Football Daily - Euro Leagues: Leverkusen sack ten Hag & Newcastle sign 'Wolte-Messi'

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

John Bennett is joined by Archie Rhind-Tutt, Julien Laurens and James Horncastle to discuss ten Hag's sacking at Leverkusen as well as reacting to the end of the transfer window.James also looks ahead with trepidation to Gennaro Gattuso's first match in charge of Italy as their World Cup qualification hangs in the balance...again!Topics: 01:04 - Helen Mirren in Lecce 03:12 - The first top-flight Hamburg derby in 14 years 07:32 - Was Joao Neves' PSG hat-trick the best ever? 12:18 - Erik ten Hag sacked by Bayer Leverkusen 28:40 - Samuel Chukwueze (Milan > Fulham) 35:45 - Xavi Simons & Randal Kolo Muani joining Spurs 39:55 - Gennaro Gattuso's first game in charge of ItalyBBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries: Fri 5 Sep 1930 Chelsea v Man City in the WSL, Sat 6 Sep 1330 Arsenal v London City Lionesses in the WSL, Sat 6 Sep 1700 England v Andorra in World Cup Qualifying, Sun 7 Sep 1200 Liverpool v Everton in the WSL, Tue 9 Sep 1945 Serbia v England in World Cup Qualifying.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. To embrace the impossible requires a vehicle that pushes what's possible. Defender 110 boasts a towing capacity of 3,500 kilograms, a weighting depth of 900 millimetres and a roof load up to 300 kilograms. Learn more at landrover.ca. On the Football Daily podcast, the Euroleagues with John Bennett. Hello and welcome to the Euroleagues. Coming up, we'll discuss Eric Tenhard being sacked by Bailavikus

and after only two league matches, we'll give you the lowdown on some of the players who've made their way to the Premier League from the continent. And we'll look at the highlights from the international break, including the always calm and collected Janaro Gattuso taking charge of Italy for the first time. And don't forget, we're also on YouTube, the BBC Sport YouTube channel,

where you'll be able to see Julien Luron. Archie Rintutt and James Horncastle. Hello, guys. Great to speak to you again. Hello, guys. Hey, JPM. Hello, how's it going? And you've all had some great stories to cover this week.

Let's go through some of them, first of all. James, Oscar-winning acting royalty, Helen Mirren, pictured watching Leche. It makes a difference because the celebs normally go to watch Como, don't they? What's the link here, then, between Helen Mirren and Lechay? Hell, Mirren, holidays where I holiday. which is in Puglia.

All right, all right. Finally the best. Exactly. No, so she has owned a farmstead in Puglia for a few years now. And she's been quite a frequent visitor to the Via del Maré Stadium where Lece play, typically around the start of the season because it kind of coincides with holiday season. But so, yes, she was in the stands to watch her her hurting. shall we say play against AC Milan

and she was wearing a Leche jersey she had a matching hairband as well Mirren number 10 on the back and yeah I mean to be honest credit to Helen Mirren because she's been a great advocate for causes down in Pulia anyone who's visited it will have seen

how many many olive trees have been devastated by this bacteria which basically is rotting these trees and blighting them. And, yeah, she's, I think she's part of this Save the Olive campaign, which is a campaign that means an awful lot to me as someone who has to have olive oil on every salad that I eat. So, but yeah, just a shame she saw her team lose.

But she's a proper fan, so this won't be a one-off. She's been there regularly. Should we be back later this season? Will she be going to Verona on a cold Tuesday night? That's the question. I haven't seen her away from home following Leche yet. But this time, this time. Lecette, I think this is the third season

that they've been in the top flight in a row, which is the, they are the kind of archetypal yo-yo club. But to be there three seasons in a row is, I don't think it's ever happened before. It's quite an achievement for the Salentini. So, Archie, on to you. You were at the first top-flight Bundesliga Hamburg Derby for 14 years.

So tell us about this, the atmosphere, the results, the expectations around the game where they lived up to? So these two have played each other in the intervening years in the second division in the Bundesliga 2.

And that has added more or added more fuel to the fire, I would say, ahead of this one. My anticipation and excitement levels were through the roof. Like, for example, the last time that Hamburg faced St. Pauli at the Volk Park Stadion, it was a case of Hamburg needing to win or draw to make sure that St.

