Football Daily - Lionesses Euros homecoming parade and Isak to Liverpool?

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

Burna Boy and Sarina Wiegman, the duet we never knew we needed! Maz Farookhi, Vicki Sparks and Katie Smith react to the England Euro 2025 parade, where 65 thousand fans joined the triumphant Lionesses in London. Plus, the latest transfer news, George Caulkin, Miguel Delaney, Nizaar Kinsella and Statman Dave discuss Alexander Isak's future, Liverpool's business this summer and Newcastle United's opportunities in the summer transfer window.

BBC Sounds music radio podcasts. The Football Daily podcast. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello, welcome to the Football Daily. It's been a day of celebration and maybe sore heads for England's lionesses through the streets of central London will reflect on their parade with Vicky Sparks and Katie Smith. Plus the big story in the summer transfer window will get the latest on Alexander Isak's future and Newcastle and Liverpool's business so far. But first two England's Lionesses. They have been celebrating the defence of their Euros title on Sunday

with an open top bus parade through central London today. Leah Williamson, Serena Vigman and the squad ending up on the mall in front of crowds of 65,000. London, it's time to welcome to the stage your European champions, England! I've been crying all the way down the mouth. This is unbelievable. It's probably one of the best things we've ever been a part of. So thank you for coming out. Tell me how from three years ago this moment is different and what it means. There's lots of ways to win a football match.

We repeatedly did it the hard way. But I think that you can see how much we care about playing for England, how much we love it. 2022 was a fairy tale, but this feels really hard and we're very proud of ourselves. So thank you, we hope you are too. Leah, talk to me about this team because they showed so much character and resilience and you said you never stop believing in every single one of them. We did some work together.

We came close the first game, maybe rocked us a little bit, but I just think... I think it's special people, and we love each other. We got each other's back on and off the pitch, we had tough moments. Nasty things to deal with, and still we rise. There's huge talent pool in this team. What we want to do is play to our strengths. But I think the bonding in this team, this tournament,

like in 22 we had a great bonding too, but I think that made the absolute difference now, that everyone was ready to step up and to support each other. And it was just amazing to be part of. Well, it sure was. And right now we've got a couple of surprises but last time what three years ago Trafalgar Square when I was saying about you dancing you said I'm not ready to dance the music was not quite right. Well the surprise right now we know who your favourite artist is. He is in the building Ser. So we want to see you dance. Please give it up, everybody, for Serena's favorite artist,

Burnaby is coming to the stage. Oh, no way! I'm telling you how it is over. I wanna hold you so tight, so tight. But every single moment, you were there by my side. And we know that actually we've just had Burnet Boy up here, that there was another special song for you guys throughout this tournament. So please get your vocal calls ready. I want everyone to sing along for this moment.

Please welcome to the stage, it is Heather Small. Thank you. I look into the window of my mind Well, following Heather Small on Five Life Sport is going to be Vicky Sparks. I know you've been in the thick of the celebrations today in Central London, Vicky, and listening to all of that, some of the highlights there of the day, we've all, I think, got big smiles on our faces. Just talk to us about the atmosphere then. There seems to be a lot of emotion as well from the England players. You could hear it there in Leah Williamson's voice as well.

It was such an incredible occasion. And Leah Williamson, as you rightly say, she doesn't normally let those sort of emotions show. You could see what it meant to her. And I was so struck by as the buses turned around the corner of the Mallam started to make their way down to Buckingham Palace, the delight, almost the surprise and the shock from the lionesses on their faces at seeing so many people there. But honestly, it was such a jubilant occasion. I had the pleasure of being with Nagam and Chetty for it for Five Live. And we were there in our tent just outside Buckingham Palace and looking at all these fans and speaking to some of them. And people traveled from all over

the UK, people from Durham in the north of England, people from Bristol in the southwest of England, getting up at 5am, some traveling through the night to be there because this was a historic moment. England coming back as the first senior side, men's or women's, to win the first major trophy on foreign soil, the first to retain a major trophy as well from a senior perspective. But the moment of the day, and we've just heard it there, had to be when Burner Boy came out. And I have never, having interviewed Serena Vigman many times, I have never seen her eyes light up the way that they did. And for anyone who's just listened to that and hasn't seen the clip yet, the person shouting, no way, is Serena Vigman as she walks out onto the

stage. She cannot believe that her favourite artist is there with her. And honestly, it was so lovely to see that side of her because it's always there. She has this calm, unruffled exterior. But every now and again in press conferences when something tickles her or she doesn't quite understand something, you see this little sparkle in her eye and honestly it was that times a hundred and it was just so wonderful to see her lose herself in that moment. It's the duet we didn't know that we needed until today, definitely Vicky. I wonder what, I mean you've spoken really well there about some of the highlights of the day but I wonder as well for you what the difference was in terms of the atmosphere and how it felt maybe

