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Athletic Good

1:19

morning, welcome to the Daily Football Briefing. From

1:21

The Athletic, it's Tuesday the 30th of

1:23

April. I'm Michael Baylion on today's show.

1:30

Premier League clubs say yes to a

1:32

squad cost cap. It's a pretty loose

1:34

cap in my view. Salah

1:36

is staying at Liverpool. If you

1:38

stop about to leave, if there was any

1:40

issue between the pair of them, it

1:42

kind of doesn't matter. And familiar

1:44

foes kick off the Champions League

1:46

semis. So much attacking talent, it's

1:48

a proper Champions League semi-final tie.

1:51

This is the Daily Football Briefing with Michael Baylion.

1:56

Before we get stuck into the big stories, there are a couple

1:58

of things from last night to bring in. Barcelona

2:02

returned to second in La Liga with victory

2:04

over Valencia at Monjeet last night. But it's

2:07

fair to say it wasn't straightforward. I think

2:09

he's on side here and he's played on

2:11

by today. Oh,

2:13

what a man! What a man! Balca,

2:17

Stigas had his one-one! What

2:19

a howler that was, by the way. Valencia led

2:21

two-one-and-a-half times, but were also reduced to ten

2:23

men just before the break after

2:26

goalkeeper Joji Mamedaszwili was sent off for

2:28

handling the ball outside his penalty box.

2:31

That left Robert Lewandowski's second-half hat-trick to seal

2:33

a 4-2 win, topped

2:35

off by his beautiful free-kick in

2:37

added. Yes it is! Hat-side

2:40

hero! Robert Lewandowski!

2:45

Remarkably, that was only the second free-kick

2:47

goal Barca have scored since Lionel Messi

2:49

left the club in 2021. Barca

2:53

are once again two points ahead of

2:55

their neighbours, Girona in third, and 11

2:57

behind leaders Real Madrid, who could complete

2:59

their 36th Spanish title win at the

3:01

weekend if they beat Cadiz

3:03

at the Bernabeu and Barcelona fail to

3:06

win at Girona. And in

3:08

the English Championship, Leicester have wrapped up

3:10

the title. And Jamie Farley with a

3:12

chance to turn and a chance to score! Leicester

3:15

had already secured their automatic promotion back to

3:17

the Premier League at the first attempt when

3:20

Leeds lost on Friday night. And

3:22

last night their 3-0 win at

3:24

Preston, including a brace from Jamie

3:26

Vardy, took Leicester to 97 points

3:28

with one game left and the

3:30

silverware secured. That leaves all

3:33

eyes on who will finish second, if Twitch

3:35

Town will have one hand on that prize

3:37

if they can win their gaming hand on

3:39

Leeds. That's the Coventry tonight and is live

3:41

from 8pm on Sky Sports in the UK

3:44

or 3pm Eastern in the US on ESPN

3:46

Peace. In

3:50

Man United News, our own David Ornstein

3:52

has reported the club would consider selling

3:54

Marcus Rashford this summer, but only if

3:56

they get a substantial offer and Rashford

3:59

wants the move. And that

4:01

wasn't the only story from our football guru.

4:03

David Ornstein also had an exclusive update on

4:05

the future of Mo Salah. The

4:07

Liverpool forward's verbal jousting with Jurgen Klopp

4:09

on the touchline at the London Stadium

4:12

grabbed the weekend headlines. So

4:14

what of the fall-outs? Here's David.

4:16

It's our understanding that Liverpool fully expect

4:18

Mohamed Salah to stay with the club

4:20

this summer, and that they're planning with

4:22

him being a key part of their

4:24

squad again for next season and

4:27

potentially even beyond. To

4:30

remind you, he's approaching the final 12

4:32

months of his contract, and that has

4:34

generated a lot of speculation around what

4:36

might happen with his future. Could he

4:38

be on his way out? Especially with

4:41

all the change at Anfield coming up,

4:43

not least the departure of Jurgen Klopp,

4:45

Michael Edwards coming in as

4:47

CEO of football for Fenway Sports Group,

4:49

Richard Schues as sporting director, Arna Slott,

4:52

the anticipated replacement for

4:54

Klopp. And despite the

4:57

public perception being that Salah

5:00

is heading for the exit door, my

5:02

information is quite different

5:04

to that, and it's that Salah

5:06

has expressed absolutely no intention to

5:08

depart, to the contrary that he

5:11

remains fully committed to Liverpool. And

5:13

people pointed to the tense exchange

5:16

with Jurgen Klopp on the touchline at

5:18

West Ham on Saturday, but internally I've

5:20

not sensed any real concern around that.

5:23

Furthermore, with Klopp about

5:25

to leave, if there was any issue between

5:28

the pair of them, it kind

5:30

of doesn't matter, because Klopp is not going

5:32

to be there for much longer. Ah, hang

5:34

on, I hear you ask. Wouldn't there be

5:37

significant interest from the Saudi pro league again

5:39

this summer? Here's David again.

