Arsenal News Show: Oshimen deal chances - White New deal FT (Kaya Kaynak Football London)

People are deluded, I'm back again. Come on Ian man, come on. Alright, alright, with the introduction done, special guest settings. It's Kaya, how you doing man? It feels like a while since I've had you on the platform man. I hope you're well and safe man. Good mate, I'm good. Thank you very much for having me back on. Sorry, we've been meaning to do this for a while. It hasn't worked out, but I'm glad that we finally got round to it. I'm very happy to be here. Come on man, I appreciate the energy. I appreciate you for giving your minutes with me. I won't have you here too long, don't worry. But you being the journalist you are, you being the Arsenal fan you are, I think it was a great opportunity to pick your brains on everything Arsenal. The first thing I want to start off with, how do you feel in the life of an Arsenal fan? I don't look at the league table personally, but apparently we're top and we're into the quarterfinals now. Who told you that? I learned from Wenger in our time man. Yeah, good. I mean, it couldn't be going much better from an Arsenal perspective right now. Obviously, it's going to be a difficult run in and City away, Spurs away, United away, even Wolves away, Brighton away. There's a lot of difficult away games coming up for Arsenal now. And they need to basically, I think, win every single one of them. I don't think they can realistically afford to drop points beyond the draw, maybe in one of those games. And I think that's probably going to come at the Etihad if it's going to come anywhere. So it's going to be hard. And that's why when you see all these, I know you say you don't look at the tables, but all these sort of calculators and all these percentage statistics things saying Arsenal are third favourite. That's why. I think the Champions League is really fascinating. I'm interested to see who Arsenal get and potentially very exciting because I don't think it's a strong Champions League this year beyond Man City. I think Real are a little bit in transition and Bayern aren't very good. PSG aren't very good. Atletico aren't very good. Dortmund aren't very good. There's lots of teams that Arsenal probably shouldn't be. Yeah, so it's an exciting time. It's going to be a really, really exciting few months for Arsenal. You know, this is obviously where it all went to pot last season. We're hoping it won't be the same again. But yeah, very exciting time to be an Arsenal fan and journalist. It is, man. Mikel Arteta is doing what he needs to do. The players are doing what they need to do. The Emirates is roaring again. And to be honest with you, it's probably bad. I think rival fans and clubs are happy that we're playing at the Emirates because we just turn up away from home and just spoil the party and fans leave, you know, before halftime. How confident are you? A bit of a twofold question. How confident are you going into the Manchester City game, as good as City are and as good as we've been, and with 10 games to go? I know you kind of alluded to, you know, what happened last season. But how confident are you also that with 10 games to go in the Premier League, we can see it through, man? I think it's very hard to be confident going to the Etihad, given Arsenal's record under Arteta. They've scored once there in four games. I think the aggregate score in those games is 12-1. So it's not good. I really, really struggled away at City in the past. And listen, there's been circumstances. Obviously, last season they were without William Saliba and they had loads of injuries. And the season before was right at the start of the season when Arsenal had loads of players out to COVID and all that stuff. And there was the COVID season. And there's so many different reasons. But I think this is probably the best chance Arsenal have of beating Man City, the Etihad. And if they don't go there in good form and good confidence now, when are they going to go in good confidence? They're top of the league for a reason. They played the best football of any team, I think, in the world in 2024, not just the Etihad. And Man City have been... Obviously, they're a fantastic team. You can never rule them out. But they've not been at their regular standards. I don't think it would be wrong to say they've not reached the heights that they reached last season. So you have to be confident to an extent. But it's that record at the Etihad. It's the one hurdle that Arsenal haven't really been able to overcome. They've gone to Anfield and played well. They've beaten Liverpool at home. They've gone to United and played well and beaten them as well. Spurs, all those teams that they couldn't beat for years before Arteta took over. The last sort of obstacle they need to get over is Man City away. It's the last one they haven't done. And until they do that, there's always going to be that doubt. So, yeah, it's tricky for Arsenal. And definitely going to be a nerve-wracking game, I think. It's a weird one, man. The City game is one thing. With 10 games, there's many twists and turns, bumps and bruises. Right now, the form, the players that have come in for the injured players have stepped up. The injured players are back. I don't know what the climate is going to say when we play City and all the other games. But it's a weird one because I share your sentiment in that you can't underestimate how difficult it is a task to beat Manchester City. On form and the way the two clubs are at, we should be battering Manchester United. But Old Trafford makes me a bit nervous. And football is a weird one. I definitely don't want this to happen. But there's a reality where we win the North London Derby. We beat City. We beat Spurs. And then, I don't know, looting at home or something like that. Something goes wrong, really and truly. I wanted to ask you, though, because obviously, you know, I would say we've announced ourselves in the last two years, 18 months, as title contenders. And in many ways, being almost envious, a lot of people are envious of what Arteta has been doing domestically and internationally. How do you contrast how we were playing last season to this season up until this point? Are we better? Are we, you know, are there some things we were doing better last season than now? What do you reckon? It's taken a bit of a while to get there. But I'd definitely say they're better. The first half of the season was, I think we could all see, it was a bit of trial and error. And it took a while to get going. And things weren't quite as fluid as they have been in recent weeks. But even last season when Arsenal were playing really exciting attacking football, they always felt like they sort of, you could get them through the back door. They always felt like there was that sort of defensive vulnerability that doesn't seem to exist anymore. They feel so dominant in every single game. And listen, I know Brentford caused them problems. I know Porto caused them problems. But I think they've conceded three times less than the second place team when it comes to XG, Schott, Talado, whatever that is. So that shows you just how dominant they've been in matches. And that's the improvement. I think offensively, they always had it in them. And Havertz has