Pre-season review so far - do the results tell us anything? | Chris Wheatley Show - video Dailymotion

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The Chris Wheatley Show is a brand new weekly series talking all things Arsenal and the Premier League. This week, Chris Wheatley and host Jason Jones reveal the latest on Folarin Balogun, Mohammed Kudus and more.

Transcript

00:00 Hello, welcome to another episode of the Chris Wheatley Show,

00:03 National World's one-stop shop to keep you in the know on all things Arsenal.

00:06 I'm your host, Jason Jones, and I'm joined as always by the man himself, Chris Wheatley.

00:10 This week, we'll be talking all things pre-season, potential transfers,

00:14 and as always, we'll be putting your listener questions to Chris as well.

00:17 So without further ado, Chris, plenty to get through this week, mate.

00:21 Arsenal beat in action over the past few days,

00:24 a pretty resounding result against the MLS All-Stars stateside,

00:28 and then they played Manchester United over the weekend as well,

00:30 a 2-0 defeat in that one.

00:33 I mean, it's very early days, isn't it?

00:35 How much can we actually read into these results at this stage?

00:38 Yeah, hi, Jason. I think it really is an interesting pre-season so far,

00:44 but more just because Arsenal fans are getting to see these new signings

00:47 that they've really been anticipating and looking forward to watching.

00:52 Declan Rice, of course, being the main showpiece signing this summer,

00:57 but Uri and Timber as well.

01:00 I think he's impressed so far in that right-back position.

01:04 So yeah, I mean, it's pre-season.

01:06 I wouldn't read too much into the results.

01:08 The United game in particular, disappointing because, of course,

01:12 it's Manchester United.

01:14 Over the years, there's been some really competitive games, of course,

01:18 going from all the way back to those Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira days.

01:22 So it was interesting before the game,

01:24 Eric ten Haag said that his team don't play pre-season friendlies.

01:29 There's no such word as a friendly in his dictionary.

01:32 And they certainly showed that on the pitch.

01:34 I think Lissandro Martinez was particularly aggressive on the pitch.

01:39 A couple of fiery tackles and Martin Aldergaard actually squared up to him as well

01:45 during the game.

01:46 So it was an interesting battle, of course, but like I say,

01:49 not too much to read into it in terms of the result.

01:53 Gabrielle did make a mistake at the back to let Jadon Sancho in,

01:58 which will be disappointing, of course.

02:00 But I think the main thing is get those mistakes out of the way in pre-season.

02:05 And then the real big game, I think, comes next month

02:09 when Arsenal face Manchester City in the Community Shield.

02:12 That will be a bit more of a match, which will tell us more about the team

02:16 ahead of the Premier League season, of course.

02:19 And in terms of the players who could be involved in that particular game,

02:22 as we really do sort of close in on the start of the campaign proper.

02:27 Been a bit of an update on Thomas Party,

02:28 Michael Arteta speaking about him and his future.

02:31 Can you just sort of give us a little bit of information?

02:33 Because he has been linked sort of perpetually over the course of the summer

02:36 with a potential exit from the Emirates.

02:38 He has, yeah. 30 years old now, of course, Thomas Party.

02:41 It's not too old, or at least I'd like to think it's not too old.

02:46 And I would say that Thomas Party has been a really important player

02:50 in the last season for Arsenal.

02:51 I think previous to that, he's had a lot of injury problems,

02:54 but I think he's really made that position his own.

02:57 You know, he's one of the first names in that midfield.

03:01 But maybe his position will be more under threat this season

03:04 because of the signing of Declan Rice.

03:07 But interesting comments from Michael Arteta ahead of that Manchester United game.

03:12 He was asked whether he expected Thomas Party to stay.

03:15 He said, yes, Thomas is a super important player for us.

03:19 Every time I had a conversation with him, he says he wants to stay with us.

03:23 There is nothing there at all.

03:25 Nothing there being the rumours, of course.

03:27 He's been linked with a move to Saudi team Al-Ali,

03:32 one of the many Saudi teams buying up lots of big name players this summer.

