Football Daily - Euro Leagues: Ronaldo & Messi reunited? Who is Jeremy Jacquet, & can Riera revive Frankfurt?

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Steve Crossman is joined by Guillem Balague, Archie Rhind-Tutt and ESPN's Julien Laurens on this week's Euro Leagues.The team reflect on Cristiano Ronaldo's decision to go on strike at Al-Nassr after Karim Benzema's move to Saudi rivals Al-Hilal! Will CR7 leave Saudi Arabia and if so, where to? Could an MLS move and a reunion with Lionel Messi be on the cards? Although, Messi could be on the move himself, with rumours circulating over a return to his boyhood club, Newell's Old Boys!Who is Liverpool's newest £60m signing, Jeremy Jacquet? Could the 20 year-old be the 'next Varane'? The panel also reflect on Ademola Lookman's move to Atletico Madrid, and Barcelona lost their next La Masia star!Speaking of Liverpool, their former fullback has just been announced as Eintracht Frankfurt head coach! Can Albert Riera bring Frankfurt back to winning ways and competing in Europe?And finally, why were there 50,000 fans at an U19 match in Cologne? And how is De Zerbi still in charge at Marseille?Timecodes: 01:50 - Ronaldo goes on strike! 12:10 - Is Messi returning to Argentina? 15:40 - Ademola Lookman joins Atletico Madrid 21:30 - Just who is Jeremy Jacquet? 28:55 - Barcelona lose La Masia star, Dro Fernandez! 33:21 - Can Albert Riera revive Frankfurt? 42:30 - Why did 50,000 fans attend Koln's U19's match? 45:50 - Just how has Roberto De Zerbi survived at Marseille?

On the Football Daily podcast, the Euroleagues with Steve Crosman. Hello there. Welcome to the Euroleagues on the Football Daily podcast. We've got loads to come up, including how good a 60 million pound signing. Is Julianne Jeremy Jacquet? It's not Jeremy Jacket, is it? No, no, although I expect a lot of puns from, you know, English people about jacket and the jacket and leave your jacket there and do your jacket days.

Yes. you know, a full metal jacket and anything you want. Full metal jacket. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, the right pronunciation is Jeremy Jaquay. Don't set a tea at the end like you said for Payette, but not for jacket. Perfectly timed because we have our two most fashionable Eurolead's guest with us.

Always in a beautiful chemise. Hello, Guillem Ballet. Chamee. That's a shirt, isn't that, I think? Yes. How are you, Guillem, all good? Yeah, all good. Oh, good.

What is French for Bizarre multicolored jumper? Hey, Archie Rinter. Oh. So, does this mean in the Premier League, we're now going to start calling Jared Gillette, Jared Gilles. Good stuff. So we should.

So we're going to have Gilles-Gaix at some point. Yeah. Gilles-Jacket. I love it. Well, he's going to be, I mean, he's not going to be on the Euroleagues. Maybe at some point, we're going to talk about him on the Euroleagues. We're also going to do how FC Kern got 50,000 fans for a youth game. We'll talk about the new head coach at Frankfurt.

Loads to come ahead of Le Classique as well. It kind of feels like we're going to do chapter two in the absolutely mad story that is Roberto Deserbe's Marseille future or lack thereof. We're going to kick off, though, with actually a big story which is outside of Europe, but it's very much Euroleague's territory, which is what's happening with Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassar. If you're not across any of this, so Ebola, the big Portuguese national newspaper, was reporting that Ronaldo refused to play

because he's dissatisfied with how the club is being run. It's owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. They own four clubs in the Saudi Premier League. They also obviously own Newcastle United. BBC sports has been told that Al-Hilal, trying to sign Karim Benzema from Al-Ithi had, is the principal reason for Ronaldo's frustrations. So the good thing, Guillermo,

is he's very much staying in his lane, right? He's just concentrating on football. I just read something this morning that I want to start with. Do you know Georgina has got a Netflix series and in it, they've got to move from the house in Madrid and she moans that their furniture

is far too big. Nobody wants it. They cannot put it on eBay or something similar because nobody wants it. I can't wait to see what the link here is going to be. Yeah, well, you go. The writer goes in to say Cristiano Ronaldo is one of those furniture that it's just far

far too big for certain leagues for certain clubs and maybe even sometimes for football so it's quite clever and it's a bit like that there is the analysis that Christiana Ronaldo does its short term

he looks at what has happened recently this transfer window of course and sees other clubs benefiting from it even though he's one of the four that the public investment fund are in charge of

the other ones as Al-Hilal, Al-Hali, and Al-Ithi and Al-Hilal has just got Benzema and Al-Nasir has got only a couple of players on a free. So he thinks this is not fair, an opportunity for Cristiano Ronaldo to win the league. He thinks probably he's only won one

cup in his time there. But you can look at it in a different way. He gets paid 175 million pounds a year, which that reduces a little bit the budget of Al Nasser, I think. Plus, in the past there's been really, really good signings that has made Al Naseir quite competitive.