been a really good addition. And he's been an upgrade offensively on Xhaka, although he's a very different player. But Declan Rice has been massive. David Rye has given them more control in a way that, as we saw when Aaron Ramsdell came in for Brentford, and I don't want to turn this into a massive criticism of him, but we all know that he doesn't have that same level of control that David Rye brings. So that's been really good to see. Yeah, as I said, Declan Rice is... We could do a whole other show on just how important he's been. Yeah, it'll be here all day, man. And then you think Uri and Timber still to come back. So the squad has improved. They've got depth in areas they didn't have last season. So let's say, God forbid, William Saliba picks up an injury over this international break when he did last season. Arsenal, a better place to cope. Obviously, they want him to be out, and he's a really important player. But in the cover they've got, it's much better than it has been. And I think that's a really important thing. So many positions, that's the same. And they've been out without, sorry, key players for most of the season. Since August, really? Yeah, yeah, since August. And they've been able to cope with that pretty well. And now finally, as you said, the injured players are coming back. The squad's looking really strong. And it's building up nicely, almost too nicely. It's making me nervous. And that's the PTSD us Arsenal fans have. It's like, everything's going great. Our Tetra is making us believe again. The players are. But you still have in the back of your mind, not anything necessarily with the players or our Tetra. It just seems like it's us. It's the hope that kills you in life. And it just feels like, when everything's going so right, and there's no reason to be negative or be a bit pessimistic, you're still kind of weary. You set this segment up nicely because I was going to ask you, I want to ask you about the summer signings. What have you made of Kai Havertz? Because he seems like a revelation up front. We both know he came into this football club without any sort of grace. And it's been tough. What have you made of him? And it's a difficult question, another part of it, that I don't think you can answer. But is he a striker or a centre midfielder? Or is he just a multifunctional German-Swiss army knife? It's funny. At Burnley, he stopped by in the mix zone. And he was asked that exact same question. And he sort of laughed it off. He said, basically, if I score, you say I'm a striker. If I don't, you say I'm a midfielder. It changes everything we count. And I think he doesn't really care where he plays. I think he just views it as doing a job for the team. And I kind of view it the same. Some games are games where you want to play Kai Havertz up front. I think Brentford was a good example. He's a better target man than people give him credit for because he's quite gangly. But he's really good in the air and he wins a lot of duels. And he's quite strong. And he's willing to give it a bit. He seems like this sort of calm, nice guy. But he can give it a bit as well. But there are also some games where maybe you want Gabriel Jesus up front with his ability to pop up anywhere on the pitch and cause chaos. And you want those late runs from Havertz like we saw in the Brentford game earlier in the season where he scored the winning goal in the last minute. There's plenty of games where he can be used as both. I wouldn't want to pin him down to one because I think his versatility is exactly why he was signed for Arsenal. Like we were touching on with the team in general, it took a while for him to get going. Not as long as... At the time, it felt like it would never get going. But I think we'd all agree maybe around December was when it started to click. Yeah, he looked settled, yeah. Not that long for a new player and a new signing and all that kind of thing. But I think getting his own chance really helped him. I think he clearly feels like a part of the squad now. He feels like a part of the furniture at the Emirates. And I think maybe he seems like quite a shy guy. It took a while for him to sort of open up and get things at Arsenal. But you speak to people around the club, they absolutely love him. And the thing they always talk about is how even when things were going wrong, he just kept doing what he was told and didn't try and do anything necessarily to stand out or anything that he shouldn't have been doing. He just kept his head down, believed in the tactics, believed in himself. And we're now reaping the rewards. And I think it's... I don't think he'll ever be worth 65 million as much as the chant is fun to sing. I think that Arsenal will probably have always overpaid. But he's proved to be a really good asset to the squad. And that's the most important thing. I'm with you, man. As long as... I do think Arsenal fans are getting in a dangerous kind of territory. To be fair, Porto is an exception where I think it's a bit harsh that if somebody scores that to necessarily say they've played well in the same way some people can score, play badly and stuff like that. But I do like it for Kai Havertz's confidence, just for the common fan that they can sit there and say, you know what, he scored. I agree with what you said in that you can't really lock him down to one position in a formation. I think you just have to accept there's going to be some games he'll be in midfield. We might be in periods like now where he plays up front and he has some unique qualities that people don't give him credit for. I really like him off the ball. As you said, he gets into the thick of it. I didn't see it like Wenger said, but he pushed the manager, you know, allegedly. And he does all of that great stuff. He's a very intelligent footballer. And I'm happy that he's obviously performing because it was a bit of a weird signing. You know, this is why I'm sitting on YouTube, for example, and Mikel Arteta is the manager because he sees stuff that no one else sees. So long may it continue. I wouldn't quite say to the same scale of negativity as Kai Havertz, but I do think Raya, whether it was because of Mikel Arteta saying, I'll rotate goalies, people not necessarily seeing, you know, a need for a goalie. Obviously, Ramsdale is a fan favourite and remains a fan favourite. What have you made of David Raya? Obviously, being a penalty hero is always going to help. Yeah. I think what he's offered Arsenal is the control that they were lacking. So everyone talks about Aaron Ramsdale's greatest performance in an Arsenal shirt as being at Anfield, where last season he was amazing and he kept it to 2-2 and Liverpool could have come back and won 4-5. And, you know, some of the saves he made that day were outstanding. Raya's not had one of those games, but I think the reason he's not had one of those games is because he's not needed to have one of those games. Well, better defensively. Yeah, exactly. Arsenal keep the ball with him in a way that with Ramsdale, maybe he goes along a bit more, maybe he surrenders possession a bit more cheaply and maybe Arsenal are a bit more under the cushion. They lack the control and they can't wrestle it back because possession in the Mikel Arteta team starts from the goalkeeper and that's