03:38 Not just big name players, of course, big name managers.

03:40 Marco Silva, the Fulham boss, has just turned down a 40 million per year deal

03:47 to manage in Saudi Arabia.

03:50 It's crazy. I mean, we could probably dedicate our own separate show to the Saudi stuff

03:55 because it's wild at the moment with the amount of money being spent.

04:01 And I've just read as well, Kylian Mbappe has been offered a potential move to Saudi as well.

04:07 300 million pounds is the touted transfer fee for him.

04:13 Whether or not that is accurate is another question,

04:16 but it's clear there's a lot of money being spent.

04:19 Thomas Partey, though, doesn't look like he'll be one of those players heading there.

04:22 And it looks like his future at the moment is going to be at Arsenal, according to Nikola Teta.

04:28 I guess it comes back to something that we've spoken about before, Chris,

04:30 isn't it? The importance of strength and depth this season for Arsenal.

04:34 I think that we saw it at certain stages towards the end of last season,

04:37 whether we may be caught just a little bit short in certain key positions.

04:40 And obviously now, of course, they've got the Champions League to consider as well.

04:44 Do you think that it's going to be a case of Teta potentially rotating between his options in midfield

04:48 and really trying to get the best out of them in terms of their longevity and limiting that fatigue?

04:55 I think so, yeah. I think when you look at that midfield, there's a number of options there.

04:59 Just going through some of them now, Martin Odegaard, Jorginho, Fabio Vieira, of course.

05:04 He had an indifferent season last season, but he'll be hoping to get a bit more game time during this campaign.

05:11 You've also got the likes of Mohamed Elneny, completely forgotten about.

05:16 Mikola Teta hasn't even mentioned him in any of his interviews when talking about Arsenal's midfielders,

05:21 but he'll be back soon. He'll be ready to play.

05:25 And I'm sure he's another one which will be considered for game time.

05:29 Obviously, he's not a first choice starter, but he is a squad player.

05:33 So when you look at the options as well, and Kai Havertz, a new signing,

05:38 I think there's quite a lot of players to choose from for Mikola Teta.

05:41 And that's exactly what he wants.

05:43 As you said, Jason, I think last season he really did struggle because of that lack of depth in those final few games.

05:50 And you could argue that was one of the reasons why their kind of Premier League title tilt faded away at the end.

05:56 But now it looks like they've got positions or players in the right positions.

06:01 They've really bolstered their squad. But I think now the focus will be, of course, on outgoings.

06:08 So do you think that this probably puts pay to any rumours, including Mohamed Kudus, obviously the Ajax midfielder?

06:14 He's been linked, a compatriot of Thomas Partey, it has to be said.

06:17 But do you think that if Partey is staying, the chances are that Kudus will not be coming through the door?

06:22 I think Kudus is a long term target. And of course, Chelsea are admirers of him.

06:27 In fact, they're pretty confident that they are close to agreeing personal terms with the Ghana star.

06:33 And I think, as you mentioned, a teammate of Thomas Partey.

06:36 But I don't think it makes too much of a difference in terms of where Partey goes this summer.

06:41 He's a long term target. I think really, though, what is going to be the priority now is outgoings before Arsenal bring any more players in.

06:49 They've spent in excess of £200 million this summer.

06:54 Granit Xhaka, of course, being the main departure, the sale, £21.5 million.

07:00 Not a bad transfer fee for Granit Xhaka, of course.

07:03 They'll be hoping to get a little bit more, though.

07:05 There's a few players who could be leaving in the coming weeks.

07:08 I'm sure we're going to go through them very shortly, of course.

07:11 But I think there's a lot of sales that Arsenal could make just to get some of that money back that they've spent this summer.

07:20 But I think Kudus is certainly a long term target.

07:23 Not expecting anything to happen imminently because Arsenal's focus is on outgoings.

07:29 (upbeat music)

Pre-season review so far - do the results tell us anything? | Chris Wheatley Show

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