Sorry, that number. That number. I cannot just kind of breeze by that as a number and a figure for one player. I know everything he's achieved in the game, Guillem, and that is astounding. But also, that figure is just I just needed to say that

just so that we're all on the same page. Please, off you go. It was a platform for others to come in and to make the league more interesting. That has got a cost, of course. They didn't have to pay a transfer. I suppose that helps. But in any case,

it is Cristiano Ronaldo moaning that his team is not competitive enough. Doesn't see any other reasons why perhaps the team has not won anything yet, including the biggest trophy, of course, the league or the Champions League. But he's training again. He started training again yesterday, which suggests that perhaps he will play on Friday, maybe.

I mean, it's such a shame, Jules, because normally multi-club ownership works so well. So, so well, isn't it? I mean, the irony is even more here is because PIF owns 75% of Al-Hilal. The other 25 are some sort of consortium. And in that consortium, you've got a guy called Prince Al-Walid, who's very rich. Obviously, he was the grandson of the founder of Saudi Arabia. and he's him who said, you know what, I've got a bit of change here, a bit of a bit of pocket money, I don't know what to do with it.

Hey, why don't I just finance all seven of the Al-Hilal, who is the biggest fan, transfers in this general transfer window, including Karim, of course. So the guy paid with his own pocket. So he had nothing to do even with PIF and the money that PIRF is investing in the clubs that they own. And Al Naseya, a point behind Al-Hilal in the table. So they can still very much win this title, Al-Hilat playing today, as Guillaume said, Al-Nas said, play tomorrow against Ali Tihal. It's a big game too.

But so it's not like if, I don't know, Cristiano was 10 points behind and the fact that Ben Zema was strengthening even more, Al-Hilal meant that it was impossible for him to win the league, they've got a good team with Kingsday Command who arrived last summer with Joe Felix, with obviously Cristiano himself and a few others that are really high quality. And George is on the bench. they can definitely win this Saudi Pro League title. I just don't know why he's mourning like this and then just threw the toys out of the prime and go on strike.

Georges-Jus, who may be on the bench but wasn't in his press conference, Guillaume. No, but it wasn't because the ownership told him not to go on the press conference, so he wasn't his own strike, not to make the situation more complicated, I imagine. The only thing in favour of the Ronaldo moaning is that since his arrival, Al Nasser's spending has been about 400 million pounds, while Al-Hilal has been 620 million pounds. There is that, no doubt about it. But as Jules says, it's not that all of a sudden, you know,

the fund decides, all right, we're just going to back one team ahead of the other. That doesn't exist. There is actually independence between the business sides of both clubs, the four clues that actually the fund owns. And the sporting side, there's a limit of the money that they can spend. He also depends on the money that comes in. So there's certain logic to what's happening. He just sees Bensemar going to the rival team that's ahead by one point in the league.

And then it all kicks off. Archie, if he continues to kick off, right? He's 40 now, isn't he? Yeah. 41 today is it. 41? 41, yeah. But on anniversary, Christiana.

One anniversary. At 41, Archie, could. Would this be it for him, do you think? Or would you think now we're probably going to see him back of Europe again? Who's going to be prepared to pay the wages that he wants? Will Cristiano Ronaldo be prepared to give up wages? I'm not sure. I'm also not sure.

One thing. There's a buy-up cost of 50 million euros if he leaves before the end of his contract in 2027. I'm not sure if there's a lot of self-reflection going on from Christiana. He reached a plane of being so good in his life that so few can touch. So I think it is difficult to come down the other side from that. When even at international level,

the thing that sticks out is after that defeat to Ireland, when Portugal go and stick in nine in the next game and everything seems to be harmonising a lot better without him, it does start to raise questions and also I think to come back to Guillem's furniture quandary you want other bits of furniture in the room that are going to make it look nice

and the problem is is competing pieces of furniture there are players who are going to want to stand out in their own way and Christian are saying come come basically be my butler is the feeling that I'm getting just the reason why he won't go to Europe.

Two reasons. One, when he tried to, after Leigh Manchester United, George Amendes, the best agent in the world, couldn't get him a team in the Champions League. So that's why they're split up.

He's not his agent anymore. So if he couldn't get it, then, now it's harder. But also, his 39 goals from a thousand. Have a guess, a wild guess, or what is his target

in the rest of his career? Is it to get to a thousand goals? It is to get to a thousand goals. it's the Saudi League, the MLS maybe. So let me jump in on that one, Jules, because this I think is really interesting, the idea of another league like Major League soccer, which is not what it used to be,

which is effectively a retirement home. But even if it were, like this is the problem with going to Saudi, isn't it? Once you've gone there, you can never get that money anywhere else. So if this is his issue around what other teams are doing, can we really see, him then taking a massive pay cut to go to somewhere like America to wrap up his career.

That's if he wants to. Because he's earned enough money in his old career now to say, okay, I'll go from $175 million a year to a normal contract. MLS, even if you're a design-inted player, you know, let's say $5 or $6 million a year. He doesn't need, even the difference $170 million. He doesn't really need that. He's got so much. I know you always want more money, et cetera, et cetera. So it would be down to him.