Paoli don't go up in their own backyard under then coach Fabian Hootsila just before he went to Brighton. And Hamburg did end up winning that, but also what created headlines was that before the game, Stefan Baumgart, the then Hamburg coach, had made a note of how St. Pauli's winning. warm-ups always ended with them running in to the opposition half. And so he was like, well, we're not having that. We're going to stick our warm-up right there.

And when it happened, it caused this, I'd say, mini fracker scuffle, which got the whole stadium hot. And as a result, that power took Hamburg to a win that day. So that kind of heat was what I was expecting. and it was what I got from the atmosphere on Friday night. Both sets of fans had marches through the city to the stadium. The routes crossed over each other, except that St. Powley went by scooter and by bike,

which Hamburg fans would go, of course they did, because St. Pauli, they find them very preachy and how they're always talking about how much good they're doing for the world. Where St. Pauli fans are like Hamburg because they think they're bigger than they actually are. And as one put it to me, they act like they have this God-given right

to be in the Bundesliga. So how apt it was for St. Pauli, from their point of view, that they were able to slap Hamburg back down with a 2-0 win. Andreas Hun-Tunji, I believe, got a very important second goal in that. I mentioned him because he's on loan from Burnley,

and credit to Adam Svigala for the first goal as well, which was a lovely well-worked corner routine that they'd been working on. And I spoke to injured club captain Jackson Irvine at half time. And he was saying, look, he's so good before the season begins. We call him the preseason Levendovsky. So, yeah, from the St. Powley point of view, very happy. It might take a little while for Hamburg to get things going under 34-year-old coach

Merlin Pultzine, who was a fan and did go away from home. I know that he was even in the away end away at Fulham in the Europa League semi-final in 2010, but has gone on to be a very impressive coach. So is this confirmation, Archie, of the, the kind of changing of power in the city. St. Pauli, now the most successful club in the city at the moment. Depends who you ask, John. If you ask a St. Pauli fan,

given that they spent a year establishing themselves in a division above Hamburg for the first time last season, against all the odds with a very small budget and the fact that they've got, I think, the smallest budget in the Bundesliga this season, then this is confirmation. However, Hamburg remain one of only three German. teams to have ever been European champions alongside

Barusia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. They are still a massive club. Sorry, St. Paoli fans, if you don't want to hear me say that, but it's true. And it's seen in Germany as being a huge thing for the Bundesliga that they are back. And with it, it brings four more derby games because also you have the Nord Derby against Verde Bremen on the horizon at some point. Thing is, it is quite clear that St. Pauli right now are the better club on the pitch. And that was proven on Friday night. So, yeah.

Jules, on to you. It's fair to say, the guys give Liga some stick, don't they? But it's the place to be for goals at the moment. 39 goals this weekend. We had Juergen Klopp in the crowd as well for Paris FC's first top flight home game. But I want to talk to you about Paris-Sange-May. You'll be delighted about that. And perhaps the best ever hat trick of all time, do you think, from Jaunéves, two overhead kicks and a rocket shot?

Yeah, I mean, one of the contenders for maybe best hat trick in history for a long time because you'll write two overhead kicks. One where he's more smart than anything else, really, because he's actually not really in the air. He's just falling over, but the only way he can hit that shot is over his head, falling down if you want.

But a great piece of improvisation from him and wonderful. The second one is a proper overhead kick because he chased the ball up and then he's very much in the air when he hits the overhead kick. And then the third one on the edge of the box like just a shot first time, top corner, brilliant.

And Joe Neves, who turns 21 very soon, I think. Very special player, which we knew, I think it would become one of the best midfielders in the world because of the intelligence and the football IQ that he has but also the fight that he seems to be able to run forever and

and ever and ever, and bring something in possession and half position too. So if on top of it, like Chris Enrique has been telling him for a year now, he can add more goals, not all of them would be amazing goals, like he did against Toulouse on Saturday, but just more goals to his game, then I think he's going to be even better. So it was a very good afternoon for him. And maybe the best when you look at those kind of goals or highlights is to see the reactions of other players, whether they're teammates or opposition players. And when you see the face of Zabani on the second overhead kick or Zay Remri, like, putting his head in his hand because of the second goal, the second overhead kick as well, or D'embele's reaction.

And some of the Toulouse players, too, you just realized it was pretty special to do what he did. Yeah, James, Archie, have you ever seen a better hat trick than that? That doesn't happen in their countries. James, off to you. I mean, Seria, I've been scoring like one goal per game. game since the start of the season or something like that, you know? So they can't have attributes anyway. Small sample size.