huge. Listen, we're not saying Ramsdale's bad with his feet. Like, we all remember when he came in for Bern Leno, we all went, wow. Yeah, we never knew he had that in your locker, yeah. That is what I think, you know, you want to remember Ramsdale for because sadly, I think, you know, unless something happens to Raya, that Brentford game is probably going to be his last one in an Arsenal shirt and you don't want to remember him for those bad times. You want to remember him for the good times when he first came in and the good times last season as well. They were all really exciting. So, I think it took people a while to understand because it's less obvious in front of your eyes in the sense that when a goalkeeper makes a string of fantastic saves, you can all say, wow, he was amazing. And, you know, we can all say after the first shootout, wow, David Raya was the main guy. But when the goalkeeper is just making simple five-yard passes out to William Saliba, then, you know, you don't really pay attention. But when the goalkeeper is kicking the ball into Jan Visser, then you pay attention, you know. Those are the kind of things that make a huge difference. So, I think he's brought Arsenal control and he's brought Michael Arteta exactly what he wanted because Arteta is a perfectionist and he's moving Arsenal closer towards being a perfect team. I don't think Ramsdale could do that and that's not necessarily a criticism of him because I think he can go somewhere else and be a really good goalie. But I think for Arsenal to make that next step, more than any of us realised, David Raya was a really necessary signing. I'm with you with that. I feel it's unfortunate to Ramsdale that, you know, after PFA nominations, clean sheets, being part of the initial process of us becoming a better defensive side, obviously a fan favourite, a player that many of our fans, including myself, you identify with. Like, if you just met him in a pub, you wouldn't know that that's a Premier League footballer. He's one of the lads and I get it. But unpopular decisions have to be made. Now, fair enough, if Arteta makes decisions and they're wrong, then we could have said, you know, you didn't need to bring in Raya and what's going on with Ramsdale. But there's a method to the madness and I also think people need to remember he did this with Leno for whatever reason, you know. Leno weren't perfect but you could say there was other areas that needed to be addressed. So if that's happened to Ram... If that's happened, better yet, sorry, for Ramsdale, it could happen to Ramsdale and you would know more than me from what you see in the papers and stuff. Raya was early identified with Arteta. Now, at the time, it couldn't happen. This summer, well, last summer, it could have happened and it did happen and it is an upgrade. I think Raya's calmness is a lot better. I think his willingness to stick to whatever Arteta asks him for. I know fans won't give Ramsdale a lot of credit when his dad is speaking and he says things like, I can't concentrate. It takes out of context. Raya, especially Raya's post-match comments, he's a lot more of a calmer head and I just feel that's his number one and whether it's been Tierney, whether it's been Ramsdale, you know, one day it could even, I don't agree with it, but if there was someone 20 times better than Bakayo Saka, it could be that, but we have to be uncomfortable with unpopular decisions. It's not the same, but it's like when Pep walked into the City job. Joe Hart was a great keeper, was a talisman, was a fan favorite. That was the first person he got out of the team. Now, I think Bravo was the guy at them sort of times. That wasn't the idea, but you can kind of see why that happened. On the topic of Ramsdale, now, we know he's obviously a good keeper and he has moments of madness, but why do you think that happened against Brentford? Was it just one of those things playing out from the back? Was he almost too confident because he was trying them riot S passes and whatnot? Or like, where would you be? Is it a mixture of things? Where would you be at with Ramsdale with that? Because unfortunately... First thing, I'm going to switch the light on in my room. Do your thing, man. Do your thing. I'm going to lock up in a hostage video otherwise. That's a bit better now. Yeah. I'm not under duress. I'm here in my own free will just so you all know. Yeah, so your question about Ramsdale was a very good question. I think the mistake comes from, if you watch it again, we can obviously all see in hindsight that the easy pass is just a simple pass out for him to leave on the right. But Ramsdale just looks up just a touch just to see the in the midfield and we all remember those line-splitting passes that he used to do when he first came in and like I said before, it's like, wow, you know, we've not seen a goalkeeper do this at the Emirates and I think he thought, well, this is my big chance to maybe get the Arsenal number one shirt back. This is my big chance to show Gareth Southgate that I belong in the England squad. This is my big chance to show anyone who wants to buy me in the summer, look, I can do a really good job for you. And in that moment of indecision, whether it's going for the Hollywood pass or whether it's going for the simple pass, the armlesser closes him down really well and in the Premier League at that level, you get punished. So that's where that came from and I wonder if Royer wasn't there if Ramsdale would have made such a casual mistake. He did make those kinds of mistakes last season and they cost Arsenal in the title race. So I don't think you can say for certainty that it was Royer-related if you like. But yeah, it's the kind of mistake that a goalkeeper who's under pressure does and he did similar ones in the reverse fixture at Brentford earlier in the season and he got away with it. He didn't get away with it this time and it's a shame because he proved he's a good goalie in the second half. Like the save from Ivan Toni, I think that's better than the one from Nathan Collins a little bit later for the header because I think the header is, while it's a good reflex save, it's the kind of save you'd expect most goalies to make but Toni catches him off guard and he's still able to backpedal and make that spring so he's clearly a great goalie but he's got, I think he struggles a little bit with the mental side of the game in the sense that he allows himself to get a bit sort of swayed and he goes with the tide of the emotions instead of sort of keeping calm and certain characters can do it, certain characters can't and I think, you know, sadly for him that's going to be the way he bows out. I think you said it there, man, I think it's just mainly the temperament and his ability to control those. I wouldn't want, even, I want Ramsdell to leave and do the best you can but you removing that out of your game is going to take Aaron Ramsdell from not being Aaron Ramsdell. It's just balance and I do think a bit of it is kind of what you're saying in that, oh, I might not get an opportunity again, I need to show people whatever and, you know, the Brentford away game was arguably worse. Obviously, this is the highlight but that was arguably worse, you know, Declan Rye saved his bacon. It's just unfortunate