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.
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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)