Come on. Yeah. Put your data hat on. It depends. I mean, I suppose you're classing this as a really good hat trick because of the, because it's a couple of bicycle kicks and, you know, whereas, you know, you've, you've had some perfect hat tricks, you know, sort of left foot, right foot, header. I find that as satisfying, if not more satisfying, than this.

But I think what's impressive, I suppose, about Jean-Evez Atrick is that he's this kind of, this whippersnapper midfield player who's so important, I think, to help PSG press. And this just shows kind of the full variety, again, of his game. And, you know, as much as we've talked about Vitina over the last year, The guys either side of Vitinia, Jean-Neves and Fabian, are, you know, every bit as important as Vitina to this PSC. But that's my very Westminster number 10 way of deflecting from not having an answer. Archie, you must have one, you must have one.

Lewandowski, Kane, Harland over the years. What are you going for? Well, Levondowski famously did five in nine minutes, but that's not really the assignment here. I mean, if you did pick the latter three of the five, then you end up with Pep Guadiola with his head and his hands going, he didn't just do that, did he? Rivaldo, Barcelona against Valencia.

With one of that, by the way. Wow, wow. Outside the box, no, that bicycle kick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if any of those three were out, were inside the box. But I also think, we're my classifying a hatchet, you know, If this was an award ceremony, you've got to think about where we're categorizing the hat trick. Because in terms of meaning, I think back to the best one I've seen live recently, or ever probably, was Adamola Lutman in the Europa League final of Atalanta.

Because the quality of those goals and in such a tense atmosphere and environment to produce those levels and to produce those levels of skill and to have the freedom to show everything that you're about, I was so impressed with that. That left a mark. And Spurs fans, I can hear them shouting, what about Lucas Mora, away at Iax, to get them through to the final? I think, again, those are, I would say, contenders for the best moment, hat trick.

But if we're talking about technical brilliance, I think Zhao Nevers is definitely up there. He's knocking on the Rivaldo door, I have to say. Look, man, is a great shout. I didn't think of that one. Let's go on to perhaps the biggest story then coming out of European football this week. Eric Tenhag, sacked by by Levikuzin,

after only two league matches in charge. So it is officially the fastest sacking in Bundesliga history. He made this statement following the news. I have a listen to this. Building a new cohesive team is a careful process that requires both time and trust. A new coach deserves the space to implement his vision, set the standards, shape the squad,

and leave his mark on the style of play. I started this job with full conviction and energy but unfortunately the management was not willing to grant me the time and the trust I needed. I know there are mixed views about Eric Den Haag on this panel, which we will get to. But Archie, this seems so harsh when you consider the talent that they have lost over this summer. When you consider who he had to take over from as well, this seems so harsh. I was not surprised because I was at his. is first press conference before a game,

which was away in the cup to Zonenhof, Grosse Asbach, a name that rolls off the tongue in itself. And I was at that game, and they were not good. Lucky 4-0 winners sounds weird. But when you hear what I'd heard about the various noises around the club of how he was not getting on with his superiors, in sporting director Simon Rolfes and CEO Fernando Caro

how he was struggling to strike up a good relationship with the players how there was a strange atmosphere between him and his assistants who were both head coaches themselves last season in Belgium and Netherlands respectively and also he wore Eric Tenhug was openly critical

of club decisions in the media which that the way that by Leibucon achieved success under Chabby Alonso which as you say of course filling those shoes very difficult nigh on impossible

but if there was a club line that they weren't doing something then he would then Chabby Alonso would stick to that he may have a difference of opinion but boy did Chabu Alonso have the best poker face that I've seen of any coach

and the thing is is that there were several occasions for example in pre-season and where Eric Ten Haag had been told that Granite Shaka might leave if a deal worked for all parties involved. And Ten Haug came out in the press and said, we will not be selling any more players. That's not on. We've lost enough.

