Football Daily - Euro Leagues: Argy-bargy, brawls and bust-ups

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Steve Crossman is joined by Julien Laurens, James Horncastle and Rafa Honigstein for the first Euro Leagues of the season!The panel chat about early season bust-ups and wantaway stars, as well as looking ahead to the start of the new Bundesliga and Serie A seasons.Topics: 02:43 - Argy-bargy at Marseille 09:55 - Roberto De Zerbi's future at Marseille 16:20 - Gianluigi Donnarumma's future at PSG 25:52 - Florian Neuhaus being banished to the youth team at  Borussia Mönchengladbach 28:31 - Ademola Lookman looking to leave Atalanta 35:00 - New Bundesliga season - new beginnings at RB Leipzig 37:53 - Can anyone stop Bayern? 40:04 - A continental replacement for Eberechi Eze at Crystal Palace? 40:45 - New Serie A season - Antonio Conte remains at Napoli 42:40 - Who are Napoli's biggest challengers?   BBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries:Sat - 1500 - Premier League - Brentford v Villa Sat - 1500 - Premier League - Burnley v Sunderland Sat - 1730 - Premier League - Arsenal v Leeds Sun - 1400 - Premier League - Everton v Brighton Sun - 1400 - Premier League - Palace v Forest Sun - 1630 - Premier League - Fulham v Man Utd

BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. On the Football Daily podcast, the Euroleagues with Steve Crosfin. Hello, welcome to the very first Euroleagues of a brand new season. So coming up, we're going to be chatting bust-ups, want-away players. We'll reflect on the start of the La Liga season, with Lamin Yamal literally crowning himself as Barcelona's new number 10. We'll look ahead to the start of a new season. season in the Bundesliga and in Seria are joining us for the first show of a brand new season James Horncastle Raphael Honestine and Julianne la Ron we are so back

hello hello how we doing we're so so so back James so back so back and can I just say that for anyone who doesn't know you can watch us on YouTube right not live so if you go on YouTube right now you won't find us but if you're listening in the future. If for you, this is not Thursday night, Five Live Sport. If for you, this is Friday morning, head over to the BBC Sport YouTube channel and you can watch us. And we've all got ready for this occasion. So we've got special Football Daily podcast microphone heads. I can see mine. I can see Jules. I can see Raffs. And there's James Horncastles. Oh, I thought you'd forgotten it for a second there, James.

Yeah, I got excited and here it is. How are you doing, Raf? You're right? Yeah, really well. Very happy to see all of you. It's lovely to see you all. Can I ask Jules before we go any further? I've just seen you tweeting about the show and you said, word of the day, or two words, is Argi Barji. Is this new to you? This is my favourite English, one of my favourite English words in the English language. Yeah, I love Argy Barge. I don't know why it's the sound of it, what he means, you know, the fighting. And I just, yeah, I just love it.

So every time I can say Argy Bargi, I say it. So be ready to listen to it many times tonight. Is there a French or Italian or German equivalent of Argy Bargey? Or is it totally our own? I can't think of a point. Ours would be en brouille, but it's not as spectacular as Argy Bargey for sure. No, we have a word for when. players come together and it's more than two. It's rudel building. Oh, it's good. I mean, that's

pretty good. That is good. I think Argi-Bargy's been knocked. You made the earth for the show. Arjibagi's officially been knocked into second place there. Right, let's start with Arjibarji, shall we? Seen as Jules is so absolutely desperate to say the word as much as possible. So this is the week of Beretsiezer and the summer of Alexander Isaac. So the question is, what about our continental equivalence. So we'll do some Dona Rummer, some Adomola Luckman, some Florian Nourhaus on the way as well.

We've got to kick off with Marseille, though. So manager Roberto... Because it all kicked off in Marseille. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'll do... I'll do a bit of context, Jules, and then I'll just kind of let you let rip on it because as a PSG fan,

Marseilles imploding is like your best day, so I understand that. So basically, Roberto DeZerba, who's the manager, has told Adrian Rabio and Jonathan Rose once at Norwich City that they will never play for the club again because they had a fight, literal fight, after the opening weekend lost to Wren.