I mean, the best, the fairy tale story would be for him to go to sporting, obviously, and finish where he all started. This would be so beautiful and everything. It won't happen, unfortunately. But that would be, I think, the best way, really, of ending it. I disagree, Jills. I want to say him score his one thousandth goal for DC United.

But no, he would score it for Al Nasser. He'd probably be then playing with Cristiano Jr. because by that time where Cristiano reaches the end of the contract, I think his son would probably be good enough or not. That's not the problem here anyway, but they will make it happen. It would be very special, a bit like the LeBron James and Bronny gems in the NBA.

And then that would be it. And after that, he can say, thank you for everything. He might have won the World Cup with Portugal in the US in the summer too. And he said, this is it. I'm done. I've achieved everything I wanted to achieve. You won't be surprised to hear that since 20, 2012 that I know of,

massive brands, massive names, massive companies have been trying to get Messi and Ronaldo in the MLS. They've got one part of the deal, and if they feel that there is an option of whatever kind to get Cristiano to the MLS, there is always the possibility of doing a Messi of paying whatever, $25 million a year, and then put the rest into different ways,

into species. Is it Messi going back to Niels Orbyes, though, potentially? That would not even be known anyway. She did. Cristiano getting to the MLS and going to Nilsa Boys. Newsel Boys are tried again for a long time. You had even his dad been involved in improvements in the club just in case Leo decides to go to Nilsaul Boys.

Hold on, hold on, hold on. Leonel Messi's dad is working for Nules Old Boys in an attempt to make Nuals old boys the right place for Messi to drop back into. There was a gym that required improvement. so Leo Mes' dad put some money towards it. Conversations have continued

and yes, Nules of Bois has tried to paint it as it's not just Nules that we want you back. It's Rosario that wants you back. It's Argentina that wants you back. But I see that very, very unlikely. Romantic, yes. He obviously never played for the first team of Nulesol Boys. It would be the way to finish his career. They will try

and meanwhile, you know, he's not doing too bad. in 49 games, 43 goals, 26 assists. So he's in a good form, could do it in Argentina. But I see that very, very unlikely. I think sometimes with these things, we're chasing nostalgia so hard for some meaning. And I think that the most meaningful clashes have gone unless at the World Cup this summer,

we get Argentina, Portugal, at a meaningful point in the tournament. I think that would be a rodeo that would actually appeal to the masses. But in the MLS, I just don't think, maybe it will draw people into football who might not be watching otherwise. Because I think that's the thing I always want to remember is what I try and remember as well is that there's so many different kinds of football fan. Because it is truly the world's most popular sport to a point that people watch the game. for lots of different reasons. So your fan who goes in the stadium is not going to be your match-going

top five European league fan. Are they going to be the target audience for Ronaldo against Messi in the MLS? Probably not. So I think it would draw an audience, but personally, would I be like, yes, I've got to watch that. I don't think so.

So just to finish on the idea, Jules, of Messi and Ronaldo back in the same league, You know how they say that like sequels tend to be rubbish. Sometimes reboots are really good. So couldn't this be like football's Batman begins? Do you know what I mean? Like it's been away for ages.

Let's just bring it back for one last, one last hurrah. Yes, but he won't happen. Oh, okay. I'm sorry to shut it with things. So he's just going to stay in Saudi Arabia. And we might as well not bothered this conversation. And then they see in MLS. And NAC might have this like a few months out.

in Rosario to go back there because the MLS calendar schedule if you want is going to change in 2027. So there's actually a window where he could if he wanted to and if they could make it happen, play a few games for New Adult Boys at that time. And let's not forget, Angel de Maria, who's also Rosario Bon and Bread, went back there for the other club and he's doing really well and he's very happy too. But not in the same league, not against each other unless it's the World Cup like Archie says. Fair play. Let's move on to some interesting transfer stories from Deadline Day.

Guillem, why is Adamola Luckman gone to Atlantic Home Madrid? Because Simeone gave him a call, basically. He was almost all done with Fenerbache, 8.5 million euros. It was a good deal. But Simeone, as part of the conversations that Matteo LeMagna, the director of football, was having, with Atalanta, it was a call. he told him, look, you will have the opportunity to play on the right-hand side of the attack or the left-hand side or even as a second forward.

So he's basically going to compete with Giuliano Simeone, his son, with Nico Gonzalez who's just been signed and Julianne Alvarez, who's the most expensive player at the club. But it is that kind of depth that Aletico Marit is looking for. Interestingly enough, it's not exactly what Simeone wanted. He wanted a forward, center-forward, and he wanted a holding midfielder, and the midfielder and he didn't get either of them. Hence, his short answers in the last previous conferences, his unhappiness with the business of the club,

even though they spent 54 million euros. And with the fact that he even left three or four, I think three slots in the bench empty to show his disgust. He doesn't trust the people coming through, and he wants more players for the demands that he's having, which is, winning the league or doing well in the Champions League.