And so the club are going, but we told you that that wasn't the case. So why are you trying to power players here? And they even had a friendly against Flamengo under 20s arranged in Brazil. Now, the headline out of that was, oh, they lost 5-1. Oh, God, like how terrible is that?

fair to Tenhag, like the players that he started with, the majority were youth team players that you won't see in a by Leibikuzun shirt mainly. But the thing is, is that Tenhag wanted that game moved forward. So the club moved it forward. And then after the game, he went, well, it came too early for us in the tour. And you're just wondering that I think the club will wonder, where is all this coming from where is the authenticity with this guy because it feels like

he's trying to play a game with us where he wants to wrestle control and the fact is that at Leverkusen there are well respond Simon Rolfes the spawning director

is a well loved and well respected figure and he I think Tenhag tried to take him on but also the fact that there was no real coherent plan

visible in their opening three games I mean Grossezbach is one thing, but Hoffenheim still don't look a very good side. Verde Bremen, they were three one up there with 20 minutes to play and a man more, and

let alone that there'd been some disobedience of team instructions in terms of when it came to who took a penalty, which was not a good sign, but the fact that they collapsed to 3-3 was shocking, and I think that's why Simon Rolfes, if you add all of this up, because it's not just one big reason,

lots and lots of little things which built up. Simon Rolfes went, it's now when we've lost five points and we've still got the Champions League to come or it's in a month when there is absolute carnage and we've allowed not much to get out so far. I'm just shocked that they made the appointment jewels in the first place because they knew what they were getting with Eric Tenhard.

And obviously Archie knows by Leibikuz and a lot better than me, but I've done a few interviews with Simon on Rolfez along the years and he's all about detail I remember during the pandemic the amount of detail they did to prepare the club for what happened

over that 18 month spell it was just unbelievable are you shocked that they ever appointed Eric Tenhaug in the first place yeah I was very surprised and again it's not easy to come after Chabia Alonzo and everything that he achieved especially when we all

knew it would be a very a big transition this summer because we knew some players would leave like Vietz obviously and Jonathan Tau was out of contract but potentially more and they were more to leave and I just don't know on what basis they thought it's a good idea to hire Eric Ten Hagg I mean I don't rate him I've never rated him even at Iax I thought he just had an amazing generation and hands in the success I don't think so I don't think so I don't think so and I think the rest proved prove that point is that of course when you have a team with so much talent like he had at Ajax young players

who still made mistakes and he you know that we talked about the Lucas Mora Hattrick earlier this is also games that him himself as a leader of that young team didn't manage well at all on how the Indian got knocked out of the Champions League

where they should have gone through really so I've never been a fan and do you look at what he did at Manchester United and think yeah this is a good idea let's hire this guy who by the way since then since he was sucked by United nobody even came close to hiring him So I thought it was surprising from Bioleucusen,

but I really admire the fact that they took this decision after, I think he was appointed 99 days before, but really started 64 days before, because I think more clubs should do that when they really know deep inside that he's just not the right guy for the job. James, is Jules being a bit harsh there on Eric Tenhard? He did amazingly well at IACs, and we've seen IACS struggle since he left as well.

I think there is an element of diminishing what he achieved, with IACs, because, you know, I remember going to some of their games that season when they reached the Champions League semifinal, and they were magnificent, and you can put that down to the generation of players that they had. But, you know, I would say that many of those players have, you know, gone to the likes of Juventus by and Barcelona since Man United. And, you know, have not been great, they were obviously greater than the sum of their parts.

None of those players have stood out and become leading players of their generation. Yeah, I think it's taken Frankie Diyong sometime at Barcelona to kind of really establish himself

and be given, be seen to be worth the hype, if you like. A lot of skepticism around Matthias de Lict, even though I think Matthias DeLict is a very good player.

You know, look, overachieving with a team in Europe, getting the Man United job in and of itself, being seen as a credible candidate for the Man United job and getting it is another thing. I think that clubs of Leibikuzen's size look at and think, okay, maybe going into that institution at Man United at that time,

he may have overachieve. achieved. Certainly when you look at the last year with Rubin Amarim where everyone says it can't get worse, no, it has got worse. And, you know, Ten Haag did win a trophy, you know, with United. So I'm not entirely surprised that a Bundesliga team looked at him and thought, yeah, we'll have some of that. And, yeah, to go back to your point about Leverkusen and details, I'm very surprised. that given the due diligence that they did, some of these, let's say, character traits weren't presented to them

and were not something that they thought, okay, well, maybe actually we should look at somebody else. But I do think it maybe is also telling that sometimes the information you get is not the right information. You know, because a lot of people say, oh yeah you should you know they tell you what you want to hear um about a prospective candidate for for the job that you uh you're offering um i think it is i think it is harsh um frankly um you know

what was harsh what that they sagged him so early because like actually said they knew there was going to be no improvement he made the same mistakes that i did at united it just repeated them if you if you make a change this early when there has been so much churn in your squad, when you have sold $220 million euros worth of player, granted a lot of that is Florian Vertz going to Liverpool. But when you lose a creator like Furtz, when you lose someone who has such a big impact

on your attacking, Starling player as Jeremy Frimpong, when you lose an experienced leader like Granite Shaka, when you lose Jonathan Tarr on a free transfer to Buy Munich, that is a lot of churn for a new manager to come. come in and basically expect to get right in preseason straight away. I've seen Jampieri Gasparini come in at Atalanta lose his first five games and they stuck with him, even though, you know, he'd been sacked by inters, sacked by Palermo. I'm not saying that Eric Ten Haag was going to be the Jampiero Gasparini of Labor Cruising.