This is a quote from the club president, Pablo Longoria. He said it's an advent of extreme gravity and violence, something unheard of. We've had to make a decision that protects the institution. Extreme gravity and violence sounds a bit clockwork orange to me, Jules. It does. And if you're listening today to Adrian Rabbo's mom, Veronique, who is not just his member,

his agent as well, she came on French radio and said, extreme violence, but hang on a minute, extreme violence with nobody injured, nobody going to hospital, nobody not being able to go to work, nobody actually, I don't know, pressing charges or something like that, how can he be violent if there's none of the above, basically? And I think she's going to appoint all of this

after the defeat of Marseille where I ran on Friday night for the opening day of the league and season. They played for half an hour, an hour with 11 men against 10. They end up losing at the last kick of the game. Everybody's very frustrated. You go into the dressing room, tension is, or tempers are boiling up, boiling over or boiling out, every boiling that you can. And then, obviously, as is boiling so much, that Jonathan Roe and Adrian and Rabio,

going to Rji Barji. I'm not sure what the word for Argy Bargey, but the archibaging each other. It's attention, buja bears. Love way. Boing over. That's beautiful. Not once, by the way, because first they have a fight where apparently Rabio throws a punch at Jonathan Rowe. Then they are separated.

Jonathan Rowe goes out of the dressing room, then comes back in. And this time, there's another fight between them two. And after that, they first expelled from the first team squad on Monday. Then on Tuesday, they're being told that they've got no future at the club. They need to find a new club, basically. To which I think there's, obviously, as always, two sides of the story, in this case, like in many cases in football. The fact that Adrian Rabio had one year left on his contract, that he's the highest turner at the club, that he was not going to extend his contract, that meant after this season, Marseille would have lost him on a free transfer, right? Which they didn't really like the idea of.

And certainly the Rabio Camp is putting this theory forwards, far from the argy bargey from what happened in the dressing room Aran, but more that they want to. wanted to recoup some money on his value and transfer from a year ago when they signed him from Juventus on a free and by not letting him run down his contract basically and just saying, hang on, we don't want you here anymore, find a club, we want 15 million euros for you and then we can reinvest that money and I think the truth is probably a bit in between but what's true is that two weeks ago everybody at the club was saying what a great guy Rabio was, the best player they've ever played with or ever had to coached or ever had to manage. From that, he went from being a pariah and just wanting him out of the club, which I find it really hard to believe.

Is that the third player that Serbia got rid of after Isma Corne, or am I losing one or two that haven't come out yet? Because it was extraordinary to see Marseille released the footage of the bust up in that documentary in early August, how he got rid of him. I didn't think he came across particularly well which made me I was surprised that the club sort of made it so so public yeah you're right I mean you know you know what kind of manager

Roberto Deserbe is we've seen him at Brighton James has seen him in Italy before you know that he's got like this high temper he boils over tempers over boils out boils up boils over all the boils this is the worst at English you've ever been jules

Like, you're so good at English. I struggle sometimes with all your ups and outs and on. Honestly. But not with argy-bargy. I don't think you're struggling at all, my friend. But the truth is that you're right. It's not the first time that the Zerbi was either involved in a bus stop or witnessing a best-up in one of his dressing rooms.

It's also true that it's not good when you fight, but we've seen loads of fights. Remember Raffi when Sajumani and Leroy Saneh got into a fight? nobody got sacked or put on the transfer list because of that. Not immediately. No immediately, you're right. But that's why I think there's a bit of both. Yes, it's not a good look when your senior player, most experience,

the leader in your dressing room has a fight with a much younger junior player like Rabio did with Ro. I also think that they probably thought it's a good thing if we get rid of him now and get some money in because otherwise we will lose him in a year on a free. So the argy-bargy thing, Jules, this. has gone beyond that now, hasn't it? So this is like a full-on fight. And this is what I was interested in because, like, the club president

talked about never having seen anything like this. Is the general consensus then that, beyond, you know, the Rabio family, that it has been overplayed slightly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, certainly from what I've been told, it was not that violent.

It was, it was Archibargy, and like we said, I think he happens in a lot of dressing room, It's not nice, especially on the first day of the season. You know, if you're half right through and you've been struggling and you haven't won a game in 15, I can maybe more understand than if it's the opening game of the season and there's still 33 games to be played in Liguin over the season

for Marseille to fix things, basically. But, yeah, I think he's been a bit overplayed by Marseille as an excuse to get rid of those two players. I mean, Veronique Rabeo today came out so strongly against Pablo Longoria, the president, as you mentioned, and Medi Benatia, the sporting director, saying that they're basically liars. Nobody ever gets sacked or put on a transfer list

or sold because of this kind of incident in the dressing room because of Argy Bargy. So I think she's probably right in a way, but again, this is their decision and now they've got 10 days to find a way out for Adrian. I wonder what the podcast title for this episode of the Euroleagues is going to be. I can't possibly think what it might be.