On the other side, Mateo Le Mani, who is backed up by the new ownership at the club, they actually are asking more of Simeone. So there's a little bit of attention, and they feel that there is a bit of complacency into what's happening at the club out of the championship top eight, out of the league fight, really far away from Aletica Madrid and Barcelona. and they will play tonight against METIS in the Cup in the quarterfinals to see what happened. So the third year consecutive language by January they're basically not fighting for the league. So that's what's going on.

There's two massive forces, ownership and director of football, pushing one way to demand more of Simeone and Simeone, showing his discontent with some of the decisions they're making. I know, actually, what goes through your mind whenever Adamola Luchman comes up, especially when Adamola Luckman is going to Atlago Madrid. You're thinking about the only penalty in history worse than Brahim Diaz is when Adamola Luckman tried a Penenka on loan at Fulham.

You know what's weird? I actually think of Ademola Lookman mainly because in my set of bowls that I have, I have five instead of six because of a failed counterattack against wolves, which was when I was just moved into my new flat and my mate knocked it off the back of the sofa. And that was because of Ademola Luchman. But it's...

You're what, sorry? Your set of... Bowls, you know, because you have a set of six. Oh, I said, God, you're so... You are so relatable. It's sometimes... Sorry, I see what. What did you think you said, by the way?

Well, I wondered if he meant like, as in like, bull, like Patonk. That's what I thought you meant. He's not the... Look, just because I'm a Fulham fan. Yeah. You know, and you just... No, my set of bull, Mr. Kinoa. Who's Fulham's official Patonk sponsor these things?

days. There must be one. Sorry, go up. So the thing I was going to say is, the difference is I was in the stadium for his Europa Lee final hat trick. So honestly, that has overridden any memory. And Marco Silver has meant that those dark Scott Parker memories are in the past now. It's fine. We don't need to think about these things. But yeah, I just think, Adomola Lutman so consistently performed for Atalanta before Ivan Urich came in. I'm interested to see how he makes this work in a side, which is not going to be as geared around him or whether he can step up to be that player for Athletico because, I mean, Julian Alvarez hasn't scored since the start of November in the league. And they could do with some fresh ideas and, yeah, creativity in that department.

And particularly away from home, they are not scoring many goals at all. I wonder if we kind of have to describe Adam O Luchman as one of the great kind of Premier League exports to Europe. He's certainly not one that gets talked about that much compared to others. I mean, how many end up at Alessico Madrid for a start? Barely any. The thing I pick out is that he's had such a unique career in terms of the achievement. We laugh before, but weirdly, I think I spoke about it a year ago when I was with you on Euroleagues about that. hat trick in the Europa League final as well.

It's such a special thing to score a winning goal in a final. To score a hat trick and be, to ruin by Lévacuzin's perfect season as well. It's such a stunning achievement that we'll stand for a good time yet. And that he's, that's not the only thing that he's achieved in the game. I think the exciting thing for Adelamola Lutman is there's still stories to be written by him. And when you talk about exports and that, I think it's just nice to see from an English perspective,

as someone who grew up with not many players from, I'd say, the Premier League academies or English players going abroad. And now many more are having to do that, just to get game time. But it's nice to see people adapt and shine on the continent. Right. Jeremy Jacques Jules,

£60 million pounds from Ren to Liverpool I'm already seeing the things that I fear about for young players and he's 20

which is could be next Rafa Varan is successor to Virgil Van Dyke Yeah Who is he? He has the potential

to be all of that Right, okay, wow. And Liverpool knows it and Liverpool know you don't spend that much money on a player

that you know you don't believe in the potential or even in the current level although if you watched him last night Coupe de France with Ren against Marseille.

And it's not that it just didn't have a good game. It was okay. His team had a terrible game and the lost three in Hill. But a year ago, he was playing in the second division with Clermont, finding far too easy for his level at only 19. Ren called him back because they needed basically arguably their best player. They even had to pay to break their loan to bring him back to the team to play in Ligin, where he was outstanding pretty much the whole year and has been.

But it's still a massive, and it shows you how quickly football can go, right, in both directions, but especially in this one, that in a year time, you go from playing for Clermont in the French second division to be bought for £60 million by Liverpool Football Club. It's pretty remarkable. He's always been very good. He's one of the best defenders in his age group right now. He's played for France since he was 16. He's on the verge of the French national eight team with Deschon. Maybe not for the World Cup. there's too much competition, but after that, surely Zedan will have a look.

And from a Liverpool point of view, if you don't get him now, I think he would have gone to a massive club next anyway. So once you are Real Madrid or Barcelona, or Munich or one of the English big clubs, you don't leave there to go to Liverpool. So I think they were right to get him now. He would need a bit of time to adapt.

