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00:00:01
Episode 242 : Quarshie Profile!
117 Plays6 days ago
Southampton – Zak takes us on another well researched journey through one of our new signings, today in the hot seat, Joshua Quarshie!
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Transcript
Casual Chat and Weekly Recap
00:00:09
Zak
hello and welcome to the daily southampton part of the global sports podcast network i am your host zach and go finch as ever joined by me my stupendous co-host and good friend gregory elliott how you doing mate
00:00:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I'm all right, mate. Hanging on in there.
00:00:29
Zak
yeah
00:00:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's already feeling like a long week, but we're going, we're going.
00:00:32
Zak
busy, busy, busy at work.
00:00:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's all right.
00:00:34
Zak
And then I know that you had a ah ah full, fully fun office day today. can see in your face, you are absolutely raving to go to listen to me talk about a footballer for the next 20 minutes.
00:00:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
i they I'm not kidding you when I tell you that it is genuinely the most exciting part of my day.
00:00:54
Zak
Oh, you're right. That sounds about right. Okay.
Joshua Quorshi's Transfer and Team Impact
00:01:00
Zak
So today... in my what seems to be weird series of maybe breakthrough players, who knows?
00:01:06
Zak
Joshua Quorshi, Greg, is who we're discussing today. Because, you know, he's somebody... He's one of but but of two transfers that we've done so far.
00:01:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Heard of him?
00:01:15
Zak
when Yesterday, when old but Transfer Tuesday... day we We discussed our like what two outgoings that now seems to be rapidly snowballing into about 57. So yeah, but let's take some time to talk about a young player that hopefully will make his mark, especially now we've lost to Aaron Bednarek.
00:01:33
Zak
So, are you ready?
00:01:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
ready. I'm so excited. I love these profiles, mate. I love learning about our players in a way that I would never be able to get the information that you are able to ah ah communicate to me.
00:01:42
Zak
You...
00:01:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Put it that way.
00:01:48
Zak
Or at the very least, you'd have to read like nine different articles. You can't be bothered to do that. And I'm um'm very aware that audio, it's a lot easier, right?
00:01:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's never happening. Yeah.
00:01:56
Zak
So, right, let's start off.
00:01:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh,
00:01:59
Zak
So he was born on the 26th of July, 2004. Just to make you feel old, Greg.
00:02:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Jesus.
00:02:05
Zak
Just turned 21, literally like three days ago, as of recording. He is a German professional footballer playing as a centre-back. And Greg, he is six foot five.
00:02:16
Zak
So he is also quite tall.
00:02:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Nice. Yeah.
00:02:19
Zak
Apparently, can play as a left back. That's according to transfermarket.com. So take it with a pinch of salt. And he can also use both feet, which is always handy. And I find that phrase, as I wrote it down, quite funny because he can use both feet, but it's very handy.
00:02:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
Nice.
00:02:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:02:35
Zak
Repeating it will not make it funnier, but I put a laughing emoji in my notes.
00:02:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:02:42
Zak
He...
00:02:47
Zak
yeah Apparently so. So now we've got somebody that can cover both just in case. He is a youth international for Germany and has made five appearances for the under 18s, six appearances for the under 19s and 11 for the under 20s.
00:02:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm. Hmm.
00:03:00
Zak
So he's he's hotly rated, right? At least but at least by the international cohort.
00:03:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm
00:03:07
Zak
is yet to score an international goal, but I wouldn't really expect him to because he's a setback as his primary job, right?
00:03:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
and sendback Yeah.
00:03:13
Zak
So I'm not really too bothered by that.
00:03:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Although a six foot five centre back, you'd hope maybe he's getting up there in the box with a header from time to time.
00:03:18
Zak
it It depends from time to time. We'll get into that. But started his career at Duisburg at FV08 in 2012. So I started to like do the maths and realised he was like really real young, Greg.
00:03:31
Zak
like eight when he started his youth career which I I guess is like how it goes but it's kind of weird to talk about like I didn't look into too many of the youth stats because there's a lot of like there are youth stats available but it's kind of one of those things where I feel like I can't really judge a footballer on how they are today by like a game they played when they were nine so I just haven't done that but I do have a list of the clubs he went to so then moved to
00:03:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:03:57
Zak
Presbend-Duisberg in 2015. And Tura88-Duisberg in youth in 2016 at 12. So by the time he was 12, he played for three clubs, which is utterly insane.
00:04:12
Zak
He then went and moved to Shaqley 04, as we would know... Schalke, I'm really bad at pronunciation, specifically German names, but that's the club that Yoshida originally transferred to, if you if you were curious.
00:04:26
Zak
And he played there from 2017 to 2019.
00:04:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:04:29
Zak
During his youth career, he also then moved to Fortuna Dusseldorf, where he spent 2019 to 2020, and ended his youth career with two years at Rottweiss Eisen.
00:04:40
Zak
So... or as so but He's like he's up like an eight-year youth career and played at like eight clubs by the sounds of it. So he but he was busy. He's basically been playing football for as long as he can remember and as long as most people around can remember too.
00:04:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Great.
00:05:00
Zak
Yeah, so there you go It was July 2022 when he started his senior career with a transfer to TSG Hoffenheim and was originally assigned to their reserves.
Quorshi's Early and Senior Career Journey
00:05:09
Zak
He did make his senior debut in November 2020, coming on as a late substitute in a 2-1 loss to Wolfsburg.
00:05:17
Zak
So that was his one and only... senior appearance for hoffenheim uh 2023 he was officially promoted to the reserves from the reserves to the first team squad but that was it he appeared a total of 45 times for the reserve squad and even scored twice but only managed obviously the one singular appearance in the bundesliga team now we knew that when he was coming in there was a lot to talk about him playing mainly in the bundesliga too and that's that's why January 2024, he returned to one of the clubs of his youth. So he went out on loan to Fortuna Dusseldorf.