Can we talk about... Boils and bustups. Yeah. I mean, I assumed Argy Barge. bargy but it could be all three could be all three argy bargy oh it's perfect it's perfect we're wasted we're wasted um can we talk a bit about deserby then james because so i remember when he got the job and he was like talking about one of our great colleagues on five live chris waddle magic chris and saying you know it was chris waddle that kind of made him fall in love with marseilles and all this kind of thing

but there was a point last season where there was a story in lekeep about a mutiny in the dressing room now there's this going on as well this doesn't seem like a dream anymore James no and chills will remember this he I think as a part of a team talk in front of the players kind of showed the offer he claimed to have had from Manchester United and was you know I took this job

over Man United but yeah this is this is Roberto you know I mean he he is a romantic to go back to your point about Chris Waddle that that won't have been entirely kind of playing to the gallery that that is the kind of player and the kind of football that Roberta DeZerbe likes to see and coach

players taking risks, players being daring, players being provocative and you know it's interesting I mean Jules you know I thought going into this summer in Italy, for example, there are a lot of big jobs that came up. You know, A.C. Milan came up and they went with Max Alegre and I thought they might have gone for Dizerbe. You know, DZEbb has been in their thoughts in the past. I think, you know, Dizabbe came through the youth ranks at Milan and one day may coach them. But I was a little bit surprised that, you know, he stayed at Marseille, particularly when Simonin Zaghi left Inter to go to Al-Hilal. And they went for cess fabricass, and then they settled on Christian Kivu.

So it's kind of interesting that, you know, Roberto, I'm not diminishing Marseille. Marseille is a huge club. You know, the club that gets under Julian Lorenzi's skin the most when they do well, which isn't often. But, yeah, it is a curious situation. Raffa, I can't believe as, you know, a journalist. you're saying, Marseille, why did they let that stuff go in the documentary? That's the kind of stuff we want to see. We don't want to see these watered down documentaries.

You know, we want to see that sort of stuff. I'm gutted the cameras weren't in there at the weekend. You know, can you watch it? Maybe they won't. So, you know, it's, but to come back to what Jules was saying, I think it's very interesting this. If you want to, if you want to get rid of a player and cash in while you still can on a player, Does this not damage his value, this kind of story that is being put out or exaggerated?

I don't want to put words in Veronique Rabio's mouth, but the idea that it wasn't extreme violence, it wasn't extreme. Yeah, surely if you're presenting that as a story, it damages your chances of getting money for Aju and Rabio, no? Yeah, I think that's a good point, especially because he's got a bit of previews too. for what happened in some of the clubs or with the national team before and it was not always his fault but some of the reactions after this incident and everything that's happened this week

because we had pretty much something new every day today, Thursday, Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday, through the weekend, Friday night, obviously. And a lot of people have saying oh, it's Rabio, this is what happens when you've got Rabio in your team something goes wrong at some point or he goes to, he clashes with somebody

or there's an altercation, there's something, there's a problem, his mom, this and that, which I think it's a little bit unfair, because he hasn't always been his fault, but it's a bit of a reputation now, and you're right. Some clubs might be thinking he's 30 years old now. Yes, he's still very good on his day. He's still a French international. But look at the history that he has and the baggage that he comes with, I guess. So it doesn't seem to be too much for a club like Ali Tihad or Galatasaray, who are clearly two clubs who are very keen, probably in Italy, his stakes is still quite high because he did well at Juventus,

certainly more towards the end than at the beginning, for sure, especially with Max Allegory, who I think they're still quite close. But he's on a huge money. He earns around 8 million euros a year, plus the 15 or, yeah, around 15 million euro transfer fee. That's a lot of money still for a 30-year-old. So late in the transfer window, it might not be easy for Marseille to offload him. And obviously Jules Zaire is talking about Rabeo Raff, but so much of what he was saying there,

I was thinking how much of this could we apply to Roberto Deserbie? Because it's only just over a year ago that, I mean, he was being linked with Bayern Munich. He was being linked with the biggest clubs. It sort of feels like his star is really not just falling, but plummeting at the moment. I mean, the idea that he would be linked to a job of that size now feels a bit farcical, doesn't it?