But what I'm saying is sometimes, you know, if you're going to appoint someone like this, You need to give them an element of the benefit of the doubt, particularly after a summer like the one that they've had, which, as Archie said, even look, even if you don't acknowledge the transfer churn, as Archie said, he's replacing Chabby Alonso. So you're replacing Chabby Alonso, a historic manager who's done something that nobody else has ever done in the history of Leverkusen, and you're doing it at a time where the team has lost so many

of so many important players in that success. You know, I think it was going to be very difficult for any manager to come in. No, I understand that. But then imagine after two more, after 62 days, we say, 64 days. Your dressing room already just doesn't like you. I just don't think you can repair that.

They don't rate you, they don't like you, they don't like your training sessions. The people above you who pay you, you don't get on with, you're fighting with. I just don't know how you, I don't think you can resolve that. If your players already are just not on board after 60 days, they're not going to be on board after four months or six months.

It's just, I think it's just done. And I would think, Archie, that the club, before taking the decision, ask the more senior players in that squad saying, okay, what do you think now? What do we do? Is this really that bad? And the answer must have been yes, yes, and yes. I think the fact is they didn't need to ask because everybody was so much. on the same page that they just did not like him.

And I have not heard of one person who's gone, yeah, but at least. And then supported Eric Tenhag from a Lavakusen perspective. He was so unpopular. There were quotes coming out in SportBuild, one of the biggest sport magazines here in Germany that Tenhag, that people who have been at Leverkusen for 15, 20 years, say they can't remember a worse coach there. Wow. And look, I think that it is a harsh decision, as James says,

but harsh isn't, doesn't mean right or wrong. And I think that's the prism that you have to look at this in. And I think that ultimately for Leverkusen, this is the right call because it would have just caused more destruction within the club and to morale. And I know that now the idea is they will look for somebody so far with more experience for the next role and somebody where they can maybe hope for a little bit

of a better atmosphere as well because they underestimated that. And just to also add to the points made, there was due diligence done. They looked, they got good reviews, from Munich, where Eric Tenhaug was in charge of buying second team a few years ago and from Amsterdam. Naturally, the things from England, they were not great. But I think that when you're a club like Leverkusen, and you're making this next hire after the best coach you've ever had in your

history, you are going to have to, and you're not a Premier League club who can just say, we will take the best of the best of even young talent right now in terms of when it comes to coaching. You have to be a bit more creative. They took a creative gamble. It didn't pay off. And you mentioned where they want to go next. Just quickly, Archie, because lots of names have been talked about in the press, including Jose Marino, which is never, never going to happen. But what about Ange Poster Coglu? Could that be realistic? That name has not been denied yet. Chavi, Hernandez, denied. Marco Rosa, denied. and Postal Coglu still in the running of names that has been mentioned.

So let's see. Given how things were at Spurs last season, I would find that a very interesting appointment. But look, they've got so much young attacking talent. And even in what has been a difficult start to the season on the pitch, it is still, you can still see that Simon Rolls, Alfers and his scouting team have a very good eye for a player. And Labour Cousin do have some of the best resources financially in German football as well.

Nowhere near Byans, but they've still got some very interesting looking players. Ibrahim Mazer from Hertha for one, Christian Kofan, for another, Ernest Poukoukou from the Netherlands as well. And yeah, if these players can gel together, I don't think they're going to challenged buying for a title, but they could be fun to watch at least. Get closer to the action with live commentary from the world's greatest sporting events on BBC Sounds. It is all over. Bulls, all edge, put behind. Including cricket Super League, Women's Euro's 2025, Wimbledon, Formula One and much more.

It's all nice to the lights, adding foot to the floor. Oh, what a done it! Drop shots, winner! On five sports extra, Sports Extra 2 and Sports Extra 3. Listen, only on BBC Sounds. On the Football Daily podcast, The Euroleagues with John Bennett.