He need to bulk up a little bit physically, although he's tall, but he's got all the, attributes. He's quick. He reached the game so well. He doesn't dive in. He's smart. He's good on the ball. He wins the jewels in the air, on the ground, everything. It's just looking so good for him. So I just hope it goes well. The figures that are paid for players that come to the Premier League are distorted by the amount of money that is in the Premier League. So take that aside. But there's something that I can tell you that is the envy of directors of football and owners of

clubs in Spain, for instance, is how well. France sell their product. I mean, 60 million pounds for a center bike, as you said, was in the second division not so long ago. 52 million pounds for Lenny Euro, for instance. That kind of thing. It happens not very usually

anywhere else. So I just wonder Jules, if you look at how the French talent is being sold, what is it done that others can take advantage of and reproduce? That's a good point, Guillem. I think it's a bit like when you sell your house,

Your house is only worth what somebody is ready to pay for it, right? And it's the same for a player. We could all argue here and we could all give a valuation of Jeremy Jacé, if you'd all watch him for all 31 league games that he played in the French top flight. And we probably, in the end, we could agree on something that is not $60 million anyway. So did Liverpool overpay? Sure. But that's why they were ready to pay.

And same with Chelsea. They had the same offer and he chose the Liverpool project ahead of the Chelsea project. But I think there's a bit of as great as the French Academy. are and to produce those kind of players year after year, every season, six months is amazing. I think there's also probably a bit now of this reputation that French football academies and French clubs academies have that everything and everybody that comes out of one of those academies, especially the best ones like Lyon, like Ren, like PhD, like Monaco, would be the next Killeen-Bappe or the next Raffel Varan or the next this and that you have to spend now

60, 70 million when they've only played 31 games in the case of Jeremy Jacques in French top flights in their whole career, in their whole life. He's never even heard the music of the Champions League or the Europa League or the Conference League. He's only played the French Cup because we don't even have a League Cup anymore and 31 games. But that's why you have to pay. So I think there's a bit of that as good as some of those academic products are for sure and some of them will be the best in the world in the next few years. I think there's also, the way I say, there's also a bit of that reputation.

He must be very special because those French academies seem to produce all the time very special players. They're not Olaan. Look at Lenny Euro. I think it's a good example. It's probably easier to go to Liverpool now than it was for him to go to United at the time. But he's on the bench right now. He can't start for this Manchester United team. So let's hope that for Jacques is a different pathway. And Euro is going to come good at some point for United or somebody else.

But it's not always so straightforward when you make that big movement. to the primity. Yeah, no, that's true. But I guess there is also the fact that the French academies put a lot of information into the head of the players. So they very well vers into how to play different formations, different ways of playing, this very good coaching. And also favor the physicality of the players.

So that straight away translates very well into English football, I imagine. So they produce that kind of players that in Spain. There is not that physicality is not a priority. for instance, you get very clever players. So we meant being a holding midfield as an example of it. No, but it's good to see in every market just to sell your product out well. And just before Archie goes,

Jacques is part of this incredible 2005 generation that Ren have had in the academy with Matissell, with Desire Edouet, with Jean-Ewell Bellocian, who's in Germany now with Archie. And imagine when you were 12 or 13. What's sitting next to it? 40. No, but imagine when you're 15

and you play against this Wren team that has all these incredible players and talent and they want everything year after year after year they want everything and game is right especially in Rennes is the mind and your football IQ probably first more than anything else What peaks my interest is

the positions which France seems to do particularly well in they've got great players of flair in there but also the centreback position the rate with which French centrebacks come out at. If I asked Jules to name 10 now, I think how many of them would still, how many would numbers 9 and 10 start at at the World Cup for other teams? And I think

it would be over half, to be honest. I think also from a negotiating point of view, if you're, if you're Wren, you can say, it feels like one of those supermarket adverts. This isn't just any centre back. This is a French centre back that you have here. Like it adds a certain, it adds a certain number to the price. And yeah, like, and when it comes to hype, like I asked one or two people about Jacques A as well. And I heard touch like Bergkamp and I was like, this is, he's not done anything yet. And he's already having this on his shoulders. And I'm repeating it as well, which is not helping, I guess, as well. But yeah, it's, it's why. Jules, tell us why it's PSG1 Barcelona Nill

when it comes to a certain young player this week. This is an interesting story. It is, it is. And it'd be very interesting to hear Giam's take as well. But Joe Fernandez, or Pedro Fernandez, but Drew is the nickname that he goes about and you call him. It was this very young 18-year-old promising product from the Academy, from LaMassia.

We go again to academy, work and everything. I've been playing already for the Barcelona first team this season. the release clothes of 6 million euros on his contract, which is very low, even at such a young age, for Spanish standards, whose agent is the same agent as Rusenrique, Ivan de la Pena,

the former, you know, little Buddha, great player. And PSG saw that and Rusanrique saw that and Roe was not too happy, maybe, and they thought, you know what, why not we just, you know, trigger that release clothes. They were even kinder to that, to Barcelona,

by, they understood that Barcelona were quite frustrated and rightly saw an angry that somebody could just get one of their most promising youngster for just six million. But as the release closed, PhD would have done nothing wrong by just paying the six million and get the player. But because they're quite a good friend with Barcelona, they don't want to anger them or anything like that anymore. So they even agreed to actually paid eight and not six.