I think it can change quickly again if he has a fantastic season with Marseille. His stock will rise again. But I think it's true, the things that kind of scared one or two clubs was exactly that. The idea that he is a little bit overbearing that he falls out with players,

that it's his way or the highway, that he puts pressure on the people above him to buy certain players. If you're a sporting director and you're interviewing a guy and you know that guy has publicly made demands of the owners that, Brighton, why do you consider one of the best in the business? You think, you know, do

a need all that hassle. Yes, the football has been sensational at times, really quite mold-breaking, very influential. A lot of people have copied his ideas or at least sort of been inspired by it. But do you want all the drama that goes with it? And of course, most people don't want it. Maybe James is right. Maybe Marseille said, yes, exactly. For that reason, we want. We want him because he'll add more drama and more sort of narrative to the story of the season. But I think it's too early to write him off. I think it can really change again in the other direction if he has a great season. Let's move on to Jan Luigi Dona Rummer then.

So we'll get on to where he's expected to move to in a moment. We know that Lewis Enrico basically decided he wanted a different profile of goalkeeper. Dona Ruma, obviously not particularly happy with that, said in a statement just over a week ago. unfortunately someone who I don't know who that could be has decided that I can no longer be part of the group at PSG and contribute to the team's success I am disappointed and disheartened I'm not sure Jules whether it matters if sort of one agrees or disagrees with the decision to move on from Donna Rummer it's a little bit about how it's been handled isn't it as well yeah I guess so and especially after what happened last season or certainly the same second half of last season when he was exceptional for PhD and I think without him they don't win the Champions League. That's the fact. The thing is that they felt another direction was probably the right thing, another profile as you mentioned. There was also money involved behind there, but like very likely in the Rabio situation in the sense that they could not agree

an extension. Donaruma is on the old contract at the club. The last one in this current squad to be on the old contract, which is a very traditional contract. This is what you earn. This is your wages, there's a few bonuses, but that's it. All the new contracts that are given to everybody, everybody else apart from him are contract with a lower wage, lower wages, if you want, and then a lot of incentive that can make your salary rise. For example, Eliy Zabani, who just arrived from Bournemouth, is on four million a year, four million euros a year, but with the incentives, if it's a good season individually and collectively, that can go up to, can go up to eight million a year. And Donaruma didn't want a contract like that. He wanted the old contract. He was

very happy with the old school way. So there's a bit of money there. There's probably also a bit of power flex from from Luis Enrique in the sense that of the starting 11 or probably the first 13, 14 players, he chose them all. It's all their, his guys, whether they were there at the club before he arrived or not, but he chose them.

Yes, I want him as a right back. Yes, I want him my left back, etc. The goalkeeper was the only one that really he inherited from before. Donaruma was signed under Louis, on the Leonardo. so even the previous sporting director even a few managers before Rusenrique and I think there was probably

a desire from Rusenrique to actually go with his own guy with his own goalkeeper that he would have picked, chosen and that's also I think part of the reason so there's a bit of a three way in this decision the lack of contract extension the fact that they wanted a different profile and also the fight that with Sanrique I think wanted

to flex and choose his own goalkeeper so does that mean then right that Donna Ruma would have been one of the top earners from last season or not one of the top earners from last season because presumably the players with the incentive-based contracts did really well because they won the Champions League. Do you see what I mean? Like, I'm interested to know how well he actually did out of last season. Yeah, it was ninth and the club is saying there was an offer on the table that I made him

the third highest earner with this new contract, new structure behind the, behind Dembele and Markinos, which again, you don't have to believe the club, but this is what the club is briefing. And it's a contract that he didn't want. He wanted a pay rise with the old style of contract again to go back to that. That would have made him a much higher earner than why he's on now, although he earns a lot of money already now. But that was also part of the problem. And as always, there's always money issues somewhere in those situations.