5:41

The view there is that

5:43

Salah wants to stay for the 24-25 campaign, and

5:45

perhaps this is something

5:49

that they would look at in 2025. If

5:53

he is a free agent, he

5:55

would be 33 then, and there

5:57

would be no transfer fee involved.

6:00

A lot can happen before then. Of course,

6:03

they went for him very strongly. Last

6:05

summer, it was Al-Ithi had. They wanted

6:07

to bring him in amid the spending

6:09

spree, you could say, in the SPL.

6:12

And also, Al-Ithi had had the club world cut

6:14

to think about. They wanted him to be part

6:16

of their plans for that. Well,

6:18

it didn't materialise on that occasion, and

6:20

a lot has changed since then. I

6:22

think their desire, their admiration for him

6:24

remains, but maybe it's not as aggressive

6:27

as it was before. That's

6:29

kind of irrelevant if Salah wants to still

6:31

be at Liverpool. Now, we don't know if

6:34

that will be on a new contract or

6:36

whether he'll go into his final 12 months.

6:38

That's one of the tasks for Richard Hughes,

6:41

as it is with Trent Alexander-Arnold

6:43

and Virgil van Dyck, Vice-Captain and

6:45

Captain respectively, who also see their

6:48

terms expire in the summer of

6:50

2025. Thank

6:52

you to David Ornstein. And remember, you

6:54

can get exclusive updates from David and

6:57

our reporters direct to your phone via

6:59

the Athletic Insider's WhatsApp channel. It's free to

7:01

join, and we'll make sure there's a link in

7:03

the show notes today, so you can do just

7:05

that. Nothing

7:09

screams business end of the season

7:11

like the arrival of the Champions

7:13

League semi-finals. Yes,

7:19

it's in my contract that the music

7:22

must always follow. The first legs play

7:24

out this week, with the ties concluded

7:26

seven days later, and they start tonight

7:28

when Bayern Munich host Real Madrid battling

7:30

to meet either Borussia Dortmund or freshly

7:32

crowned Ligue 1 Champions Paris Saint-Germain in

7:34

the final at Wembley. There's a lovely

7:36

tactical preview from Tom Harris to read

7:38

ahead of the game on the Athletic,

7:40

and I'm delighted to say our data

7:42

analyst Mark Carey joins us now. Mark,

7:45

it's Bayern against Real tonight. What are you looking

7:47

forward to most about it? I think the main

7:49

thing is just the prestige of

7:52

the tie that we have tonight. It's the

7:54

most played match in the history of Europe's

7:57

main club competition. I think it's quite interesting

7:59

that both... sides were doubts to make

8:01

it through to the semi-final given what

8:03

I've just said but there's just something

8:05

about these clubs they find a

8:07

way to make it to these latter stages and

8:10

you know there's so many good players

8:12

on show for both sides so much

8:14

attacking talent is a proper Champions League

8:17

semi-final tie. I'm really intrigued to

8:19

see how the first leg will play out because there's

8:21

obviously two games to play and it may be slightly

8:24

cagey but given the nature of modern

8:26

football it probably won't be but yeah

8:28

it's no doubt a very very exciting

8:30

game to watch. There's an interesting head

8:32

coach dynamic as well isn't there Carlo

8:34

Ancelotti one of the most successful coaches

8:36

Europe has seen. Thomas Tuchel on

8:38

the way out at Bayern Munich what should we

8:40

bear in mind from those two? Yeah I think

8:43

from Ancelotti's side I think the

8:45

way that he sets up Real Madrid they're

8:47

just so difficult to to pin down I

8:50

think I've said it before they can be a

8:52

Swiss army knife at times depending on the situation

8:54

they can bunker in and play a low block

8:56

they can counter-attack they can play more of that

8:59

sort of dominant football which is massively

9:01

helpful of course in knockout football where you do

9:03

need to adapt to the the chaos of certain

9:05

situations in the the game state. I

9:08

think Real Madrid's strength without the ball might

9:10

be might be really key in their counter-attacking

9:12

strength which I think Bayern will probably need

9:14

to be aware of because the owners will

9:17

probably be on Bayern Munich to have more

9:19

of the ball given they're at home in

9:21

this in this game specifically so I think

9:24

the counter-attacking side will be something that

9:26

Ancelotti will encourage. For Thomas

9:28

Tuchel it's a it's an odd situation because

9:30

he's in the semi-final of a Champions League but

9:33

he knows he's leaving at the end of the

9:35

season as you mentioned so Bayern

9:37

Munich are a little bit hampered by injuries so whether

9:39

or not he'll be able to go full tilt in

9:42

what he wants to do tactically with that that width

9:44

and strength in wide areas and the pace that they

9:46

have in wide areas but both have

9:48

that that real strength in those transitional moments

9:50

that pace as I mentioned so I think

9:53

if the game does open up we'll

9:55

might see a really end-to-end encounter. Thanks

9:58

Mark and you can catch Bayern again. against Real

10:00

live from 8pm in the UK on

10:02

TNT Sports, which is 3pm Eastern on

10:04

Paramount Plus in the US. The

10:09

Premier League is another step closer to

10:12

more stringent financial rules. Yesterday,

10:14

the 20 clubs met in London and

10:16

agreed to push ahead with plans for