Archie Rintuck, James Horncastle and Julian Lorenz are with us on the Euroleagues. We're going to talk transfers now because, of course, the transfer window closed on Monday evening. So let's get an insight from the guys into some of the new faces from Europe will be seeing in the Premier League. So quite a few to choose from. I think I'll start with you, James. And this is one for Archie, I think, as well,

because it's his club involved in this. Fulham, Samuel Chukwese, A.C. Milan to Fulham. I'm really excited about this one. I've watched Samuel Chukweiser a lot playing for Nigeria. How do you think he's going to settle in, James, in the Premier League? Full of pace, bit inconsistent. But what are you expecting from Samuel Chukweese?

Look, I was very excited when Milan signed him. Villa Real in the same summer that they signed Christine Pulisic, for example. Never worked out for Chukwese at Milan. Some great moments, though. There were some good moments, weren't there, along the way? Okay, J.B. I mean, I'm trying to be fair here.

Well, yeah, but I honestly think, like they had high expectations, 23 million spent, which is quite a lot for the current AC Milan, and he never established himself in the team. You could say that they overlapped a little bit too much in basically signing Pulisic

who plays on the same side as him and they've still got Raphaelieu on the other but they really thought that his kind of high wire act his electricity, his ability to beat players 1V1 would make him one of the top wingers in Sidiya and it never happened. And, yeah, I mean, this move to Fulham has been on the cards, really, for six months, really, because A.C. Milan had been sort of open to offers for him, be it on loan, be it on a permanent.

It's happened on the final day of the transfer window. I would like to see Chiquoese get back to being the player that he showed himself to be at Villa Real. But, you know, I mean, I think Fulham could have done this deal earlier had they wanted. Archie will know better than me about that. So again, kind of what does it say about where he was in kind of Fulham's list of priorities? I don't know. But let's see, because he can be a really, really fun player to watch

when he's on his day. Don't look too excited, Archie. If I speak about Fulham, I am in trouble. I do not want to be in trouble. We'll move on then. We'll speak to you about Nick Volta mater. Of course, moving from Stuttgart to Newcastle, United. You've had to interview him. Pitchside.

Tallest player you've ever interviewed, do you think? Yes. Next question. He is a 1 metre 98 beam pole. And so you think, okay, so holding the ball up, no, no. His best skill is dribbling. And it is a joy to watch. Last season, he started the season at Stuttgart coming in from Verde Brayman on a free. He's in his early 20s. And I'd always heard from, from, from people who, who watch Verde Brehman a lot more than I do. Oh, well, to watch, to watch much of Voltaimada, you needed to have seen, um, the bits that he'd, he'd performed off, off the bench mainly, but he had not got that much of a chance. And so he came to Stuttgart and didn't make their Champions League squad last season.

and it was about November when things started to click under Sebastian Hernes and from he went from Volta Mada to Volta Messi among the fans. He has this ability to dance through players at will and just be such a unique player. And sure, like, I think there are improvements to be made in terms of his hold-up play, for example, or his coolness in front of goal.

But if Eddie Howe can get this guy moving even further in the right direction because Sebastian Harness has done a great job with him and Nick Volta Mada himself credits him for his remarkable rise inside a year, then Newcastle have a very exciting player. The biggest transfer saga of the summer in Germany was, will Nick Voltaemada go to Bayern? And Stutt got made a big play out of going, look we're back as a club we're saying no to bion we're giving them an ultimatum you've got to sign him

before the super cup or else oh look you've not signed him he's ours he's staying and then newcastle came in and they're like oh i mean this is the fee that we've been demanding from bion or someone finally someone's paid it like the amount i've heard from nick voltemarle's agent over the summer tells you how much of a uh when i say heard from i mean in the press i have no relationship with this man but the point I want to end on is Nick Voltaimada, the final word of his first answer or one of his answers to me was I like to be the entertainer

and I think that's always exciting to hear from a football player. They're overpaid, right? We agree on that. It's far too much money. Of course, George. Of course. But that's what every that's what every Premier League club is doing. Yeah, it's archie. Yeah, true.

so it's simple isn't it yeah I mean I think it's interesting to you know just go back to Levikuz and Verz we all know that Verz is a great player but the amount of money that has been spent on him I think makes

that transfer tag is quite problematic for him because the expectations that come with it are huge so you know I think it's quite interesting when you compare verts and okay, one is older than the other but the Verts transfer free

and the Tiziani Rains is in transfer fee. It's quite mad. But yeah, Premier League has overpaid for lots and lots of players and it is able to overpay for lots and lots of players because the Premier League is the Super League, as we all know. I spoke to a Bundesliga sporting director

this summer who said to me that when they have an interest in a Premier League player when they have an interest in a player and then a Premier League club gets involved the price goes up by 50%. So I think that tells you

