The FC crew look back at the most expensive PL strikers this past summer and give out grades for each of the players' transfers so far. Plus, the crew react to another Bruno Fernandes interview and question why he would compare himself to Totti. Shaka Hislop also gives out his weekly power rankings! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Welcome into the latest edition of ESPN FC. I'm Dan Thomas, joined by Craig Burley and Shaka Hyslop. We also welcome to the show Frank Leboeuf, joins us as does Mark Ogden. Now a lot of money. Shall we see Mark and Frank? There they are. Lovely. Well, maybe you'd prefer not to.
A lot of money was spent in the summer on strikers from big Premier League sides, and they haven't exactly, most of them, set the world alight. Izak, of course, the most expensive of them all, Ā£145 million. We asked the boys to give us a grade for Izak so far in his Liverpool career, and as you can imagine, it isn't very generous at all. A D- is the average.
Xhaka and Oghi, not impressed at all with an F. Craig, a little more generous with a D-, Burley. You're feeling generous these days. Well, hold on, Shaq, I gave an F. Yeah, exactly.
Well, D- is close to an F. Not that close, not really. Why not? Well, because I feel you've given him a little bit of wiggle room. D is the highest grade there.
Frank has given me highest grade.
I gave him a little bit of wiggle room because he's had a couple of injuries, but he's had a horrendous summer, which is a lot of it down to him as well. Hasn't played well. Did score a good goal at West Ham, to be fair, but that's kind of been about it. So, yeah, I was, you know... I thought D minus was fair.
You gave an F. Is there not an argument to say that he's just not getting the supply, that because he's joined this team that's pretty much in free fall, he isn't getting the chances that he deserves?
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Chapter 2: What were the transfer grades for the most expensive PL strikers this summer?
I know I'm going to talk about all the strikers that have moved, and I think he's by far the best. I think ultimately he will come good, but he's got such high standards that he's delivered so badly that I think he deserves an F. Is this just a club icon?
sticking with Newcastle, angry at the way that he treated your old club, Shaq?
No, not at all. Oggy agrees with me in him having an F. Oggy gives an F to both. But to your point about no supply, Hugo Ekitike, who we've come to, has functioned quite well in that same set-up. He's been fit, hasn't he? To Craig's point, if Alexander Izak's excuse is he hasn't been fit, that's his fault. He just about hit himself in the foot with a hammer. That's his fault. So I'm sorry.
I have no wiggle room for Alexander Izak in- There's a caveat to mine.
I actually did give him an E. But then I was told there is no E.
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Chapter 3: How did the crew rate Alexander Izak's performance so far?
I didn't fold it.
What's wrong with you?
I didn't fold.
It's an E or nothing.
Well, yeah, I was going to go down that line, but I was told there is no E in the American marking system. Now, whether there is in the UK one, I just don't know.
I never got that far.
I posted my grades through the letterbox of the house and ran. So, yeah, I was, you know, I was close to the F, closer to the F than you think, but I was thwarted by the rules and regulations of this side of the pond.
Frank, you were the most generous somehow with a D. Yeah, and I didn't expect to see that. You know, when I had a D in my classroom, it's because I was at the back of the classroom, close to the radiator, and you understand nothing about anything that the teacher is saying. So I thought it was already hard.
But F, well, coming from a Manchester United fan and a former Newcastle player, I'm not surprised. But I really think that... He cannot be more than D, let's say, in a good way. He has to be D, or E if he does exist, and F, because that guy, well, didn't do anything good. And maybe because of what happened to him around him, and because of him, as Craig mentioned, because he wasn't fit enough.
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Chapter 4: What factors contributed to Bruno Fernandes' recent comments?
You found something to give, not giving him an A+, but you're right, you're right.
Ten goals in 23 games, A-, Mark.
Well, for that reason that Craig said, he took his shirt off and that was the moment that sparked Liverpool's... No, you didn't know that before!
LAUGHTER
No, but also... But also, he had a run of, like, one goal in ten games during that run, so he has been really good, but he's not been... He's not missed scoring goals all the time at Harlan levels. He did have that barren period. So, yeah, I mean, look, he's certainly been the best of a bad bunch and he's been very good, but he's not an A-plus. No. And he's not an A, he's an A-minus.
What nurse, everyone giving Sesko. Let's take a look. Of course, big money signing to Manchester United. This is definitely not A-plus. C-minus.
Who's Sesko? LAUGHTER Oggy T, Burley T-minus.
OK, I admit, there was a little bit of bias here after you shut Newcastle United.
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Chapter 5: Why is there a debate about Fernandes comparing himself to Totti?
I think that's fair enough. I think Cesco walked it in.
Thank you very much.
OK, that's all.
What's he got, two goals? Yeah. You think 12 games, don't know how many of those are off the bench. has been anonymous. Didn't take a penalty against Grimsby. Oh boy, yeah. Is that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, he didn't. And the other side of it, one of the reasons I was a D- was because if you cannot get in as the starting number nine in this Man United side, that's a...
You're getting graded down for that alone.
Yes.