compared to the 2022 victory. 2022 was incredible in terms of what the Lionesses did, the way that it was a springboard for football in this country in the women's game. The celebrations in Trafalgar Square were wonderful. They were energetic. There was such exuberance, exhilaration. There were only 7,000 fans there because that was the limit. You had to get a ticket and, you know, for those 7,000 who were there and for the lionesses and all that celebration, it was a wonderful occasion but it was capped at that number. And as

you said earlier in the show, Mazz, 65,000 people were there on the Mall. And not even, they couldn't all get on the Mall. Our tent was kind of positioned to the right of the Mall and to the right of Buckingham Palace. But then you look to your right and there was almost this, this kind of second fence where all the people who hadn't been able to get onto the Mall were still there. Kind of, you know, five, 10, fifteen people deep all with their phones up. People wanted to be there because this is what sport does, isn't it? It brings people together.

It's a communal event. It means that celebration and joy and all of those wonderful emotions, not so wonderful at times, during this roller coaster ride at Euro 25. You know, they really put us through it, didn't they? And as Leah Williamson said when we heard from her just a little bit earlier, you know, there are many ways to win a football match. I think England did just about all of them and a lot of them included penalties but it all ends on this glorious high and people just wanted to be there to share it. Let's also bring in our reporter Katie Smith. She was getting involved in all the action backstage. Katie, what were your kind of highlights and your kind of best experiences from today? Again, full of emotion,

full of joy, I imagine. Oh, absolutely. I started where Vicky was during the morning. So out with the fans at the front and just couldn't actually get the goosebumps to go down from my arms because it was just such a, I shouldn't say shock, it wasn't a shock to see people there, but to see the sheer numbers, I think that's what the Lionesses were saying to us afterwards and we'll hear from some of them, was when you're in a bubble, when you're away at the tournament, you sort of forget what the magnitude is. We can get told that 12 million people tuned in to watch, but you don't really understand what that number is

until you see the bodies in front of you. Then I headed backstage. So actually I couldn't see a huge amount of the parade going on, which is quite funny. I almost looked like someone trying to break into Glastonbury. I was peering over the fence as desperately as I could to get a look at the bus coming down.

What I did get though, Maz, which was a very cool sight, was I was seeing the guests coming onto stage before anyone else did. So I saw the players arrive from the bus and come through the backstage. Got to say, a lot of them looked very, very tired. They are very keen for a day off. Maybe, yeah.

Yeah, maybe. And then I saw Burnaby arrive, and I was sat next to Emma Sanders, who's one of our senior reporters for the website, and we both looked at each other. And it was just knowing two minutes ahead of everyone else what Serena Vigman was about to experience. That was pretty cool. And then to hear the cheer go up and then hear all about her dancing, obviously I'm going to have to go back and watch that, but yeah, that was pretty special.

Well, as Katie said, she was catching up with some of the players today. We're going to hear your interview, Katie, with Esme Morgan shortly, but first you caught up with Niamh Charles. If I think of the younger me that came to visit Buckingham Palace, if I ever thought and posed there, if I ever thought I'd be stood here now, I never would have believed it. It's actually crazy. So you'd come as a little girl? Yeah, me and my family had a weekend down here in London and did all the sights and

there's pictures of me posed and it's crazy now to think that this is the reality of women's football and what we've done. Can you take me to the top of that bus coming down the Mall? What was going through your head? What were you seeing? I think I just wanted to look at individual faces. There was obviously so many people but I just wanted to look at individual faces and then you saw older people, you saw younger people, you saw everyone from every different walk of life and just they were so happy to be there and it was so nice to be able to share with them this that they've,

yeah it's for them, you know what I mean, and it was just so special to see every individual face and sort of how much they were enjoying it and also the amount of people was crazy. Can we go back to the pitch, St. Yaqub Park in Basel, the final, it's a penalty shootout, you've come onto the pitch not too long before actually, you step up to take that penalty, what was that like? Yeah, it was nerve-racking in a sense but I think because we've worked really hard on like the process of it of not making it nervous and making it like just do your job so yeah it was it was nerve-racking but I sort of had to like

switch off because I knew my family as soon as I stepped up my family would have been like oh my god so like in the back of my mind I had that but I thought it'd be a bit funny because I knew that they'd be freaking out but yeah I sort of stuck to the process and thankfully it went in. And just very finally, what next for women's football? If this is what it's like today, what could be next? Hopefully we just keep on winning as Lionesses. I think the domestic game's growing and hopefully year on year it's just going to get bigger

and bigger and days like this, it's really inspiring to see how far we've come and motivating to go even further. Neve, enjoy every single second. Thank you so much for talking to us. We've got Esme Morgan with us as well. Esme I like the bucket hat. Thank you very much yeah I found it in my hotel room this morning. It had been left for us so I thought why not whack that on. I mean you're looking great so we've got red bucket hat, we've got red scarf, the white t-shirt as well that says home with the two on it as well. Just talk me through what this occasion has been like. So special it was just so

surreal seeing banks and banks of people lining the mouse venue cheering for us the noise was so so loud and it was just yeah surreal I can't believe it so special and we're so grateful for how many people have come out today you don't really realize how many people have been touched by the journey and have enjoyed watching us this summer until you come here and everyone's come and spent their day supporting us so yeah so lucky it's incredible. Did you feel like you had expectations coming in today? I suppose in some ways you're so focused on the tournament that this is just it's not even real right?