But also on the page, as good as he was on his line and he's the best in the world and he's going to win the Yashin trophy next month, crining him again, the best goalkeeper in the world. In his distribution with a ball at his feet and certainly on crosses and in the air, I think Louis and Ricky and the club felt that they could find somebody better than him. James, I hear a lot of Manchester City, and there was before that quite a bit of Manchester United

floating around, around Donna Rummer. What about Seria? Impossible. Really? Impossible because of what we've been talking about for the last few minutes, his salary. I mean, Jujo Donoruma, when he was still a teenager, you know, and he's been around for 10 years, he's still only 25, when he was a teenager at the first contract negotiation

that Mino Rila did with A.C. Milan, it was when a new executive team had come in, and that summer they were confronted with, you don't want to lose the future of the club in your first month in charge do you so what did they do they made him the highest pay player in sedia you know as a teenager you know he was making off the top of my head i think it was six six and a half million a year net um and you know that was that led to the nickname dollar rumour when when he was uh playing as a youth team international uh and then with the senior national team He joined Paris Saint-German, even though he was a boyhood A.C. Milan fan because, again, yeah, his representation went for contract negotiations with Milan, couldn't find a deal, and he went on a free transfer. They signed Mike Mania. Mike Manion was one of the best players when A.C. Milan won the league for the first time in, I think, 11 years.

but look I mean Enzerayla who looks after him you know thinks that the PSG move has been a success you know obviously they won the Champions League for the first time last year Gijo was a massive part of that and you know his stock has risen

you know I don't think PSG win the Champions League last year without him given his performances in the knockout stages for them but that that leaves you now with the question well where does he go and you know I don't think it would be right for the captain of Italy to be going to the Saudi Pro League in a World Cup year his representation have made it clear that they would like him to go to the Premier League I think there's a feeling that you know Chelsea the goalkeeper situation never feels entirely convincing. At Man City, you know, obviously there are two goalkeepers at the moment. There's

Edison and James Trafford, but Edison has interest from Turkey. And then Man United. Onana, you know, people weren't convinced by him. And, you know, we saw what happened when that cross came in for by India in the Arsenal game. But all of those clubs that I've mentioned have got goalkeepers, lots of goalkeepers. And so they would have to make the decision to. to move one of those goalkeepers out. And Jules will tell you that, you know, PSJ recognized the value of Gijo Donoruma and even though he's got one year left on his contract,

what's the sticker price for Gio Donoruma from PSG, Jules? Yeah, 40 million euros. Ideally, they would want. Yeah, which, you know, I mean, is quite a lot of money for a guy that you can get for free. And I think they're, you know, I mean, at the beginning of the summer, Dona Ruma said,

see out my contract with PSJ, the priority for my future. And I think certainly from his side you know, I think there were contract talks in the spring. Jules has mentioned that they wanted to put him on this new contract format that the other PSJ players

are in. I think they met after the Champions League final before they played Adelaideco Madrid in the Club World Cup and, you know, his entourage basically said, okay, we see what you want to do. We agreed to it, but with a condition, but that condition wasn't allowed, or it was removed.

And from that point on, it was kind of like, well, this is gonna be very difficult. Still, we want to see out our final year at Piers-J and Pes-J basically just said, no, you're out of the squad. So, you know, it's a difficult position, particularly for the Italian national team. He's the captain of the Italian national team. Italy lost three nil to Norway in Oslo

in their first World Cup qualifier. They are behind the eight, when it comes to qualifying for the World Cup again. And the last thing that they need, really, is for the only Italian player on the Ballandau list to have an uncertain future, an uncertain time when they've got these big qualifiers coming up in September, October, November. We are back with the Fantasy 606 podcast.

Whoa, well, Chris, I've got to stop you there. We have changed our name this season to the FPL podcast from BBC Sports. need to do is search for FPL and if you already subscribe to our podcast you don't need to do anything at all. Chris, have a guess what the code to join. The BBC Sport League is. Was it 5E? It's BBC FPL. Oh yeah. Come and play the game with us as we continue to teach Chris about fantasy Premier League. The FPL podcast from BBC Sports. Listen on BBC Sounds. On the Football Daily podcast, the Euroleaks with Steve Crosman. Now, on the scale, Raff, of Beret-Ciazza, you know, still there, still playing despite

despite wanting to leave and eventually getting his move, all the way up to Alexander Isaac with his statements and all that kind of thing, where does Florian Newhouse sit? tell us about his situation and why he's been, and this is a word you only have in these kind of stories, banished to the youth team of Borisia Muncheon Gladbach. Yeah, Neuhaus is the correct way. I'm not sure he belongs on that scale because this is very much an involuntary self-demotion

rather than somebody angling for a move and trying to do something that gets him out. He doesn't want to get out, but unfortunately he was caught in a I would say compromising position looking a little bit to perhaps enjoying a night out too much in Spain and was being filmed by Glapach fans talking in a way that at least allegedly seemed to quite be denigrating to the sporting director and it culminated in him saying how much money do I get one two three four million.