that you are the reason you didn't get your last clean sheet if this is your last game. Obviously, it's never a good time to make those mistakes but on the eve of half time and unfortunately the critics of Aaron Ramsdell will just rather bluntly say for as good as you are that is why Mr David Rye plays and that is, I can agree with it really and truly if I'm honest with you. If we look at Rye, what do you think being the penalty hero could do for him then? Give him a boost like to what level and what not because he needed a moment like that, man. Yeah, I agree. I think he'd won over most people but I think any doubters that remained that was the moment. We spoke about Aaron Ramsdell's Liverpool moment last season that was probably David Rye's big moment in an Arsenal shirt and Arsenal's probably I think biggest Champions League game in nearly 15 years. That was the moment that we'll all remember and he was the hero and it was really good for him. I think it's more about his career you said, I think. Yeah, well if you think about it he doesn't seem like someone who's new to this but this is brand new to him. He's never played a Champions League knockout tie before that game. He'd never played top tier Premier League football title races all those kind of things all that pressure that comes with it. He'd never done it before so the fact that he's able in those situations to step up and still produce under all that pressure I think just shows you what kind of character he is and he needed, I think still to convince a few people because lots of people still remember that Chelsea performance and a few of the shakier moments earlier in the season but I think he looks so confident now and he looks so calm and the back four also look confident with him. I think that took a while to gel as well and yeah I think like you say he needed that moment and hopefully now everyone's fully on board with the David Raya situation and I think that debate is kind of over now. I think it's over. I think you know you never know with Mikel Arteta because we might sign a keeper in the summer again or one in 18 months like I was watching the Porto game and like take nothing away from Raya but I was just watching the first half of that I believe his name's Costa and just looking at some of the actions and I was wondering oh I wonder if Arteta has just written his name down on a piece of paper and thinking about it. I mean I know we technically signed him last January but this is his first full season if I can remember correctly so I'll give Kyrielle the grace of indirectly being part of the summer signings. What have you made of Kyrielle and do you think he's eclipsed Zinchenko of sorts in being our first choice left back? Obviously Timber's probably going to be that but he's injured. Yeah I think so I'll ask the first choice bit first I think a bit like when there are certain Kai Havertz games where he's a centre forward certain games where he's a midfielder certain games you want Zinchenko in there to break down the opposition defences certain games you want Kibio in there because you can't give anything away and Kibio defensively was outstanding against Porto he's been good going forward as well in recent games but we all know defending is where he sort of excels and I think that's his strength and I think he's got better because I think that Fulham game where he got hooked at half time he was asked to invert and do the Zinchenko thing he's not Zinchenko He's like a fish trying to climb a tree really yeah exactly exactly and since he's been asked to just do the defending bit of a fullback and just be a traditional fullback really he's looked so much better and Ben White's doing the inverting thing and Arsenal don't seem to have lost an awful lot because of it and yeah I think Kibio quietly he's established himself as a really solid player and if you think that it cost about 20 million and he's massively improved the Arsenal squad like you think if Gabriela got injured last season would have been a real issue if Zinchenko was out for this long last season would have been a real issue not an issue anymore not a problem and bear in mind Tommy Yasu's been out too so he's essentially the third choice left back and he's still man of the match in a Champions League round of 16 second leg like that's the quality of squad you need to have if you want to win the biggest trophies and that's what Arsenal have and it's a really smart move and there was talk of him wanting to leave and you know I think he was getting a bit frustrated with his lack of game time earlier in the season and I think I can understand that especially given that Gabriela is such an important player and he's probably never going to dethrone him from that centre back position and he probably was thinking God where's my next game going to come from but he's thrown into an unfamiliar position at left back done a really good job and now yeah you could argue that the position is his and I don't think Arteta will look at it like that but going to the Etihad where you're going to need someone really defensively switched on I think I'd go for Zinchenko right now and I don't think we'd have said that at all a few months ago so props to him for how well he's done. I agree with you man. I think right now it's Kirio's spot to lose. It's unfortunate that in many ways it's never a good time to play City but momentum's a big thing in football. I'd have loved to regardless of the result just been playing them at the weekend in which there's Kirio. I don't know if with a week or two if Tomiasu his way that kind of needs a run he can't kind of really just be thrown back in he looks a bit rusty so as long as Kirio continues this he's doing his thing. I want to talk about Martin Odegaard because a lot of people say oh he's not a captain he doesn't turn up in big games. That is one of the biggest captain performances against Porto that any player at this club has done in the Emirates era and he deserves all this plaudit some more man. What did you make of Martin Odegaard? What did you make of him as a captain? Is it fair to say he's probably Mikel Arteta's most important player slash signing? I think him and Gabriel quite a few players got a hat to throw in the ring. Yeah I think so Porto defended really really well for 180 minutes. It was always going to be either a mistake from them or a moment of real individual quality that was going to break them down. And the individual quality came from Odegaard. Like that pass to take out four players. Sexy. Sexy is exactly the way to describe it. And it's a good finish still from Trossard but it's all about the pass. The pass has made it. Exactly. And I don't think there's many players in this Arsenal squad that can do that beyond him. I also have a lot of creative players and players who are good on the ball but Odegaard's next level man. People who say he's not a good captain I think don't quite understand the role he does on the pitch in terms of keeping things going and making sure everyone's switched on all the time. His mentality is just so good. You see him do that all the time. He's basically Arteta on the pitch and I think that's why Arteta gave him the captaincy. He's a bit of a teacher's pet but that's fine. That's what you want and he's really