Yeah well a few of us said the other day like, oh, we hope the parade's not like the full length of the mall because there might not be enough people to fill it. We were like, what about, what if that happens? But yeah, we showed up today and it was absolutely packed. I can't believe it. I think you just don't realise the scale of how many people watch and support us. And yeah, we feel so lucky. Can we talk about your manager, Serena Vigman, on stage with Burner Boy? She's got some moves. Yeah, Serena's got rhythm.

She absolutely loves Burner Boy. I can't believe. In fact, we're gonna have to be careful because she stood right next to us. Yeah, she is. Her face when they brought Burner Boy out was a picture. None of us could believe it to be honest and yeah she was bussing out some moves, singing away so that was a special

moment. And what next for you now? I'm heading back to America tomorrow so straight back into the season but I can't wait to see my little kit and biscuit so that is it, back to mum duties for me. Congratulations, best of luck soaking up today Esme, thank you so much. Thank you. Vicki, what comes out really nicely in that lovely interview that Katie did with Esme there is how surprised they seem to be by the level and the scale of the support for them. It was so striking wasn't it and I was standing there listening to that wonderful interview and

just thinking oh bless you know do you not realise, do you not realize the impact that you are having and you continue to have? But I think that's it, you know, as Katie mentioned earlier, when you're in this tournament bubble, when you are away from home, and of course, three years ago, they were in England, so you got a sense of, you know, how many people were watching it. But particularly when you're out of the country and you are just so focused, a lot of the players came off social media before the tournament, you know, you're not wanting any distractions. And that was why when that bus, the two buses turned the corner of the mouth and honestly, it was so striking. I saw Georgia Samway in particular, just a

look of disbelief and joy on her face at how much this meant to every single person who turned out to see them. Well let's also hear from the FA chief executive, Executive Katie also caught up today with Mark Bullingham. Oh that was just an incredible day. When we came around the corner at the top of the mall it was just amazing to see a whole sea of people and incredibly emotional actually for everyone involved but fantastic day. I've just been talking to Esme Morgan and she said they were worried if it went down the whole mall that there wouldn't be enough people there. Yeah it was funny the players kept asking us do you think people will really come and we were like

yeah they definitely will come. We'd seen crowds already yesterday come to meet them at the airport so we're really confident but the British public is just incredible and really did us proud today. There was one fan I spoke to down there a little earlier who'd come she set off last night from Durham had come the way down, says she'd been watching for years and has seen the game change. You've seen the game change, are you surprised in any way? Blown away, I mean it was just fantastic the number of people who've made the effort and there were stories we've been hearing all morning about people have been here since three o'clock in the morning and made the effort and traveled

from far and just want to say thank you to all of them. We felt such support, both in Switzerland, but also from home throughout the whole tournament. And great to see it today. You said before the final, before that result, that Serena Beegman was not for sale. What is she now, Mark? She's an incredibly special person. We're just so proud of her

and delighted to have her as our coach. And there's been talk of statues. Any further developments? Oh, that's definitely a work in progress, I mean those things take a long time and we're still working on it from the last year so we'll just have to go back and look at the design now and see how we can make it fitting for two trophies. And now a World Cup in two years, does it feel like possibilities are endless with this kind of team with players like Ajumman coming through?

We're just celebrating today but it's clearly a really special team and there's some brilliant young talent coming through so yeah we're looking forward. Did you get a dancing with Burnaby? I think everybody got a dancing with Burnaby, it was a really amazing moment. We'd actually kept both the artists secret from the team so the look on their faces when they came out was incredible and Burnaby was definitely a favourite of Serena so that was a really nice moment. Katie obviously the players will take a bit of time to enjoy this victory as will Serena Wijkman.