I mean, bragging about money never goes down too well in Germany at the best of times, but combined with the sense that Neuhaus was having, poking fun at the club, paying him so much money because he's no longer a regular, he's no longer the very hyped up player that he was five, six years ago, made the club very angry. and as he said they made him train with the under 23s he's since been allowed back into the fold and he will be in the team or at least in the squad for the opening game against Hamburg on Sunday but yeah it wasn't it wasn't the best look and a real warning there not to discuss a your salary

and be the competence or lack thereof of your superiors as a footballer when they're there's mobile phones around. You said alleged there, so that's important, because the quotes that I'd read said that he described the sporting director as being the worst manager in the world. But is that slightly disputed then, or is there just a bit of nuance? It's slightly disputed because it's not quite sure if he says that or if one of the fans says it to him and it just nods along.

But he was there present and possibly involved as well. Okay, well, these are just direct quotes from Adam Ola Luckman. So we can read these with absolutely no trouble at all. So Lutman's been trying to leave Atalanta all summer, and he did the sort of EZAC route. He released a statement. I might as well read all of it because it's good. He said over the past three years at Atalanta,

I've given everything. Winning the Europa League was one of the proudest moments of my career. I've loved every moment, but I feel that now is the right time to move and experience a new adventure. There have been numerous clubs approaching Atalanta. I've previously stayed loyal. However, myself and the ownership of the club

have been in agreement now is the right time the club were clear with me if a fair offer came in they would allow me to move despite now receiving an offer in alignment to what I believe had been discussed

the club are blocking the opportunity for reasons I do not understand I feel I have no choice but to speak out for what I believe is right enough is enough James discuss yeah I mean even last year Ademola Luchman was looking to leave after winning the Europa League,

man of the match, African player of the year. He was later named. I think there was talk of an offer from Piersier, quite a low offer, which I think Atlanta looked at and thought, hang on a minute, he's worth more than that. Now, I think this comes down to the mutual agreement or the promises that were made. between Ademola Lookman, his representation, and the club itself.

Because I think the club did say to Ademolo Lookman, look, if a fair offer comes in, we'll consider it and we'll let you go. But from I think their perspective, it was if it is a elite foreign club, not a domestic rival. And the offer that has come in for him is from Inter, just up the road in Milan, the runners up who finished one place above, of Atalanta in the table last year. And Atalanta quite unexpectedly received this offer from a Saudi Pro League club, Alcadzia,

for their Capokanieri, Matteo Retegi in the summer. Ritegi topped the goal scoring charts in Siliya, and all of a sudden there's a 70 million offer on the table, and they were like, oh, wow, okay, we're definitely taking that. See you, Mattio, we'll drive you to the airport. lot. And that means that they don't need to sell Lutman. I mean, even if they hadn't sold Ritegi, they wouldn't have needed because they're such a well-run club. But they've got all this

money for Riteghi. They've got a new coach because Jampiero Gasparini left after nearly a decade. And they appreciate that it's quite a delicate time for a new coach to come in. You don't want to lose your top scorer. You don't want to lose another really good player in Lugman. So look, look, I think they've been clear that, you know, if an offer to have come in from Barcelona, which I think is what Luchman was dreaming of, they would have taken it. I think there was interest from Arsenal as well

that Andréoberto was keeping tabs on him, but looked at him as a kind of, it was him and Eze, for example. And I think both of those players, Eza and Luchman, I think one of the reasons why Arsenal have only now gone for EZE, is because the injury, what to Kai Habits because I think

that they looked at both Luckman and Ezae and look these guys are 27, 28 and this is going to be a lot of money to pay for these players so you know I feel for Lookman I think he also

looked at the Premier League and kind of felt like well I've done that you know it didn't rule it out going back to the Premier League but I think he maybe wanted to experience something else you know maybe in