But he's came in. It's the big signing. He's come in from Germany. It's going to be this, that, and the next thing. And he has been so disappointing. And as I say, Mbembo's carried the can in there. Bruno Fernandes has done his bit. We'll get to him. Kunya's been up and down, in and out. But even Joshua Zix, he's played ahead of him.
You know, so he's been, for me, he's been super... Oh, Bommo, Bommo has been good.
He's been super... Yeah, but he's not on the list, Frank. No, no, no, it's just to compare that it's possible to be good at Manchester United, even if you just come in, and Bommo has done well. Why don't you give him a C, Frank? Yeah, because it's hard to give him more. Well, you could give him less. I try to be very optimistic.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of Fernandes' loyalty to Manchester United?
Was he ever a number nine, though, that was going to get all these goals? Well, I think when we saw him at the Club World Cup, we thought he was, wasn't he? Well, Danny Welbeck did that job at Brighton, and Joe Pedro did it now and again, but he floated around, which is something we discussed when Chelsea signed him. Shaq had mentioned playing
Behind the striker in the hole, he's a guy that floats around the field, and when you're doing that, I do agree, I think he's not being brilliant, but he's something different for them, and I just never felt he was going to be the guy that came in and got 20 goals, or 20-odd goals. I just don't think he's that type of player, if I'm being honest with you. Frank?
Yeah, I think he went very high at the beginning because he had a player next to him who was ready to play with him. And how the chemistry with those two, and I'm talking about Cole Palmer, was obvious during the World Cup. And as soon as Cole Palmer got injured, we... We didn't see any more Joe Pedro.
So maybe like the other players, like all strikers, if he's a striker, and I agree with Craig, maybe he's not a striker, he needs somebody to be served. And that's what he was lacking maybe. And it's why maybe he's not efficient or as efficient as he was at the beginning.
Just a reminder, for a lot more of what's been happening in the footballing world, be sure to check out the latest edition of the Gavin Jules podcast. Jules is very happy, of course, after PSG's win in the Intercontinental Cup.
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Chapter 7: How does Shaka Hislop's power ranking reflect current Premier League dynamics?
It's all about Bruno, isn't it? Frank?
Yeah, I understand more why I'm surprised to see him coming out like that. Because if the interview was months ago, Manchester United were in a worse position at that time. And maybe why he wanted to explain why he was staying, why he was fighting, blah, blah, blah. I understand everything of that. And that was nice for him to fight for the club. But... I don't know. It's out of subject for me.
I don't know why he's out. I don't know why it's now. And maybe it was too late to put the article out because it doesn't make any sense for me anymore. Bruno Fernandes is a good player. He's not a great player. We're going to talk about him comparing himself to somebody who played his whole career for a big team, Roma, in terms of Totti. You cannot compare yourself to Totti.
Totti won the Scudetto. He stayed his whole career long and he scored 300 goals for the same team, played 700 games for the same team, became champion of the world with Italy. He was somebody with a big influence. I don't think that we can put Bruno Fernandes at the same level. He's a good player, plays well with the national team as well, but he's not... a game changer for me, like Totti was.
And so therefore, I don't know why we have a big time interview right now, which for me doesn't make any sense.
The Totti comparison, by the way, came today in the Rio Ferdinand interview. Who gave the comparison?
Bruno did. With him and Totti? The loyalty to the clubs. The loyalty. Well, we discussed this in the last couple of days as well, because this has been a drip feed of these interviews. And as Augie said there, you know, the suitors were Saudi Arabia. What does he want, some sort of medal for staying at Manchester United, albeit a struggling Manchester United, and not going to Saudi Arabia?
What does he want, an open-top bus around Manchester? I'll guarantee you now, as has been pointed out, if it was Real Madrid or Barcelona or a club of that ilk, and he was on the struggling Man United side, he's already said it. I want to go to Italy or Spain. I'd quite like to go to Italy or Spain and play.
And if one of those had been the suitors, had it been Real Madrid signing MbappƩ with Kylian MbappƩ in there and Vinicius and all these sort of superstars, even though they didn't have a great season last year, he would have been banging every Tom, Dick and Harry's door at Old Trafford saying, hey, I want to leave. Look at this opportunity.
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Chapter 8: What are the potential impacts of upcoming transfers on team performance?
Yes.
Right. If you were English, Jack Grealish price.
There we are. 75. Right. Run double. Okay. Frank, and what did you think of his goal yesterday?
Did you see it? Master... Yeah, yeah, I saw it. Masterpiece. I mean, it's more the control and how he overtakes the players. It seems to be so simple. After the shot, he's perfect. Top corner. But how easy he is with the ball and that he sees everything before everybody. He's a magician with the ball, and I'm not surprised.
I know that he has to improve some other stuff, but when he has the ball, the guy knows everything about football.
Pete wants to know if you'll start him at the World Cup.
It's possible for him, but you know that he's going to compete with many, many other players like Olize, for example, at first. So that's up to Deschamps to decide. But offensively, the competition is huge. So he should be there, but he will be in competition with others, that's for sure.
Craig, please continue to lambast FIFA. Those are your best moments on the show. Oh, really? Yeah. Not many to choose from, but that's obviously the one they like. You know, I like to keep it limited.
Yes, would you like to say anything? No, I'm not. We're going to continue for the time being.
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