good at connecting with the fans. The atmosphere being good at the Emirates I think he's had a big part of that. Listen, he struggled a bit earlier in the season because he wasn't fit. He had that hip injury and then he got a concussion and I think people were a bit down on him because he was playing through quite a bad injury and still doing a job. Now he's fully fit and ever since he's shaken that off, even in the bad period in December when Arsenal were playing badly. I think a really important signing, really important player and I can't think of a more deserving player if Arsenal lift the Champions League and Premier League. I can't think of a more deserving player to do it this season. Facts. I know a lot of fans look at football white and black where I think the truth is sometimes in the middle and unfortunately with football fans is two truths can't live in the same realm. Would you say, again, assuming obviously I'm sure I speak for you and I say we'd love to win the Champions League and the Premier League if not both either raw and have something in history but if we finish second slash third obviously running it all the way down but if we finish second or third in the Premier League and our Champions League route ends either in the quarterfinals or in the semis, would you have that down as a successful season? Good question. So I think if Arsenal finished third, if you said at the start of the season Arsenal are going to finish third, we'd probably have all said that would be a disappointment. But now in the context of probably what is going to be the best Premier League title race ever to come third, not terrible. And if Liverpool finish with more points than they did last season and still come third, which could conceivably happen, then, you know, I don't know if you can really blame them. It's like when Liverpool were coming second and still getting 97 points. Like is that a failure? Of course not. It's just so amazing. And people will forget that this is the first time in 14 years Arsenal have even got past the second round of the Champions League. That doesn't happen all the time. Even as a player he wasn't able to do it. So it's funny how people's standards change very quickly and people forget sort of how 18 months ago I don't think any of us would have even dreamed of this being a competition. Or forget you're changing the standards. Exactly. So you can view it as a success, you can view it as a failure, you can view it as whatever you want to but I don't think it changes anything to suggest that Arteta is the right man for the job. Arsenal have a really good young squad and they're on the right track and if they go out in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and they finish third then none of that changes. And even if they win the Champions League and win the Premier League they still need to probably go out and get a forward in the summer. They probably need to go and get another defender. Like all the things that we think they still need, trust me people in the club think that too and that won't change. So I don't think Arsenal's project, if you like, has been result-driven in the sense that when they finished fifth they didn't think, right, well, let's carry on. Exactly. They believed in what they were doing, they trusted the process and now, you know, Arsenal are reaping the rewards and it wouldn't be a step backwards to finish third after having finished second last season if it is in this title race and, you know, it's a really good sign of how far Arsenal have come and if people want to sort of look at that totally devoid of context then, you know, more power to you but I think just enjoy it, enjoy it for what it is and it's going to get better. I think people need to accept that there's going to be teething issues along the way. I do personally feel we're in that scenario now of, you know, we've done the rebuild or we've done the legwork of the rebuild, it's now coming over to can we get one over the line? I urge patience. I understand Arsenal have been a sleeping giant for a while now and our tech is doing great things, the Emirates is roaring, every aspect of the club is exciting so I can understand the impatience. Lord knows Arsenal fans have been impatient but as you said there I think context is key and the most encouraging thing I feel with Arsenal is I know obviously we've lost games and dropped points and, you know, I would definitely have traded places with, you know, Fulham, Newcastle, Aston Villa, any team that's beating us in the Premier League or I would have loved to have gone through in the FA Cup or against West Ham so they could add a caveat and disagree with what I have to say but bar West Ham away in the Cup and Fulham away in the League, they're the only times I feel, yeah, we were actually crappy, we weren't good. Other than that, at times we just shot ourselves in the foot, we shot ourselves in the foot against Porto, we just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net somehow against West Ham. How we lost to Aston Villa and Newcastle, I don't know but that's and how we actually drop points against Spurs at home and Chelsea away, it's like if we can eradicate that because we can be our own best friends or worst enemies, it shows where we're going as a football club. Speaking of where we're going as a football club, you know, Benjamin White written off by Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville, fair to say he's done alright at 26 years of age, signed the New York City deal. What do you think this means for Benjamin White and the future of Arsenal and what's your thoughts on Benjamin, man? Yeah, it's great news for Arsenal. Obviously, I don't know if we'll touch on it in a bit but there's all the England stuff that's coming through. Oh, we're definitely getting into that. I'll save that for them but from an Arsenal perspective, great news and they're on a really good run of keeping their top talent like in the past few, in recent times, Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Marcinelli, William Saliba, Paquio Saka, Martin Erdegaard, Rhys Nelson and Aaron Ramsdell, all signed long-term contracts at the club. Ben White is now the eighth player within the past year or so to have done that and think back to the days of Van Persie running his contract down, Fabregas, Nasri, Sandoval, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil all those players like Arsenal have come a long way and this is something the club are very hot on is being proactive. So they learned from the one they always cite as Aaron Ramsey because I think they feel that he shouldn't have been allowed to get to the position where he was able to leave on a free and that probably worked out in the end because he went on to have injuries and 400 grand a week or something stupid at Juventus. But they cite that as a player who should have still been at the club and still should have had a lot to offer. So they've learned from that and they've tried to be proactive and this is what they're doing. When talks started as far as I'm aware sort of towards the beginning of the season around that time like a long time ago at that time White still had about two years left on his contract. His previous contract didn't expire until 2026 so it would have