But as we look forward, we look towards 2027 in the World Cup in Brazil, surely? Well, and for all the accolades Serena Wijkman has, we've talked about the Euros now that she's won three times in a row, once with the Dutch, two with England. But she had two World Cup finals in that as well. Again, once with the Dutch, once with England, but she had two World Cup finals in that as well. Again, once with the Dutch, once with England has lost both of them. She's committed on her contract through to the end of the World Cup. You heard Mark Bullingham there saying she is not for sale. And you'd like to think the kind of manager she is and the players she has

with her right now, that surely has to be the next huge, huge target on the horizon. And also for players like Lucy Bronze, like Alex Greenwood, perhaps the last two years might be that kind of end of an era feeling for them. And this England squad, Lucy Bronze confirmed to us after the final, she was planning to be there. So I think there's a lot of eyes already with maybe just tiny, tiny focus two years time as Katie Vicki. Thank you. Get closer to the action with live commentary from the world's

greatest sporting events on BBC sounds. It is all over. Bulls, arse edge, ball behind. Including cricket, Super League, women's Euros 2025, Wimbledon, Next, we're going to talk about the summer Listen only on BBC Sounds. The Football Daily Podcast on BBC Sounds. Next we're going to talk about the summer transfer window and where Alexander Isak will be playing his football next season. And joining me we've got BBC Sport Football news reporter Nizar Kinsella, the chief football writer for the independent Miguel Delaney and Statman Dave is with me here as well. Hello guys. Hello. Premier League returns obviously on the 15th of August. The Football

League actually starts on Friday, but the window stays open to the beginning of September. So there's still lots of time yet for clubs to do some business. Yeah, I think this is the period where maybe, you know, you see the sort of clubs that have been waiting, you see the big clubs going early, I think like Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, we've seen those kind of clubs have outspent everyone else and now this is the period where you get deals from the rest of the clubs like Everton and the clubs lower down the league maybe less inclined to pay such high transfer fees and maybe shop a bit lower in the sort of transfer market. You also see maybe more European deals as well. So that can help clubs that are, you know, the big clubs who are trying to sell

players as well, which I think that a lot of them are more interested in selling than buying now, you know, especially the top four who've done a lot of business already. That's the thing, Miguel, isn't it? It's the knock on effect then there's still time then for when players move then for clubs to then navigate and find the replacements and so on. Yeah, and I think there's actually an even more distinctive pattern this season. Because I mean, if you look at the 24-25 campaign, one of its main features is basically almost

the kind of the rise of the middle classes and how some of the best performing players in the Premier League were at where those at clubs like Bournemouth, Brighton, Crystal Palace, right up to Newcastle United. Now I know it's something we'll discuss on the show today, Newcastle's current status, but the most obvious one there being ESAC. And that I think was a bit of a medium term consequence of PSO, and how for a while it became difficult for the traditional big clubs, or you might say the wealthiest clubs, to prize players away from those kind of maybe financially weaker clubs due to kind of the inflation, rising price in the Premier League. But for a few reasons, I think this summer has been, you might say the Empire is striking back because I mean, Bournemouth have sold, well,

two of their biggest players from last year. Brighton, obviously, their model is to keep selling some of their best performing players. Isaac has been the sag in the summer. And that's coming from a few things. I mean, one of them being, say, Liverpool didn't really spend for three for three windows, Barquiza. So they have a lot of PSO headroom and a lot of ability to spend. Arsenal have, I suppose, this summer, principally from the kind of appointment of the new sporting director, Andrea Berta, have this now or never approach. City as well, actually, I mean, what they've spent 350 million this year and that comes from also not already moving from two years prior and yeah so there is this build up it's something quite a

stacked top end of the Premier League Chelsea have been active as well as we know and as Niz argued there it has a knock-on effect now because now the Bournemouths, Everton as well actually are another who they want to use August to spend. I do think it's going to be quite a hectic end of the window. I think it's been super interesting. It's almost been the summer of the striker. In that sense, have we seen some big movements from Chelsea bought two in Joao Pedro and obviously Liam de Lapp. And finally Arsenal have got a number nine and that is so exciting for the Premier League. I was looking at the open play goals Arsenal have scored in the last three seasons, that's just been decreasing year on year. So they do need this nine and Jokeres, most goals in Europe since joining

Sporting Lisbon, that's with and without penalties. They've got their guy, it's going to make the Premier League so open and they're neck a TK and EZAC maybe at Liverpool. Manchester United might need to do some work though still I think. Let's start though with Newcastle United and Alexander Isak, the athletics George Colkin is also with us on Firefly Sport. Good evening George, what is the latest then on Alexander Isak from a Newcastle perspective? Well it's a pretty consistent message I have to say, good evening to you all. It's the same message that's been delivered for the past few months, which is that Alexander Isak is very much their player and he's not for sale. That message was repeated from

towards the top of the club today. Their strategy throughout has been that they do not wish to sell their best players this summer, of course, of which Isaac would be top of the list. And in fact, with three years left on his contract, they view themselves as being in a position of strength. And what they would ideally like to do is extend his contract. There is quite a big caveat to add to that, which is that it would be quite a strange negotiating tactic to say that he was for sale. And also this stance of theirs,