I think it's a wonderful signing potentially for PhD because he's a very look like a promising player. Stand by, Guillem, because we're going to hear from Hansi Flick just for a bit of context. So Joanne Leporteur said this, the barter president, about the deal. He said this came as a surprise because we'd agreed on a different solution for when Drow turned 18. Surprisingly, his representatives told us he couldn't follow through on what we'd agree to. So here's Andy Fulik. I really love this boy, okay?

I really love this boy. And of course, I'm disappointed. But at the end, it's like football. And we have to respect this decision. And yeah, it's like that. But I'm disappointed, of course. And he knows it also, but I love this boy. because I think also here, he also maybe had a great future.

Okay, Guillem, go. 149 minutes and 88 touches of the ball. That's what is done this season with the first team. So he had promised verbally that he will renew his contract with Barcelona when he got to 18. But 149 minutes, that's what he's been allowed to play. And everybody's talking about hype. They compare him to Tiaw al-Kantara, to Pedri, to Iniesta.

And because Hansi Flik had seen that quality, he thought, yeah, great, you know, all right, it's not your moment, but you will be definitely somebody important. Meanwhile, he's been given the dad role of number 10 or playing in front of the two holding midfielders to Fermin López, to Olmo, to Rafinia, not to draw. So he thought, you know what, there's somebody that really really, wants me. There's no promise of minutes, but certainly that he will be important in the medium term, but certainly will play much more in the short term at PSG. He's seen that happening with other players. There is a financial reason as well. And of course, as you can imagine, the

Catalan media is going, ah, he's gone for money. There is that, I'm sure. But there is also the fact that he just didn't see his future clear at Barcelona. He's got the right to leave. Right, coming up, we're going to get the latest on Roberto Deserbie and Marseille, ahead of Le Classique. We'll talk about Frankfurt's new head coach, former Liverpoolman Albert Riara, and we'll also hear why 50,000 fans turned out for an under-19s match in Germany. All of that, after this. Hello, this is Matt Chawley's urgent questions, your daily dose of political mayhem from the heart of Westminster. Order, order. I call Matt Chawley. I'm a supporter of flags.

It turns out time is finite. Government doesn't want to be involved in this. I do not think the candidates are fruit books. Match release. Urgent questions. Subscribe to the podcast and you'll get the best bits every day from around 5 o'clock. Listen on BBC Sounds. On the Football Daily podcast, the Euroleaks with Steve Crossman.

Right, let's move on to a big story in the Bundesliga. Antrack Frankfurt have appointed the former Liverpool and Spain winger Albert Riera as their new head coach. So recently he's been managing in Slovenia. He took Olympia Ljubljana to a league and cup double in 2023, won a cup last season as well. He's held his first press conference as Frankfurt boss. So here he is on his first impressions.

I have everything. I have everything. I don't have excuses, facilities, training centre, people. How also motivated. The new starts gives you this, no? This is always I like to compare with your girlfriend. and the first days they are motivated. You have butterflies on the stomach.

Everybody is with this, and I love it this. And we need to keep it. I will make them to believe every single morning that they need to have this feeling because you need to keep this love alive, but also from the club, from the people that is working, motivated with a commitment, people that wants to improve this club.

Because I repeat again, I will start from what I said before. We have everything to be a good club. So now it's on us to do a lot of good things and these are only responsibilities that as I said, my players, they will know how they need to and they have to behave with the ball and without the ball. I'm so convicted on what I'm going to do and how I'm going to convince my player that I'm going to tell them tomorrow, we're going to jump from there from the balcony and they will jump. They will believe.

They will believe. How? You know, maybe I have a magic stick, but trust me, I will do it. I will lead. My players, they will follow. And the reason, maybe the way how I am giving them solutions can be, because we are talking a lot in football, we are always talking about the problem. It's a problem, it's a problem. This team is playing bad.

This team is doing this. But we're not talking about solutions. So to my players, I'm so positive with them because I'm giving them pink glasses. Everything is pink. Everything is beautiful, not dark. Because we cannot go just a problem. We have this problem. This one is playing bad.

This one lost the ball. I have one sentence with them. to convince this. I'm telling them who is more guilty, who lose the ball or who is not giving the line and wants the ball? For me, it's more guilty who doesn't want the ball and who is not giving the line of passing?

Because our game is about combination. But if I am robin, the centerback and has no solutions, we're going to say, oh, Robin lost the ball, he's so bad. Robb is not bad. But if you don't give the line, what are he going to do? One center back on a dribble? No. So we need solution.

That's why. So I am focused on this. I am giving them solutions. And if someone in life gives you solutions, you want to be close. And that's the way I am working. That's Albert Riera, a new head coach of Frankfurt. We've got Archie who are in touch, Julian Laurent, Guillain Balagay, all with us on the Euroleagues.

I love the idea, actually, that he walked in with pink glasses and a magic stick. I mean, what an entrance. To be fair, given how badly things have been going defensively for Frankfurt, I don't think it could have upset things anymore, but I had heard from Slovenia how he was Jose Marino like in how he's not afraid to shake things up in the media and how he has this straightforward way about him.