been three years even. So Arsenal look to reward players for how they've done and when these players were brought in they were brought in so White was brought in on 50 million which is a big transfer fee. Of one Premier League season as well. Exactly. But his wages for a player of his calibre and a player of that transfer fee were relatively low. Now Arsenal are starting to reward the players with the salaries that they deserve and they can afford to do that because there's a budget there and it's a lot cheaper to give Ben White a pay bump of however much it is to find another 50 million pound defender. So it's smart in so many senses from Arsenal and White's a fantastic player and it's great that Arsenal have been able to tie him down and it was never really in doubt but I think the fact that Arsenal were able to keep him is great news and testament to a really really smart strategy that has been in place and has kept the core of this young squad together that is hopefully going to go on and do all the things we really hope they will. What have you made of Gareth Southgate's comments then man because it's a bit unneeded I feel. If I'm completely honest with you it's kind of putting Benjamin in hot water, it's kind of half extending the olive branch saying I've got no problem with him but then you're saying oh Edu and Arsenal and Benjamin White they said they weren't interested essentially in getting called out. It's kind of making it appear that Benjamin White isn't interested in representing his country. I'll never know what the truth is and I know what Southgate said and yeah he can point to he's called him up for Euros and a World Cup but I don't really feel it's anything to do with football, whatever that is. What did you make of Gareth Southgate's recent comments? So I think it's kind of come from and Southgate himself said this that he couldn't really say with a straight face when Rhys James, Trent Alexander Arnold and Kieran Trippy were all out injured that Ben White isn't there on merit. So I think maybe Southgate has felt that he had to come out and say this. Having said that, if you want to convince Ben White to come back, which there are so many reasons why you would like, he can play centre-back and right-back. And this summer there's only 23 players allowed as opposed to 26. So that's really important. Fertility is really important and England aren't blessed with a lot of centre-backs like John Stones is world-class but beyond that not an awful lot. You know he's going to be next to Harry Maguire. Exactly. Joe Gomez is a good player, Mark Gay is a good player, but Ben White's better than them. So I think in an ideal world, Southgate would love to have him back and maybe this is what he's been trying to do. But if you want to extend the olive branch, I don't think really hanging him out to dry in public is the way to do it. I get why Southgate went about it the way he did, but I don't think anyone was particularly surprised that Ben White wasn't in the squad. Not even Benjamin himself, man. Exactly. So I don't think there was this massive media circus saying, oh my god, a campaign, why isn't Ben White in the squad? So he kind of made a run for his own back and he's kind of been too honest. I agree. So I don't think he should have done it, Southgate. I think probably if anything, it's had the opposite effect to what he was hoping because I don't think Ben White will change his mind now and I don't think he'll join up with the Euros squad in the summer, which will be a shame because England will be a worse team as a result. So yeah, an odd decision from Southgate to go about it the way he did. But yeah, I think we all know. I'm with you, man. I'll be keen to see, I'm not saying I want Southgate to be sacked, I don't believe in him, but I never want anyone to lose their job. But I'll be keen to see what England look like away from Southgate and who that manager is. Now, if Benjamin White doesn't necessarily get called up in that sort of scenario and it's for anything more than football, he's kind of been exiled, then I guess I'll review the situation. Keeping up the theme with fullbacks, it's just suddenly hit me like there's rumours, Tommy Asu's going to sign a new deal and there's also rumours that Zinchenko could depart and I think Zinchenko's got two years left on his deal. Personally, I think Zinni will stay, but I don't know. What's your thoughts? So I've not heard anything on Zinchenko leaving. I'd be very surprised if that happened because he's a really important player for Arsenal and I know he's had his injuries, but they don't want to lose him as far as I'm aware. Tommy Asu, obviously the contract is, yeah, as you've seen all the reports, as we've reported on Football London, it's more or less done. It's a matter of when, not if. Obviously, he's been out injured for a while. He needs to get these kind of pitches done. Huh? He needs to get these kind of pitches done. Yeah, exactly, exactly. With the Shoba Realty in the background, then he'll be very happy. But yeah, it's, like I say, when, not if with Tommy Asu and good to tie him down because he's a really good player, versatile, play in any position, very good defender. Like you say, when he gets to run a game, which is annoyingly rare, but when he's able to get in the team, like we all remember before he got his calf injury, he was playing fantastic football. Especially in the final third. Yeah, yeah. So it's a real shame that he's been struggling with injuries again, but there's a player there and a player who can play anywhere across the backline to a really high standard and there's not many players in world football who can do that. So yeah, great news that Tommy Asu will be staying even longer as well. I've got a couple of questions before I let you get out of it. The first thing was not actually that big up, Mikel Ortega's comments on White. Charles Watts has said, I do expect Arsenal to sign a midfielder this summer, but a lot will depend on what happens with the midfielders they currently have. Where are you at with that? I would love two central midfielders. I am being a bit spoiled. I'm accepting that one will come in. I know there's a reality where Jorginho gets a new deal, Partey leaves. There's also a reality where Jorginho might say, you know what, I want to go back to Italy and were unable to move Partey on. And we spoke earlier about Kai Havertz's versatility. You've got Fabio Vieira. I don't even know if he'll still be here, but Smith Rowe. Where are you at with midfield? Do Arsenal need to sign a midfielder for you to get to that next level or whatever? Like Charles says there, there's a lot of ifs, buts and maybes when it comes to midfield positions. I think Arsenal are looking towards the future of that defensive midfield position and they want to offer Jorginho a new contract and talks have opened over offering him a fresh deal which could last up to two years. But if they go out and get another player, kind of, like you said, depends on what happens with Thomas Partey. They were open selling him last summer, but they couldn't find a suitable offer. If that happens again, then Partey is not a bad player. So they're not going to bomb him out. They're not going to terminate his contract and he can play in multiple positions