which I don't think is just posturing. I think it's something they sincerely hold has not been tested with a block busting bid. Now we know that Liverpool expressed an interest to Newcastle a couple of weeks ago, but certainly as of today, there's been no formal bid, no official bid. Well, let's hear from Eddie Howe. He has spoken today about the ESAC speculation and potential incomings as well. He's still our player. He's contracted to us. So we, to a degree, control what's next for him. So I'd love to believe all possibilities are still available. We've received no formal

offer from any football club for him. My wish has always been that he stays and we see him again play next year, but that's not in my full control. It's going to be an important time for us. We have to bring in the right players at the right prices. I don't think we should in any way act out of character for how we've always tried to work in the windows. We try to do what's best for the football club in a strategic way and that can't change. So if the right player isn't out there for the right price, then we can't do the deals. Obviously Aaron is someone I know very well and I've worked with previously, but I'm not going to discuss the chances of him coming to us.

Miguel, George said it there that there hasn't been the blockbuster bid yet from Liverpool for ESAT. What would a blockbuster bid look like do you think? How many zeros on that? Well, all the talk seems to be at 150 million just to get things started. And I suppose this is the kind of the unique situation with Newcastle and the ownership, the controversial ownership that we are talking about, you know, the public investment fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia that even allowing PSO restrictions operates in a different financial sphere to most other owners. And also given, I suppose, unlike other clubs, they probably feel they don't need to be or don't have to be pushed around the stance. And then I suppose is the reality of the situation, which is what often changes sagas like this,

which is how much you actually want to keep to keep a player who doesn't want to be there and what potential problems that might cause. And that's where the you see all sorts of factors that start to maneuver the situation. And it's why we don't see bids early on because of players agitating to move. It does weaken the hands of the potentially selling club. You only have to look at, say, we've already mentioned on the show, Jockerez and Sporting. But as soon as he really kind of went really far, I suppose, with his wish to get Arsenal, it did just mean Sporting eventually had to do business

because we are talking about an asset that's worth a lot of money. Then there's the other side of it, I suppose, if you do force a player like that to stay, well, I mean, Ezek, he has got a long contract, three years, but obviously with every wind that it goes on, that value declines. And I have to say, regardless of anything else in this discussion and all the other variables, I'm often of the mind in these sort of situations actually sell the player. 150 million, you could do an awful lot with a squad. I know, I mean, look, Juventus, I mean, they were a controversial club themselves over 20 years.

When they're at their peak, they actually made it part of their business model to just sell players. There was always someone else you could bring in and they, you know, they stay in success, true often selling high and then replenishing the squad. I think one of the issues that you've got though as a football club, if you've sold that player for 150 million quid and maybe you've not planned it, then clubs know that you're going to come with that cash, right? Anthony Alanga's transfer fees probably a little bit over what it should have been and Manchester United broke the market early doors with Cunha, with Mbumo, where clubs are now going well that's how much our star player costs so we're going to put more on that. So that may be Newcastle's problem obviously Eketikay profile statistically very similar to Isaac in terms of quite a complete forward can dribble can carry can score can create

that play is kind of gone so you're not going to get a like for like replacement with 150 but I still kind of agree with you Miguel it it would probably be worth them selling, but only at the start of the summer maybe when they can put some deals in place maybe before they let them go. Yeah. I mean, the other point is that one of the big stories this summer in terms of Newcastle, you know, they've got money to spend right now. They don't need the Alexander Eastside money. A year ago, they had that, you know, absolute disaster of PSR having to raise 60 million quid in

the last couple of days before the end of the financial year. They were talking internally about a double figure points deduction if they hadn't done that. That is not there anymore. They've just gone through three windows without bringing in a first team ready player. The problem they've had this window is spending the money that they've already got. It's very, very difficult to replace a player like Alexander Isak, who is up amongst the best players in the world at the moment.

George, as Miguel was saying, if Isak is wanting a move away, sometimes it is the best option for the club just to simply draw a line under it. Talks of a contract extension for East St James Park have been bubbling away for a while. How long do we think he's potentially been eyeing up a move away? There are so many truths involved and very few facts. And what I mean by that is that there are so many different agendas in play, not just in terms of players and clubs and agents and things like that, but often internally at clubs too. They've been talking about a new contract with ESAC for a long time.