And when I listen to the press conference, I was like, I get it. I'm hearing this and how this is all going to play out, because what I've also heard is how quadruple substitutions happen at half time if things aren't going to plan. He's also not afraid to give it back to opponents on Instagram post game in the middle of the night where he's where he's so for example one post which I was sent

his cellia team had drawn nil nil and he described it as boxing against football after 42 games scoring today pragmatic against super pragmatic with a laughing crying emoji when they beat maribor 2 1 away from home in 2024 pointing with a little arrow to the goal attempts that they had, 23.

Not words, facts. And then three, three exclamation marks, another derby, ours. And yeah, I'm intrigued to see how this all plays out. I, as a neutral, I'm very excited

for what's going to happen because he is not a personality by the sounds of it who takes kindly to people who don't quite get on board with him. If he gets buy-in, and given how mild-mannered and calm and good a coach, Dino Topmuller was,

albeit I don't think his ideas were getting through the players anymore, steadily lost command this season with big defeats in the Champions League, mentioned the defence, goalkeeper situation had been toying between who was the number one, and the fans had never really got Topmuller, even if, with help of Mahmouche and Ekitke into the Champions League last season, It felt weird. But if Albert Riera can connect with the club and with the fans at Frankfurt, it doesn't feel like there's going to be a middle ground.

It either feels like it's going to be amazing or you're going to see flames. Like relationships, as he says. I mean, sometimes Jill's relationships end in bankruptcy, which is what happened when he was manager of Bordeaux. So, yeah, I mean, it's an interesting one, Jules, isn't it? It's kind of come out of nowhere slightly. It's not a name that you'd have expected to be on many sort of bigger European clubs list, although they've kind of fallen on hard times comparatively.

No, you're right, but it was, I remember when he joined Bordeaux, there was quite a lot of promises around him, and he's a very smart guy. He speaks really well. I think it draws you into what he's saying, and you want to be on board. Suddenly, that's how he started, and he started well at Bordeaux. The end was maybe not so good.

I think he won't just over 40% of his games, and that was not. I'm in turmoil for the club, so it's not just on him, obviously. There was no investment. It was very difficult and all of that. But I'm like Archie, I'm really curious to see how what it does

because that little clip that we played, I like the sound of it. I like the sound of it, really, and I think it's got also that energy. And there's decent players in this Frankfurt team, by the way. It's not like if he was going to Aidenheim and trying not to go down. I think there's potential there with that team.

So, yeah, I'm curious to see, but you're right. There's also the fact that this is the best, league and this is the best team that he's managed in his career. So let's see how he copes with all of that as well. If you had to put a list of the top 10 players that you know for sure that will never be managers. If they are, they're not going to be very good.

Albert Rieger would be in the list. So would Benito Carbone, but we'll come on to him in a second. Sorry, go on, go on, Guy. He was a player that only thought about himself. He's a winger, so, you know, touch individualistic. I remember living Liverpool and having a go at Raffa Benitez he's been apologising since

because he now sees things from a completely different point of view but in terms of her I've got lots of stories with him of his time at Liverpool starting with when we came out of we were quite close and I heard a lot of stories

behind the scenes because players like him and others from Spain would just share them and we went to for a meal and came out of the meal and there were paparazzi's first time I had to deal with papalazzi. What do I do?

He says, well, the baby is with us. You want to hold the baby? And then they will just make a story of you having a baby and whatever. So there's pictures of me and him coming out of the restaurant with me holding his baby. But the bigger one was I was columnist for The Daily Mirror. Oh, yeah. And I got a story from the changing room that he told me that things that happen at Liverpool. Not a massive story, but one that came out that way.

Jeremy Carragher brought the Daily Mirror into the changing room the next day. Who said this? Who told this guy this? Raffa Venetet knew who he was. Looked at Alberriera and said, Rafa said, it was me. I'm sorry, Jamie. I won't talk to Guillem again ever.

At the end of the training session, he went to Alberriera and says, if you ever come up with anything at all to anybody, I'll noise you straight away and you're out of the team. So I got him into trouble. But he was certainly a player that when he was talking football, he wasn't talking about the bigger picture. He was just talking about his thing. And now he has transformed, as both Jules and Archie have said,

into somebody with a clear idea what he wants to do, with a clear message too. So let's see, good look to him. And he's succeeded as well where he's been. Can we have that photograph just for us and the nation? Could we, is that? I've been actually looking for it because he won on one of the press.

agencies and he came out and it's gone. I was trying to put it in the group, but it's gone. Conspiracy. See if I find that. Conspiracy. Como Cidese, Pixar didn't happen. Actually, we're going to finish with a bit of Marseille and PSG. But before we do, tell us why 50,000 people turned out at a Kern slash Cologne youth game the other night.