when he's fit, which is increasingly rare, but he can. So yeah, it depends on departures. But if you look beyond Declan Rice and that defensive midfield position, Elneny over 30, Partey over 30, Jorginho over 30, that's a position they're going to need to look to the long term in. We reported on Football London that Zubi Mendy is a player they like and another player I think who's been linked is Douglas Luiz. So they're looking at players in that position and I think the club are on it when it comes to that. But let's not forget Samuel Laconga still needs to go as well. So, you know, there's lots of players in that position. So a lot of comings and goings to happen in midfield over the summer. It's going to be an interesting one. Where are you at with Emil Smith, Rob? I'd love to see him stay because I think he's deserved a lot more minutes than he's got. I look back to that Sheffield United game when 5-0 up at half-time. Bring him on. You know? Arteta is a bit of a scrooge at times. Yeah, he had one cleared off the line at Newcastle the game before. He was playing really well. He's looked good off the bench. Did well when he started against Nottingham Forest. Play him. He deserves more minutes, but I don't think he's going to get them between now and the end of the season because the games get even more important. And as we saw last season, with the importance of big games, Arteta wasn't really willing to throw Emil Smith on. But who knows? Maybe he'll have a moment like Rhys Nelson did between now and the end of the season and things will turn around. Because I think we all thought Rhys was gone last season and then he scores against Bournemouth and suddenly he stays. But Smith Rowe will have two years left on his contract to the end of the season. There's Premier League teams who like him and it would be a shame for him to go. Arsenal want to keep him, but I think it gets to a point now where he's 23. He'll be 24 in the summer, Smith Rowe, so he can't hang around forever. But I'd love to see him get more game time because I think he's a really, really good player. And I think you're right there in that it's like you want to see Smith Rowe start, you play games, you want to see him start, you want to see him be a part of this. I hate to refer to it as this, but it is almost a fall from grace. When him and Saka were leading the charge for Arsenal, we had Omri and Dennis Bergkamp pitchers with both of them. Again, even if we sell Smith Rowe, probably not going to get a fee we would have got then. I'd love to see him play. He has had some injuries, but it just feels like actually Rhys Nelson and then Ketia as well to various different degrees that you might need to ask yourself the question. Of course, at this moment in time, Arsenal's the best gig you're going to get, maybe not in terms of playing time, but the stature of the club and what we're doing. But you might need to ask yourself a question. Do I end this romance to get to where I want to get to and fulfill my potential? Which is quite harsh. What do you think is going to happen with Eddie and Ketia? Because, you know, you can never rule out stuff, God forbid, but there could be some injuries. He plays up front. He has shown he can deputize for Gabriel Jesus. Actually feels a long time ago, but August him and Fabio Vieira are on the peripheral things now, but they were two of our better players. And I do like Eddie and Ketia's mentality. I like the fact he backs himself. But if you're not scoring, you're not really offering much because your general play isn't there to truss up, to have arts, to potentially Jesus. And, you know, I think everybody at Arsenal, well, Arsenal fans, and I hope that Arsenal are looking to bring in a strike because you're further down the pecking order. And as you know better than me, you've probably done reports on it, but, you know, these homegrown players, they go down, there's 100% profit on FFP and all of that stuff. So where would you be at with that? Yeah, I agree. I think, I think Eddie did really well last season in the way that people didn't give him credit for. Like when Jesus was out injured after the World Cup and Ketia came in and essentially carried the title race on until Trossard was signed and there was four or five really important games around January where he played and scored a lot of goals and was really impressive. So he was good. He was good at the start of the season as well, like you said, but I think now when it gets to the point, so with Eddie what's happened in the past couple of seasons is he's sort of around this time between January and April he's sort of been out of the team and then there's been an injury and he's come back and he's been really important. This season the injuries already happened. Jesus has been out a lot this season. Eddie was the go-to guy earlier in the campaign but now it's Haberts and it's Trossard and if you're still third choice when the number one striker's out injured I do think you have to start to look at things and he's a really talented player who can earn Arsenal a decent bit of money as you said about England's under 21 record goal scorer. If you think Shepherds United paid 25 million for Rhian Brewster think about how much Eddie and Kessier is worth in that market. I know it's never that simple but there are Premier League teams who do want Eddie and Kessier. I think Crystal Palace were interested in him and there's other teams so Arsenal hypothetically should be looking at getting a decent bit of money out of that guy if they can't find a place for him in the squad and if he goes and they want to sign a forward this summer I don't really see how Eddie does end up staying because he's going to get even less minutes. I'm not of the opinion that Arsenal will go out and get an out-and-out nine this summer. Things change all the time so don't hold me to that. I agree. I think they'll go out and get a player who can play across the forward line instead similar to how that's Trossard's Jesus and if that happens Eddie will be the fifth choice. I think he for the club especially as a guy who when he proved he got a decent scoring run in the Premier League got in the England squad. He'll want to do that again. I completely forgot about that. Eddie's the only striker that's got a hat-trick actually that plays up front at the club right now this season. Very true. So there's a player in there and there's a player who can do a really good job for a decent Premier League team and there's plenty of Premier League teams with a lot of money. So yeah I think it makes sense for all parties. Obviously you're not an ITK and stuff like that but do you rate our chances of Osserman because apparently based on what Charles Watts said here before we got Gabriel Jesus we had talks. I don't know why that them talks didn't materialise whether Gabriel Jesus was the right choice whether for whatever reason Osserman didn't make sense. You know Osserman could sit here and say at a time I wasn't Arsenal's first choice so why would I give them grace now and I know you indirectly just said and I actually agree with you now in that I don't think we're going to get an out and out forward. I know Arsenal fans would love that haven't had that since Aubameyang but I just think we're going to get