That predates last summer. And I think at that point, there probably was a window of opportunity to enhance this deal and possibly get him to commit at that point. I think with the PSR shambles of a year ago, there was a decision taken internally at New castle that they just couldn't afford to do that. If they'd done that at that point, it would then have led their other high profile players

to start asking for more money. And at that point, they were really desperately worried about their costs as it stood. Now has that had an effect on Alexander Isak? Arguably, I think you would say that people close to him would say that. One thing I'd like to, you know, we need to point out is that Isak himself has said nothing in public, he hasn't said he wants to move, he hasn't burnt his bridges, but you know, it's also quite rare in these situations that buying clubs or clubs attempting to buy don't get into this position without thinking they're going to have some success

with the player too. It does feel like Newcastle have missed an opportunity here. Again, something else that's worth pointing out is that at the moment they don't have a sporting director. They also don't have a chief executive. Darren Eales has been serving as notice, he's now on medical leave and so actually who makes these big decisions and where those decisions come from, who clubs talk to is not entirely clear to me. Yeah does it does seem like there's a power vacuum maybe at Newcastle from what George is saying there just picking up off on that point and yeah especially you know you think that maybe that means

the manager has more power in this situation and if the manager has more power maybe he wants to keep his star striker and maybe that could be something that he could push for. I've certainly seen as well that you know in the past we've seen like Michael Elisei when he was agitating to leave Crystal Palace, he actually ended up signing a new deal. That deal had a release clause. He got paid a much higher amount of money for a year,

then joined Bayern Munich a year later. So there is a huge myriad of like outcomes that I feel like can come from this. And going back to Miguel's point a while ago, you know, when you have a public investment fund that have deep pockets as well, it's interesting to see how this how this goes. But I do think that Newcastle are kind of losing in this situation because they've got a player, a star player who's kind of disrupting their preseason, you know, rightly or wrongly. And Liverpool, they'll either get a great

player or they'll miss out on one and still have a great squad. So yeah, I think that's sort of, that's sort of how in some of the situation and Isak can either get paid a lot of money either at Liverpool or Newcastle, whether he stays or goes as well. Well, one man Newcastle have been linked with if Isak were to leave RB, Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko. George, what's the latest with that one? Well, I mean, he's someone that they've liked for a long time. In fact, they were sniffing around him three years ago before they signed Alexander Esac. So, you know, something similar applied to how Pedro, of course, moved to Chelsea and indeed Hugo Eketike. I mean, the club maintained that these discussions

would be happening whether Alexander Isak was staying or going. But I think, yeah, I mean, it's so difficult to sort of say what might happen next simply because they've had such a struggle to get players through the door so far this summer, but he's someone they like, he's someone they've been monitoring for a long time and the feeling is, I mean, particularly if Esat was to go, that they would have to go in, go all in on a player like him. I think from a quality perspective, all the teams around Europe are looking at him as the next big thing in terms of strikers.

Could have played NBA, could have played football, chose football. He's got the size, got the speed, got the ability in the air. He just looks like he's got a lot of raw materials that teams would want in the modern game. You're looking at a goal every 115 minutes so far in his career. That's a very, very good record. But in terms of strikers in and around his bracket, no striker in the last two seasons under the age of 23 scored more goals than him. He's got eight more goals than Ekateke in that period. But when you look at his numbers from an expected goals perspective, he's the fifth best in Europe in terms of converting his chances.

He's on a plus 9.4, only players better than him. Solotha, Atletico Madrid, Killing Mbappe, Harry Kane and Phil Foden. That is a list of very, very good players. So when he has the chances, sometimes he does miss, but I think his quality from range is definitely there in terms of ball striking. And also he's a young player. I think that's something that we forget about him, that he's still growing into his body,

still growing into football, and the raw potential though is incredible. Yeah, he's only 22, but the point is with all those stats, Dave has just outlined, Miguel, that Newcastle are far from the only team interested in Cisco. Yeah, I'm in Manchester United. I know, I've actually written just this evening before it came on a line on that. They like him now. The issue for United is that they have nowhere near the PSO or Headroom that Newcastle do, which is maybe it's a little bit of a kind of a reverse,

a role reversal of kind of modern history in that sense that Newcastle actually have more financial clout in the market this year than the United do, despite beating them to Uemo. But like, I mean, at the moment, I don't think the United could even dream of doing the CSCO deal, no matter how much they like him, because of just that 80 million euro asking price alone that Leipzig won, then it obviously turned Arsenal off. I mean, Arsenal wanted him right into, I'd say, at least early June before they pivoted completely to Jokerez. Yeah, he has got Suders.