More, by the way, than the League Cup semi-final second leg that I was doing last night. I have lived in Cologne for 11 years now, and there is a real longing here for European football of any kind. And with the team, the under-19s, reaching the UEFA Youth League last 16, this presented itself as the perfect opportunity for them to get involved in such European competition. And yes, Cologne have been in the Conference League and in the Europa League in between. But there is a real fascination and obsession with this club in the city that as someone who grew up with a humble Fulham season ticket. Sure. It has been something to kind of watch and observe over the years just how crazy people go. How when Stefan Baumgart was the coach here and he wore a flat cap, the sales of flat caps in the city.

went through the roof. Syed El Mala a year ago was a nobody playing for Victoria Cohn in the third division. They signed him this summer. He's gone through the roof, started being called up to the German national team, and now when I walk into my local supermarket, there's a cardboard cutout

of Saeedel Mala trying to sell me frozen pizza. Like, things happen at an alarming rate in this city, and it helped that tickets were a tenor for seats and a fiver for standing, but there is something like it's the bigger thing of being part of the club it's not about just the

first team that is that is quite a German thing you you see 15,000 turning up to um I remember magdeburg uh jewels might remember this story like uh when magdeburg like during a winter um a winter break went to support like they're under tens in a in an indoor tournament and they're lighting pyro. It's just how things happen in this country and it is to admire and sure they lost 3-1 to Benito Carbone's into under 19s. But yeah, there is... Under the Great Tactician. Former Shepard Wednesday and Middlesbrough forward Benito Carbone. A beautiful madness that there is in this city and this fierce regional pride.

of wanting to show where you are from and how great it is and also because the ultimate truth, they've not had a place to really showcase it at the highest level in a long time. I mean, Archie's younger than me. Jules and Guillem, you're both a bit older than me. Can we just enjoy the fact that two members of the Sheffield Wednesday, 1997, 1998 team in Benito Carbone and Paolo DiCannio have somehow gone on to manage football teams?

If you'd have looked to that team, you'd have gone, I don't know, Kevin Pressman might go on and be a manager, like, that is cool, that is cool. Anyway, speaking of Italian managers, Jules, can we have an update on Roberto Deserby before we finish? Because I think when we did this show this time last week,

none of us would have thought he'd still be manager of Marseille today. And he still is. So well done to him. He won, as I mentioned earlier, in the French Cup on Tuesday night, or Wednesday night against Gennes, which brought him a love,

peace and tranquillity. to prepare for the big classic on Sunday at the Pied of Prince against P.S.G. The classic that, by the way, he won't the reverse fixture at the Velodrome back in September in a very undeserved-esque way, in a sense, because Marconi scored a long goal very early.

And then for most of that game, Marse had defended, and they defended really well. But there's obviously all the spotlight would be on him more than with San Riqui, more than PSG and what they do on their side, and they haven't been too great lately. But he's going to be on him on how his Marse team is going to play

and what kind of system because the system has been heavily criticised his relationship with his own players and the people above him too there's no fans unfortunately at the game they won't be Marseille fans but still that kind of rapport

as well with his own fans and with the media we mentioned how very regularly he's clashed with the journalist from Le Kipp or from RMC and their radio shows and all of that so this is all coming up in the next few days all that buildup until Sunday,

and then Sunday night would be the game. Whatever happened in that game could have an impact on where Roberto de Zerbi will be on Monday and Tuesday next week, et cetera, et cetera,

because if they get spanked, then that's not going to look good for him. But you would not put it past him and this Marseille that can blow so hot and cold and be so inconsistent, but so brilliant as well as dramatically bad, that they can go to Paris

and do something special. So it's a game you cannot miss on Sunday night. It's been a one. week of drama as in the Jules with there were after the defeat in the in the championship league there were meetings with players that were then cancelled the last minute there was brought to the Serbian not going to training the club saying that he was ill all the sources saying that he had resigned but the club didn't

let him go they reach an agreement it seems that he will stay until the end of the season but then he will go all of that it's very much say if you like but it's the effect on the players that seems to have the bigger consequences in the short and the medium term. Obviously, Matt O'Reilly's gone to Brighton, gone back to Brighton. I think Mason Greenwood wants out, and they will try to cash in, and Angel Gomez has gone on loan, but probably will go. And I believe that they tried to cancel the loan deals for Parvart and Vermeering,

but they couldn't agree it. So it's like all of a sudden, in the middle of the season, they decided to change the project. Never mind. It's not going that way. now it's going to go that way and certainly doesn't seem that a lot of people that are there doesn't seem to be the ones

that will build it in the long term, I don't think. Jules, can we just finish with this? Is Roberto Deserby going to be Marsei manager this time next week? Nobody knows. Not even himself. But yeah, as we said,

so many problems. But issues that you can also turn maybe in a positive way if you're him. So let's see. Sunday would be great. But I agree as well with Guillem, I don't think he. he'll be the next season. That's for sure. Whether it finishes this season or not, the nine

points behind PSG before these game on Sunday and PSG had two points clear at the top of Lance. So they have to win in Paris if they still want to even dream of winning the title. Otherwise, it'll be the French Cup that is the biggest objective. Beautifully done everyone. Jules, Archie Guillaume. Thank you all very much as always. Thank you guys. Thank you. Archie Rinter, Julien Leont, Guillain Balaget, who've been with us on the Euroleagues. Coming up next on the Football Daily Feed, it will be John Murray, Ian Dennis and Alistair Bruce Ball back with the commentator's view.

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