someone that has a quote unquote strong catalogue of goals that can just chip in and do what he's doing to go with what we're doing now but where would you rate the chances of Osserman for example if or wherever? Listen it's a bit hard for me to comment on him because I haven't heard anything personally and that's not to say none of it's true because Charles knows his stuff and Charles is a really really good reporter so I trust him on those kind of things. What I have heard is the four players that they have been looking at and again all reported on Football London so go check it out there but Nico Williams and Pedro Neto are two of the names they're looking at. That's not the only names but two of the names they're looking at and if you look at the profile of the player there quick versatile good finishes good final product and that's I think what Arsenal are looking at so I think we all agree that Osserman would be a great player but think about how much he'd cost. I think the release course in his most recent contract is 130 million. Do Arsenal really want to go and break their club record transfer for a player who listen I've not really seen much of him but is he coming in to start every single game between now and the end of the season? If he's not this is it. If he's not are you paying 130 million for him? I don't know. You see what other clubs in London do with that and it's not the best way to go down. Yes. Yeah I agree. Very true. So listen I think he's a player who would do a very good job for a lot of teams and he'd do a good job for Arsenal but at that price I'm not too convinced. Twofold question what have you made of Victor Goya Keres and like this is just a hypothetical if in theory Chelsea were open to selling him would you be open to going through that because Arteta did want him. I know hindsight is a wonderful thing and he's not doing the best but yeah because you mentioned versatility this sporting lad Victor Goya Keres I can't pronounce his name seems like that and yeah obviously Modric maybe Arteta could get a trick out of that. Yeah Jokeres can play anywhere across the front line so fits the bill. Fits the bill for sure. Scored a lot of goals in Portugal. Got a lot of I think assists as well so he's a good player clearly and he knows England. He's played for Coventry in the Championship without Brighton before that so the Brighton seal of approval is always strong but yeah it would be a good signing if Arsenal can get him over the line. He's clearly a very talented player but again you look at the costs involved and he's got a million pound release clause wow. Quite rightly because he's doing so well but Porto will sporting will ask for a lot of money for him and do Arsenal want to do that given that they've got a lot of other areas where they need to strengthen probably more pressingly? I'm not so sure but we'll see. And this is the thing you just never know there's a lot of moving parts. There's a lot of players that could be leaving and not leaving. On that I've got two last questions for you. The second from last question would be who would you be your player of the season so far? Very good question. Let's go Martin Erdegaard. We spoke so glowingly about him before. I think probably he had a slightly difficult period around October when he was injured but aside from that he's been the most consistent player and I think he's been fantastic. It's a tricky one because I agree there's Martin Erdegaard. I don't think it's fair to say it's the easy one because he can't help that he was just bought but Declan Rice has been amazing. I think Saka is a bit unfairly treated in that he's so amazing he's doing amazing things but we just feel he could be more amazing so there's that. I think Benjamin White's got a shout because underappreciated ain't the right word but he doesn't get his plaudits. Saliba's been great but I'm going to go with Gabrielle you know, big Gabrielle centre-half because I just feel he doesn't get enough of the plaudits man but look at us man, there's like we've said so many names we've prayed for days like this man it's crazy. Yeah, it's very nice it's very, very nice and you think back to the days of William of well, I could go for a whole list please don't come a long way and it's a good time to be an Arsenal person right now. My last question to you, again I know you're not an ITK or an accountant but in theory out of all the players that are linked with exits you know, it's probably, I hope not and we don't know for it to be true but we'd assume Ramsdell for example is leaving which player do you feel would command the highest exit fee? As in of the players who are potentially likely to go? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think Eddie's probably up there given that he's a forward, forwards cost a lot of money and homegrown and under 21s and all that stuff. I don't know, I think with Ramsdell it's a bit tricky because I'm not sure how many teams are willing to pay more than what Arsenal paid for him in the sense that Arsenal already Yeah, so I don't know if they get profit on 24 million I think Arsenal have done well this summer given that he's essentially been a backup now. So yeah, I'd go with Eddie. I feel like I'm missing someone really obvious in my head but I'm going to stick with Eddie for now. I'd go with Eddie because again, despite him being a bit popular as you said, he's become an England regular. I know people don't rate Eddie Nketiah and think he's not going to be an amazing guy and I don't know what the future holds for him but he is still relatively young for a striker and you just never know with game time and I do think one thing I like about Eddie Nketiah away from his mentality is he proves people wrong. I mean, the man got released from Chelsea, he's wearing our number 14, football's a funny old game of opinions and he responds to a lot of adversity and you just never know. I think Smith Rowe could have got a decent fee but he's not playing. I would probably say Ramsdale but as you said not too many people are probably going to want to spend more money than Arsenal did for him and you know with the Brentford mistake he's probably not 10 million off that price tag so who knows man but listen man we're going to have to see what we do in the transfer window, what's left of this season. Kaya this has been amazing, let me let you get out of it before you get out of it though, please let people know where they can find you. Oh yeah, thank you very much for having me on, I'm glad we finally got around to doing this. I appreciate that. So yeah, all my reporting is on the Football London website, I might have given it enough plugs throughout the show so please do go and check it out there. Twitter is also on Facebook. So you know where to find the guy again, if you lot agree or disagree with anything we've said, if you've got your own personal spins and opinions on the various questions we've asked of Arsenal today people, please let us know. But on that note, I'm going to let you and Kyle get the hell out of here, appreciate that my dude, take care for the rest of your evening and hopefully the next time we do this, the good times continue my dude man. So yeah, appreciate you for coming on the platform, peace. Transcribed by https://otter.ai