Suders have also a few questions, maybe as well. I think the big talk at Arsenal's, basically, their analytics team really liked him. They thought he was comparable to Jokerez, but that was mostly on the idea that he's got a potentially really high ceiling. Well, a potentially high ceiling isn't necessarily a definite high ceiling. If it does get to any sort of, I think, official bid going in for sesquoia, we might see moving from elsewhere because as Dave mentioned at the top of the show as well, this has felt like another theme of

the summer has been about strikers and what a premium they are. Also, actually, interestingly, how many come from Scandinavia? I know sesquoia doesn't, but a lot actually too in this window. So there's something up in the coaching in the Scandinavian countries. But the point there, George, about Newcastle, they couldn't really be a more attractive proposition at the moment in terms of they've got the fan base, they've got Champions League football next season, but you described them this week as an elite team,

but not an elite club because they can't quite attract these players, it seems. I thought that was a very interesting phrase that you used there. Thank you. I'll take that. I have to say it was my producer who found that phrase for me. Don't spoil it. No, I mean, I do think that's the theme and it actually has been a theme for quite a long time. It's something that they talk about internally. The fact that

the first team has absolutely raced ahead of the club. I mean, you know, the club under Mike Ashley, it was kind of outsourced, it was stripped back to the quick, they weren't earning money in terms of commercial and marketing and things like that. And they've had to build the club up from, from scratch, more or less. And the first team has just raced ahead. I mean, if you look at the team that fit that played last season, that won at Wembley, that qualified for the Champions League, you are talking about some really really very special players led by a very special head coach who's done extraordinary things at the club but even if you're talking about something like commercial income I think in the last published accounts for Newcastle it was something like 83.6 million now if you're talking about the bottom end of the traditional top six, Arsenal earned something

like 218 million. I mean, they're just miles and miles behind. I mean, and the irony is, as Miguel says about this being, you know, a club of theoretical untold riches is that they can't spend the, you know, they can't spend the money that they have. And they're still playing catch up. And again, you know, you look at the infrastructure at the club, there's been a lot of talk about a new stadium, but the button has not been pressed on that. There's still a lot of doubt about what might happen. Same with a new training ground. So if you're Eddie Howe and you go through a run

of say two or three bad results, now this was happening last season, at the start of last season, where do you point at the rest of the club to say, well, here's progress? The progress of the first team is clear. They've won a trophy, two cup finals in the space of three seasons,

two Champions League campaigns in the space of three seasons, but what about the rest of the club? Now, I think they'll get there eventually, but at the moment, the club is actually a drag on the team. And, you know, to bring the subject back around to Alexander Isak, who were his peers in the Premier League? You're talking about Mo Salah, you're talking about Erling Haaland, that's the level that he's playing at and has been playing at for a consistent period of time, but he cannot command anything like what they earn at Newcastle.

Just other potential transfers for Newcastle. This could be positive news depending on who you ask. Aaron Ramsdale, is he going to be coming up from Southampton do you think? Well this is who they've turned to after this very long and ultimately fruitless chase for Trafford who's moved to Man City. Yet again, Newcastle being gazumped by the more established clubs in the Premier League. Again, just to very quickly deviate, this has been one of their stories for the first time post-takeover. They've tried to take that level of club head on. They've tried to bring in oven-ready, Premier League-ready players. That's not what they've done so far post- takeover and it hasn't worked for them this summer

You know, it's it's it's difficult to to paint a sort of massively enthusiastic Picture regarding Aaron Ransdale. That's no fault of his but he's obviously been relegated a few times You know last seen in the Premier League with Southampton last season That's you know, that's that was not a great campaign for anybody connected to the club, but he's someone that Eddie Howe knows well. Newcastle have a plethora of goalkeepers. They have five senior goalkeepers at the moment, one of whom, Odysseus Flacodemos, of course, came in with a paper cost of £20 pound last summer as part of the deal that took earlier Anderson to Nottingham Forest and hasn't yet,

he's made one substitute appearance against Wimbledon and the Carabao Cup, not somebody that anybody thought would get anywhere near to the team. Newcastle are picking up pieces everywhere. I think with Aaron Ramsdale, it's gonna be interesting to see whether he's actually first choice in a sense,

because Nick Pope's been so good for Newcastle, and then Dabravka came in last season, season was fantastic and when you look at Ramsdale's numbers over the last three seasons he's conceded around six more goals than he should have done based on post-short expected goals numbers and that's something where you look at him as a goal keeper. Is there still a few issues around his goalkeeper? I'm not a specialist on goalkeeper, that's down to Rob Green, he always hammers when I talk about goalkeepers on it today, fantastic. But I think he's a keeper that's still quite young, 27 years old for a keeper is still young. So there's still room for him to grow, maybe he plays

the cup games this season and then he takes over the first team shirt. But it's a weird one, it's different to James Trafford, it feels very different. Well, clearly Newcastle and Alexander Isak, will he, won't he, will be in the headlines and the talking points for the next couple of weeks. George, thanks for joining us on Five Live Sport. What a pleasure. Thank you very much. That is George Colcom from The Athletic. Let's talk a little bit more then about Liverpool. They've already signed Florian Wirtz for £116 million.