I think that tells you a lot. Premier League clubs complain about that but it's fair. It's a reality, yeah. Yeah. So Jules, I want to go over to you now to talk about Spurs, two players that they have signed,

Chavi Simons and Randallu Kolo Muwani. If you're a Spurs fan, Jules, who would you be more excited about this season? Of Chavez Simmons, without that, because you're technically so gifted on his day because I think Archie will agree with me that the inconsistency that we've seen Chavi Simmons play can be frustrating at times,

but on his day, he's got so much talent that is not really much he cannot do with the football. So this is great. Colomouani has a very different skill, said technically not so good despite being obviously one of my boys paris born and bread which makes him as you know a very special handsome and intelligent but outside of that yeah he's a if you use him on his strength with a lot of space to run into or running behind as we saw when he was at Frankfurt for example when you have those quick transitions forwards

when you play the running game with the ball or even without the ball then he'd be good for you When you have 60% of the ball or 65% of the ball, which will happen to Spurs in a problematic this season, as we saw against Bournemouth, where they could have played for five hours without even having a shot on target, then Columani will struggle a bit. I mean, the Juventus, he started well,

and then, as we expected, things became a bit more normal for him because he's a good player, but I just don't know how much of a game changer really is for spurs. Whereas I think that Chavez Simmons, again, on his day, can be a real game changer for spurs. One thing I'd say about Chavi Simmons, the reviews from Leipzig are in. And he might be an interesting test of Thomas Frank's no difficult people policy.

Because he left a bit of a trail there when it came to playing for the team. And he gave it back to the media with a celebration after a goal against Dortmund last season. But I have to say, if I'm trusting my eyes here when I see about Chavi Simmons, the player and him playing for the team, then I say that there is still some work to be done there. But as Joel says, boy, does this guy have some potential and spark and magic in him. So let's see what Thomas Frank, the man, manager can do because R.B. Leipzig has also been a bit of a cat. chaos club when it comes to getting things pushing in the right direction. And last season, things went off the rails. And as you can see, by the fact that they're not playing any European football this season.

And just as a treat for you, Jules, before we move on to international football, talking of Paris Bourne and Bread, someone else from Bordeaux in the Premier League. That's right. So what is it? Gilean, Bapé, obviously not in the Premier League, but at Rail Madrid, he's from Bordie. Is it William Saliba from Borgie? And Colomwani from Borgie as well, although Coromani was not from the Premier. there, but played there, played in, at the club with Saliba and Mbapé and J.D. Convo,

who just signed for Crystal Palace from Toulouse for around 26, 27 million euros, plus a few bonuses. He also was born in Bondi and played for Bondi. Santa Bac just turned 19 in July, wonderful talent, was very good last season with Toulouse in Liga, can play defensive midfielder as well. Obviously, it's very early in his career, so this is a big step-up. for him to leave Liga to come to the Premier League so early.

But he's got a huge potential. So I think this is a really good signing from Crystal Palace. And not surprisingly, because there was a few clubs around Europe who were keeping a close eye on him because he showed so many good promises for Toulouse last season

that they were the first one to go. And it's easily one that you can see Palace selling him in, I don't know, four years' time for three times the price they paid for him this summer. Ages ago, I went to Bordea and went to one of the training sessions with the kids and they were so good.

I just wonder, that was back in 2017. I'm just wondering how many of those kids I watched are now playing professional football. It depends on the age group, but that might have been him. You might have seen him. He was 11 at the time, so, yeah. Well, let's get on to international football then.

And I want to talk Janara Oga Tussau. James, it's fantastic to see him as Italy head coach. We'll have some drama. Is it? Well, oh, come on, please. Just from a fun point of view, from a drama point of you, it's so negative point of you.

It almost feels like, you know, Italy have missed a couple of World Cups recently. So negative. He's got a massive job on his hands. He's playing catch-up. But, yeah, you're not going to find this enjoyable. You'll get lots of clicks on your articles about Gattuso being Italy manager. I would like Italy to go to a World Cup. Look, I mean, I've spoken to some of the players.

They're excited. Some of them have worked with Gattuzer before. including Dona Rummer. They think from a kind of emotive standpoint that he is the right fit. You know, kind of comeeth the hour, cometh the man. They've got their backs against the wall after losing to Norway in June.