France or Spain but obviously when this big offer from inter came in he thought that matches my ambition it's just that from atlanta's perspective sorry they're a domestic rival so we're not interested but there's still 10 days of this transfer window to come so let's see James were atlanta atlanta atalanta at all persuaded or swayed by the 50-page dossier that didya drogba handed in reportedly supporting the move reportedly I haven't been able to stand up this quite sensational story of what drug by I don't even think he

mailed it in the report was that I think he'd actually come to Italy I will endeavour to find out but so far they have not been swayed because Adamala Lekman is still an Atalanta player I would say that Atlanta did this last year

with Teon Cup miners and then basically cook miners said very early on I would like to go to eventus and they were like yeah now and the eventus kept coming kept coming kept coming and then they sold him right at the end of the transfer window for top dollar

so let's see but it seems that inter have well today they've they've signed a player from lance called andy jufe and it looks like the money that they had allocated for lookman is already being spent elsewhere um jules just to wrap on this If, you know, there are any top players who are listening to us on the Euroleagues, there's no such thing as a gentleman's agreement, get it down on paper,

that's the way the world works. Put release clothes in or something similar to release clothes. There's countries where it's allowed, others it's not really allowed, but there's another way to be put on paper. Like you say, Steve, there's this like, yes, we will allow you to leave next summer if an offer is right for a club, an offer could never be right. So put something down with a number,

a realistic number, by the way, and then you'll be more secure than if you just have somebody saying one day, a year early, yeah, don't worry, it'd be fine. Let's just have this season and then we would see it because it just never happens like this.

And just like that, we've only got 12 minutes left at the first Euroleagues of the new season and we haven't talked about anything on the pitch but I have loved the Arjibarji. It's been great. Let's do a bit on the start of the Bundesliga season now, then, shall we? Because it kicks off on Friday night and it's Bayern Munich against R.B. Leipzig from 7.30. I've never been able to say this before.

You can watch the match with BBC Sport on the website, on the app, on IPlayer as well as part of the BBC's new multi-year rights deal with the Bundesliga. That sounded good. We'll get on to Bayern in a sec graph, but why don't we start with Leipzig, 7.5. last season, 31 points behind by an new manager, new sporting director, new hope. And a new team, really. I mean, they've gone heavy into the market. They've already bought seven players with realistic chance of playing in the first team. Of course, some of that money is the Sheshko money being reinvested.

But it's so intriguing because this was their worst ever season since going up. they will not be in Europe for the first time which in a way makes them perhaps a favorite to at least be much much better because everyone else above them will be hampered by European football and they can really concentrate but they have a new manager in oliverna and they have an increasingly active behind the scenes yurgen klopp who i think after initially thinking this is going to be a really interesting job in inverted commerce where you just travel around a bit and sort of talk about to coaches and then travel to the next one, suddenly finds himself being seen as the guy who will write the wrongs at a lot of these clubs. And of course, the biggest problem one is the flagship club in Abbey Leipzig. And there's talk we will see, of course, tomorrow night that the new Leipzig version will be a 433

very much in the Klop Mall at Liverpool, which is a complete sort of break from Leipzig tradition. They often play with two strikers, They often play with two number tens, but to play with two wingers and three midfielders is going to be fairly, fairly new for them. And they have bought different type of players. And I think there's so much intrigue and interest around this club, even though, as we know, they don't have the history and the fan culture of some of the bigger, more traditional teams. I think as a sporting project, as a club that is clearly sort of at the crossroads, it's going to be very, very interesting to see what happens. And of course, some of the players that they bought are super exciting as well.

is Jan Diomont, who looks really, really interesting as a player. Bacayoko has come from Eindhoven. Romolu from Gostepa is supposed to be the new centre forward. And of course, they have a fantastic history when it comes to discovering centre forwards early. So I'm really excited to see if they can back into the groove and once again become the place where you see coaches and players take the next level rather than kind of stall a little bit,

as was the case in the last two years. Can you see anybody compared with Bayern for the title? Do you think Dormann and the Kovach? Do you think Leibosin could have a go or is just Bion going to be too strong? I think Bayern look, as of now, look a little bit weak in terms of the quantity of the players.

The starting 11 is great, but then behind it, they have lost a lot of players and they haven't really replenished. Certainly not in numbers. Luis Diaz is the only really notable edition and Tom Bischoff and Jonathan Tar, of course, were picked up before the Club World Cup, but up front, I think they might still need somebody. And there's a bit of a debate at the moment, or debate is maybe the wrong word,

but Max Eval has been told he can only loan a player, which of course makes difficult for Bayern to find somebody at this level. And I think that if they lose a couple more players, and remember, Musiala probably won't be back before the end of the year. I think Alfonso Davis is unlikely to be back. Ito is unlikely to be back. If they lose one or more of the key starters, then I think suddenly the field can open up.