10:18

a spending cap on their squads from

10:21

the season after next. The Athletics' Matt

10:23

Slater joins us now to pick apart

10:25

the developments. So Matt, Premier League clubs

10:27

have voted for a hard spending cap

10:29

as part of these new squad cost

10:32

rules. What's caught your eye from the

10:34

meeting? They voted in principle, Michael. And

10:36

I think that's important. In fact, they

10:38

probably, the Premier League this is, might

10:41

even push back at the phrase in

10:43

principle. So I think that makes it

10:45

sound like it's going to happen

10:48

at some point. I think what's really

10:50

happened is a lot

10:52

of clubs are very keen on this idea. And

10:55

what was put to the vote was, shall

10:57

we carry on looking at it? And

11:00

that's what's going to happen. And that did go

11:02

through basically 16-4. And

11:04

to get anything done at the Premier League, you

11:07

need a two thirds majority, so you need 14

11:09

of the 20 clubs to back something. What

11:11

actually happened was 16 of them back to

11:14

it. And three

11:16

clubs said no. And that was mentioned

11:18

City, Manchester United and Aston Villa. And

11:20

one club, who are actually probably the

11:22

only club that if this rule

11:24

was in place, would possibly

11:26

have failed it in 2022-23, this is, is Chelsea. It

11:28

may abstain. So

11:31

there's your 16-4, all the others are

11:33

Mosea 3, who voted against and one

11:35

who abstained. So yeah, those clubs involved

11:38

on the negative side strike me as

11:40

the ones who have spent or are going to

11:42

spend a lot of money. That would be my

11:44

wild conclusion. What happens from here? Well, so having

11:46

been given the green light to carry on working

11:48

on this idea, and I've got to do a

11:50

lot of consultation here because the real issue

11:53

for me is they've got to run this

11:55

past the professional footballers association, the trade union.

11:57

Because what this is, is a hard catch.

12:00

and it's a the way it works is they're

12:02

calling it anchoring and it's a multiple

12:05

from top to bottom so that the

12:07

top club could only spend a multiple

12:10

and it's probably about five

12:12

so five times

12:14

what the bottom club earns

12:16

in central TV and

12:19

sponsorship income so that's the money the Premier

12:21

League itself dishes out so just you

12:23

know if we just look at 22 23 the bottom club of Southampton

12:26

they earned about a hundred million so multiply

12:28

that by five you get to 500 million

12:30

and that is your squad cost so that

12:33

is the wages you pay for your first

12:35

team your coaches your

12:37

amortized transfer fees and agents fees so

12:39

it's the same stuff as the UEFA

12:41

rule and where the Premier League is

12:43

heading with its own squad cost rule

12:45

but it's a hard cap there's actually

12:47

a top ceiling so that's all that's all

12:49

going to go to the AGM now where they

12:52

are going to have to consult with the PFA

12:54

and they are going to have to really hammer

12:56

down this multiple and what's what's counted what's not

12:58

counted because it it's going to be

13:00

a row about you don't want it

13:03

too tight because then you really will invite

13:05

legal challenge you don't want it so loose

13:07

that it's just pointless and that's that's that's

13:09

the debate I mean stuff like this it

13:11

feels like the Premier League working through

13:14

issues and making progress and it's working

13:16

quite well is that a slightly fanciful

13:18

perception well

13:21

baby steps as I said

13:23

this is a very caveat

13:25

in principle support and

13:27

it's not unanimous and that's the way the

13:29

Premier League likes the work and

13:32

okay you know you've upset

13:34

Manchester United we've upset Manchester again

13:36

you've upset Manchester Nastunville are one

13:38

of the sort of disruptor clubs

13:40

and Chelsea are abstaining you

13:43

know when we get the proposal we could have

13:45

we could have more opponents to this so I

13:47

don't know it's an idea it's clearly got the

13:50

support of most people in the room I think

13:53

most fans can get their head around it and

13:55

go yeah okay if that's a sort of ceiling

13:57

and at least it kind of you know stops

13:59

the the really really which drives galloping off into

14:01

the distance, maybe not such a bad idea for

14:03

competitive integrity and what have you, but

14:07

it's a pretty loose cap in

14:09

my view. And I think

14:11

there's even going to be legal problems getting it

14:14

in the rule books. Thanks Matt.

14:16

And with that issue, plus appeals from

14:18

Everton and Nottingham Forest against points deductions

14:20

for breaching profit and sustainability rules, as

14:22

well as those longer term charges against

14:24

Chelsea and Man City, it's fair to

14:26

say there are plenty of Premier League

14:28

stories to keep on top of, and

14:30

you'll be able to do just that

14:32

over at the Africa. And that's your

14:34

lot for today's briefing. I've been Michael

14:36

Bayley, your producers were Abbey Pattinson

14:38

and Mike Zimmerman, with your executive producer

14:41

Ian McIntosh. Adam Leventhal will be with

14:43

you tomorrow. In the meantime, have a

14:45

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