz we we predicted them to come ninth. Um which I think would be a decent effort because you know, it's amazing how quickly they're they're rising up the league. It would be just on the fringes of the playoffs again. And as you say, they are spending money. It's less of an overhaul. It's kind of more strategic. Like one or two positions they're bringing in a a center back I think as well for 8 million quid or so. Um but Phil Parkinson having struggled at championship level previously did so well the back end of last season and um yeah, it'd be a brave man to bet against them. It's a matter of time probably, isn't it, until they are in the Premier League. I I think this could be a probably a season too early. >> Okay, so that's your prediction, ninth for Wrexham, just so that the American fans know. >> Yeah, yeah, exactly. >> Where they come when they win it at a canter. >> Yeah, >> [laughter] >> exactly. Yeah, and then I won't have to do any predictions for next season, so that's great. Perfect. >> Yeah, absolutely, that's your dream, isn't it? That's what you're just hoping to do. Um, actually might be helpful while we've got you as well, just on the the new playoff format for the Championship. What's Can you just give us a quick rundown of what's going on there? >> Yeah, so it's only in the Championship this season. Um, where rather than going down to sixth, uh, it goes down to eighth, and then there are these kind of qualified games between the teams that the four teams that finish, you know, right at the bottom, so third and fourth will go through uh, immediately. It's the it's the format that's currently uh, used in the National League. I can't say I love it, um, although I'm a bit hypocritical about it cuz I love the playoffs a lot, but the playoffs were already in existence when I kind of came into a consciousness as to what football was, but I think that that it also doesn't make any sense. Like, what is this? Is it a a competition where you reward um, quality, or is it a TV entertainment show? And it feels like we're moving further and further towards the latter. Um, but I'm sure when we get to when we get to May and the games are happening, I will love them. Um, but I just I just don't know if there's any need for it. >> What's the What's the thinking behind it? Do you Do you get? >> More exciting. More More More exciting, more games on TV, more money, um, and yeah, I mean, the the idea is is that they're they're they're meant to be fewer dead rubbers uh, as well. Um, that was also the case of bringing in the third place teams qualifying for major tournaments, and that never ended up, so um, I I've got a feeling there might be more dead rubbers at the end of the season if teams know that they're they're kind of they're not going to go up automatically, but they're they're probably safe in the playoffs. >> Just rewards mid-table mediocrity, doesn't it? >> Yeah. Yeah, and there's no reason why I mean, you look at Hull last season, you know, they got promoted having finished sixth, and it was an amazing story, and they're delighted about it, but like, should it have happened? I mean, yeah, of course >> And they're coming straight back down. >> They they're they're incredible over three games series but they're not 40 you know, they're 46 games to come before. So, I don't love it. Um but it I'm sure it'll create some some big moments in in at the end of the season. >> Well, we hate big moments here on Market Madness, so less of that. [laughter] Um before before we lose you, um George, so you can get to to preparing for your for your party, what then? So, you predicted Wrexham at 9, uh finishing ninth. Uh what else would be your predictions if we had to I know this is a bit ludicrous given the context, but who >> Well, no, we I mean, we've >> Who's getting relegated? >> Yeah, we we do our 1 to 24, so we go through every single uh prediction in all three leagues. So, those are out there. So, if you want to listen to that, please do. Um but yeah, we we've got we've got Boro winning the league uh in the Championship. Um who I just think I think Kim Kim Hellberg is you know, I mentioned earlier that we got the the former Bayern manager and the former I sorry, the current Bayern manager and the current City manager, who both won this league recently. I think Hellberg definitely has the potential to be a proper elite manager. The the playing style is absolutely incredible. Last season, they were in they were so good at the back end of the season, but they had a keeper in Sol Brynn, who was making mistakes, and they didn't really have a a a finisher. Now, they've got Will Lankshear playing up front. They've got They've got Ran Vitek banging in goal, who was very good for for Bristol City last season. I think they'll go really well. Um going down, do I have to say >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Okay, and then and then I'll log off. Um we we've got Bolton, um Preston, and Blackburn, which suggests we've got a real issue with the Northwest. I promise that's not true. >> [laughter] >> Never. Okay, we we get it. We we'll Yeah, we'll we'll we'll see you again at the end of the season, and you can we can tar you and feather you or whatever the dressing [laughter] is for that sort of stuff. Uh brilliant stuff, George. So, um your podcast, Not the Top 20, and people can presumably find that everywhere they get their podcasts. And your party tonight could be if people are in the vicinity [laughter] of Bermondsey and >> Yeah, yeah, for sure. If you're in Bermondsey, or even just in London, I reckon, and and you're you're at the Blue Anchor tonight, we are hosting a party to celebrate the launch of the FL season at the Volley South Uh which is on the Bermondsey Beer Mile near Bermondsey station. We'll be here from I'm here now but we'll you know the party starts at 6:00 so in a couple of hours time so so get down here. >> Brilliant stuff. Cheers George, enjoy it. >> Cheers guys, speak soon. Bye. >> This is Market Madness from Give Me Sport. >> [music] >> Okay, well that's covered off the Championship then Ben. We don't need to we've we've figured out what's going to happen. We don't need to >> [laughter] >> anymore for the rest of the season. Now I hope we'll see more of George as well in future. He is fantastic and it's a great podcast that he's been doing for several years now winning lots of awards. Now I think we've got a moment to get into some breaking news, am I right? >> [music] >> The way in defense of Hull City, we'll come back to that in a moment because I actually think they've had a really good window and will stay up. Hull fans are quite optimistic as well but this is going to be a really fascinating bit of breaking news. So Chelsea have set this deadline we know for Enzo Fernandez and it's only an hour or so away. 5:00 p