And then it's a question of who will find the consistency. Leipzig are in transition and Leverkus are in transition. That makes it really hard for them, because I think they might take time with their new coaches and their new teams to really go going. And that's why a lot of people like you, Jules, think that Kovach, having had that great finish to last season, and is maybe in a better position,

but I'm still a little bit doubtful, I must say. I've watched them really toil against Essen in the Cup, and they are very difficult to break down. They have great quality going forward with Grasie, who's still there, luckily for them. But I just don't see how they're going to be breakdown teams with the same level of dominance, the way that Levy Kuzen have been doing over the last two years

and by and since Kovach is there, since the company has come in. So I am less crazy about Dortmund. I think Frankfurt, Leipzig and Leverkusen to me, despite the issues that I just mentioned for the two bigger ones, might be in a better position to push by-in. Jules, I'm just going to ask you this, and then we'll do a bit of Seria R,

because we've only got five minutes left. I said I'd ask at the start, a continental alternative for Crystal Palace, now that Berici Eza is on his way. I think they've, I think they've chosen already. One player they really like is Bilal-Elhanus from Leicester. The other one is Tolis, Sir Clebruges, who is more of a typical winger than what is it was, and that what El-Hanus is, for example.

But very, very talented. They lost one winger to Sunderland already, Sir, Lebruges in the transfer window. They could lose another one in Tolis if Pallas really, I think, put the right offer in. Right, James, new Seria season. I know we're having a bit of a whistle stop tour here, but it's not like we've got a whole season to talk about this stuff, so I'm sure we'll be fine.

So four champions in six seasons, nobody's retained it. Antonio Conte basically said, I'll stay at Napoli, but only if you fulfill my requirements. So I assume that's happened because there he is. Hey, look, I know Antonio has a reputation, but he's been very chill this summer. And I think it's because he feels like the hard work

he's maybe already done. He'd hate me saying that, but like he feels like they're ahead of schedule in winning the league last year. And they were really aggressive in the transfer market. I think they've learned the lessons of two years ago when their title defense was one of the worst in Sidiya history. Remember, Napoli finished 10th after winning their first title in 33 years. Part of that was because Luchana Spoletti left. This time around their title winning coach isn't leaving. Another reason was because they didn't really invest in the team that year. They lost Kim, who went to Bayern Munich,

and then they kept Victor Osman and Kavisha Kavadatskeli, and both of whom I think felt like they wanted to go. This time around, they've gone and got Kevin DeBroner. Got Kevin DeBroner, that deal was wrapped up very soon after they won the title, and Conte knew that was happening. Signing new centreback, who won the cup with Bologna, Noah Lang from PSV, Luenza Luca. big man.

So I was very bullish about Napoli's prospects of retaining their title and being the first one to do it in six years since you've been the first ever Napoli side to retain the title. But then Romano Lukaku got injured and he'll be out for at least three months. So they will be scrabbling around in the final 10 days of the transfer window to find a Lukaku alternative. And if not them, then who? It's very difficult, you know, because I think

Inter have still got a very stacked squad. I think a lot of people judge Inter on the Champions League final and not on their entire season when they were on for a treble going into April. They have rejuvenated what was shown to be an old team, but only shown to be an old team against PSG because that old team still beat Bayern Munich and still beat Barcelona.

But they've got a new coach, Christian Kivu, and this is a big leap for, from keeping Palmer up. You know, he was caretaker for Palmer for three months last year, has worked in the Academy at Inter, but it's a big leap this. And then you got AC Milan,

who finished eight last year, the only way is up. They brought in Allegory, some people underwhelmed by that, but Allegory, most successful coach in Syria, always gets teams into the Champions League. I think it's the best midfield that Allegory has had since Juventus

reached the Champions League final in 2017. Yes, Modrich will be 40 next month, but signing Samueli Ricci and Arden Jashari from Club Bruges. I think they've got some really good players in midfield and they've gone about a cultural reset. So I would

say maybe Milam. All right. Bosch, well done everybody. That's just the first Euroleagues of the news. That will very, very quickly. When we only had 12 minutes left, I even saw Raphael O'Nekstein raise his eyebrows and it takes a lot to achieve that with you, Raff, to surprise you.

I was shocked. there you go right well welcome back everybody happy new season should we do this again next week yeah thanks good definitely excellent james horncastle raphael honnxtine and julianne the ron the euroleagues is back on the next episode of the football daily it's the commentators view with john murray ian dennis and alister bruce ball as always thank you so much for listening