And now the approach that's kind of being imposed on Italy by the Italian media is you have to win all of your remaining games and you have to score lots and lots and lots of goals, which, as Catoosso said earlier this week, that's not really who we are, hasn't been the case, you know, throughout our history. And it comes at a time when, you know, Italy, I think a lot of people point the finger at Italy and say, where is the striker? You know, where is the Christian Vieri and, you know, sort of Gigi Riva, Chen Luca Viali figure of the present? So, you know, it's complicated.

He's brought in a few new faces, including Giovanni Leone, the Palmer Centreback, who moved to Liverpool in the summer. I spoke glowingly of Leone. I've had very high up people in Italian football tell me that Leone is a future captain of Italy. We'll see about that. And then P.O. Esposito as well, striker for Inter, who had a very good season in the second division with Spetsia last year, who, again, people talk highly of as being that striker for Italy.

But they play Estonia in Israel this week, and they really need to hit the ground running and develop some positivity under Gattuzzo. Otherwise, even with an expanded World Cup coming up, I mean, that's the thing that is incredible. that this World Cup is going to be bigger than ever. So for Italy to miss out on that World Cup would be, well, I mean,

it was called Apocalyptic the first time they missed out in 2017. So I don't know what stage of the apocalypse we're in. Jules is smiling as you say this. He's got no sympathy whatsoever. No, I mean, but Hamas still comes to World Cup, even if there's no Italy. So it's a win-win for him, whether they qualify or not.

still be there in the US. But you're excited, Jules, about Gattuso, aren't you? And what we, you know, the prospect of the press conferences and... Yeah, I mean, through his whole career as a manager, he's been so eventful all the time. I mean, we had him in France, obviously, so, you know, we know. And there was never a day, there was just never a quiet day. And I think it was the same in Naples, for example,

and it would be the same, although differently, because he won't have the players every day. And he won't always be, you know, on a daily basis in the news. but still it won't be quiet so it could be a fun ride they will make it it's impossible James that they don't make it I mean come on you know so

and I want to see him at the Walker because I think that could be even more of a fun ride in Mademar sometimes maybe good sometimes maybe subpar you're very good at censoring yourself today Archie I love it but I mean Archie thank you for raising that

that line that Gatuzo Osset when he was he was coaching in Crete. I mean, like he's more famous for Samarja for his press conferences than he is

for the football that he's put on the pitch. And, you know, I mean, he would count to look. I won the copper Italia with Napoli. Yeah,

he has done some credible things in his coaching career. But he's, you know, he was coaching in Croatia this time last year. And again, you know,

some incredible memes and just moments from Gattuzo of him. him like having his beard shaved off for the first time in two decades for charity, great cause, well done Reno. And then sort of,

you know, speaking Spanish and English to a Croatian pundit who used to play in Spain, who was criticising the style of football his team played. I mean, I, you know, I mean,

Italy had a great coach in Luchano Spoletti, who, you know, for whatever reason, it didn't work out. He had to, he was parachuted. a mid-qualifying campaign after Manchini decided to walk and basically coached the Saudi national team

and was always kind of playing catch-up and was always on the pressure because of the timing in which he came in. And here we are again with Catuso coming in, a qualifying campaign has already started. Iqli lost the first game. The pressure and scrutiny is going to be really high. And how he handles that is going to be one of the stories. lines to follow between now and December. And think about the memes, James. Think about the press conferences.

That's what it's all about. That is all we got time for. Thank you so much to James Farncastle, Julian Lorenz, and Archie Rintup for joining us on Euroleagues this week. On the next episode of the Football Daily, there will be an international special of the commentator's view with John Murray, Ian Dennis and Alistair Bruce Ball, bringing you all the build-up ahead of England

against Andorra and Philip Park on Saturday. Thanks so much for listening. He scored goals, lifted trophies and broken records along the way. There it is. It's a day to remember for Wayne Rooney. And now he's got a podcast. Welcome to The Wayne Rooney Show. Twice a week, Wayne Rooney, Kay Kerrude and me, Kelly Summers, break down the biggest stories in the Premier League and beyond.

As much as you'd like to say, loyalty in football now is there's no existence, whether that's fun players or managers. Plus, we'll hear the funniest, wildest and most outrageous stories from Wayne's career. Wayne Rooney show. Everybody's talking about it. Listen on BBC Sounds.