Jeremy Fringpong and Milos Kirkes for a combined £70 million. Hugo Ekateke from Frankfurt for £80 million. And now as we've been saying, they want Alexander Isak, who's going to cost in excess of at least 120 million more, as you were saying, Miguel. How are they going to be able to afford all of this? So, I mean, some of it does come from, well, there's two layers to it. One, as I said at the top, Liverpool actually haven't spent properly, I would say, in three windows before this.

Chiesa was the only deal they did last summer. And I wrote last summer that actually Slot at that point did want to start reshaping the forward line outside Salah. They didn't do it for a few reasons, not least the kind of adaptation period, the fact that the manager was coming in, they didn't want too much upheaval. So I think this is almost like two stages of an upheaval now at once and also they've got three windows worth of PS or headroom to spend. It's amazing we're using for her as a PS or headroom. This is modern football. What happened?

But I would say my view is always that financial restrictions, regulations are actually necessary. But anyway, it's a separate debate. But yeah, like so they're completely reshaping that forward line. They've got they've had three windows worth of PSO or headroom to spend. But also, as a friend of the show, Rory Smith has talked about before, Liverpool actually generally have two budgets in these sort of situations. One is for, I suppose, what people would term the moneyball signings, those signings that they can make for kind of 30, 40 million, get a bit ahead of the curve, you know, to make sort of smart signings

players that grow. And then there are the signings that are made most famous from Van Dyck from Alisson, where if Liverpool feel that this is worth it on its own terms, they'll go and do it. Vert is obviously one and now Isaac, or Isaac sorry, if they can make it work they'll do it. I do half wonder I have to say with Isaac whether they would nearly prefer him whenever Salah goes because he feels like such a natural successor but equally if there's an opportunity to do it you do it because he's such a special player. And obviously he had been kind of talked over as an Arsenal target for so long, they were never going to go to 150 million though. And it's almost left Liverpool with a clear run if this situation can be described as a clear run.

Yeah, I just want to come in off of that and just add a bit on how Liverpool have all this money as well. And those money bowl signings Miguel talks about, Liverpool are pretty smart at that. They stock the academy full of players, of real talent. They sort of pick up the best players from the north, basically, and bring them through. And we've seen like Gerald Kwanza's gone to Bayer Leverkusen for a huge sum. That goes on the accounts as pure profit.

Getting back into my accounting here. We need an accounting degree for football these days. that goes on the accounts as pure profit. Getting back into my accounting here, you need an accounting degree for football these days. But then you've got Dominic Solanke in the past, he was another one they sold, they signed him from Chelsea, sold him for a substantial amount of money. They're getting these players in for kind of nominal fees and then flipping them for much bigger fees.

So that kind of, it allows them to spend and stay strong in their sort of PSR. And Harvey Elliott's probably going to be the next one signed from Fulham. And it looks like he doesn't really have a place in this squad despite having an amazing under 21 euros, and he'll likely be sold as well. So they're signing these players at sort of academy level, at sort of moneyball level, and having like this lower budget and then selling them even if they don't make it. And if they do make it, they've got a bargain on the hands.

So yeah, but of course, like these big signings, it still feels to me a little bit of a shock to see Liverpool breaking the transfer records because we've not seen them break the transfer records for a while. Wirt Wirtz now, you know, if you include the add-ons, he's the most expensive player in English football history and yeah, of course, Alexandre Isek would would go zump that if he makes that move. I don't know if we can use the term moneyball

of Liverpool this summer, if I'm brutally honest, that's a lot of money going out for a lot of different players, but just looking at their spend over the last three seasons, they're actually fifth in the Premier League for net spend, so this summer has corrected a lot of things. They've spent over 303 million over what they've brought in and I think when you look at Liverpool going forward, they need to get back to bringing in those moneyball players. So obviously with Edwards leaving the club and it kind of changes to Jurgen Klopp driving maybe some of the signings, they need to go back to finding those diamonds in the rough and bringing them in as much as signing all these big players is important like we saw with Alisson and Virgil van Dijk. They do need to go back to that core.

Thanks to Stapman Dave, Miguel Delaney, Nizar Kinsella and George Culkin for joining us to chat. Transfers tomorrow's Football Daily will be a 72 plus special, previewing EFL League One and League Two ahead of the new season kicking off this weekend. On BBC Sounds, this is Sport's Strangest Crimes. From the man who tried to buy cricket, One night, one game, winner take-off, 20 US million dollars. The kidnap of a super horse. It must have been terrifying. Of course it was.

How we got through all that going on? An ill-advised errand, changing F1 forever. It will haunt the people involved for as long as they live. A trillion dollar takeover, which never took off. Broadsters of this level, they will never stop. The mysterious death of a superstar cyclist. Entering the world of professional cycling was like joining the mafia. And teammates becoming bitter enemies at one of the biggest

football clubs in the world. Betrayal, plots, we've gone beyond women's football in France. Sports, strangest crimes. Listen on BBC Sounds.