00:05:51
Zak
And he obliged to he played 13 games for their senior team and also five teams for their reserves. I don't exactly know what happened there. I don't know if it's just that they needed coverage or he was dropped back.
00:06:02
Zak
It seems a bit of a weird one.
00:06:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
I guess it's kind of maybe like an injury or something. Like we see if some of our players go and train with the under 21s. I assume that's the like same sort system.
00:06:10
Zak
Potentially, i know... it's It's different, right Because it's sort of similar to Spain where like their reserves team is also just in the second tier of the football, can never like get promoted up to the first. I remember like being a young lad playing FIFA loads and not understanding why I couldn't get Barcelona B up to like the top league before, you know, having a basic understanding of how league structure works.
00:06:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:06:30
Zak
So yeah, over way, his loan was supposed to go on until June 2025, but it was cut short and he was sent back out on loan in January this year to Greta Firth in the Bundesliga 2.
00:06:45
Zak
So during that time, he made about 15 appearances for them before eventually signing for us in a four-year deal in May 2025. He cost us about 3.5 million, which takes some of the risk out of signing him a little bit because he's barely cost anything in comparison.
00:07:04
Zak
Saying that, like we've just made a profit on Jan Bednarek after eight years, which I think is phenomenal. but So he was technically Will Stills' first signing with Spores calling him a talented young player and a natural fit for Stills.
00:07:19
Zak
And then we'll go into a little bit more after a word from our partners at Bionique.
00:08:06
Zak
And we are back. So, when we left off, he just
Influence of Johannes Spors on Transfers
00:08:10
Zak
signed. Spores was really, really happy. In a BBC Sports Solent article, or Radio Solent article, German football expert,
00:08:19
Zak
Konstantin Ekner told BBC Radio Solent, Korshi was one of the few promising talents in the Bundesliga too. It was expected that he would move on somewhere and the link to Southampton probably comes through the new sporting director, Johannes Spors, who is also German and may have had his eye on the national youth team players.
00:08:38
Zak
So that's apparently where we found him. But that is according to a German football expert. So not actually a source, just a guy who's made an assumption. by sp I didn't mean few promising talents. I meant to say more.
00:08:52
Zak
just definitely read that word wrong. Hey-ho. So his career to date, Greg, has had him play 82 times total. with two goals, both of which came in the Hoffenheim reserves.
00:09:03
Zak
He did also score twice in the under-19 Bundesliga in his youth career. But like again, you know if if, for example, your son ever ends up becoming you know ah ah footballer, Greg, and like you know in his mid-20s, sort of playing, you going to be like, well, actually, he has four goals and cite a time that he scored at 10 or what?
00:09:25
Zak
Like, probably not.
00:09:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
No.
00:09:27
Zak
Yeah, so there you go. um So take it a pinch of salt. But arguably, although he's got two in his professional career, he's actually got four. So, yeah, that's pretty much some of but a lot of the information. So then I've had to do some of my deep digging and diving into things.
00:09:42
Zak
Because, yeah, I think similar to sort of how we were discussing this yesterday, I found so much information for Matsuki. And I think you might be right, Greg. It might simply be for the fact that the J-League... sort of it's J League one right so it's the it's the top league for the country there's a lot of sort of uh English journalism knocking around there whereas it seems that it's just harder to get hold of German articles than it should be my opinion but obviously I did I did my standard stuff so uh Greg he is represented by the unique sports group does that name any ring any bells to you at all
00:10:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'd be lying if I told you it did, Zach.
00:10:17
Zak
Well, we've definitely discussed it on the podcast before because they represent Taylor Harwood-Bellis and also have the likes of Mark Gahey, Anthony Jordan, Brennan Johnson, and Wan-Bissaka all on their books.
00:10:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right.
00:10:29
Zak
They are a large network. He is part of a large network. are 602 players on their books, including former Saints Harrison Reid, Yannick Vestergaard, David Brooks is also on that list.
00:10:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
oh
00:10:40
Zak
More importantly, though, Greg, do you want to take a guess at which member of staff might also be part of the same group?
00:10:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Ruben Martinez.
00:10:52
Zak
No, but it's nice that you listen to me.
00:10:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Damn.
00:10:54
Zak
Our current manager, Will Still, is represented by New York Sports Group.
00:10:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right.
00:10:58
Zak
So it's quite...
00:10:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
I felt like that was too obvious. I i was trying to...
00:11:02
Zak
I thought I'd test you mate but there we are yeah so that it shows you that you know that the connections are being made there right like sometimes you see these things crop up and I find it kind of interesting because apparently when he was asked in his interview which I'll get to in a little bit when he joined the club about how there was like how the interest came about he didn't seem to know but basically said like oh yeah my agent spoke to me about it and then
00:11:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:11:29
Zak
but That came
Role of Agents and Networks in Transfers
00:11:29
Zak
from there. So clearly it's like they're all part of this big sort of network and there's a lot of sort of movement within that network, vice versa, right? Because agents are able to, you know, if you've got agents, presumably more than one when you're part of a big agency, right?
00:11:43
Zak
This kind of stuff happens a little bit more. So maybe we should keep an eye on that agency a little bit more because again, it's it's contained quite a few players that have played for us past and potentially future. So either way, we'll keep an eye on it.
00:11:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Maybe.
00:11:56
Zak
And this is this is where was telling you, Greg, about the information, right?
00:11:59
Zak
I thought i get his FC 25 rating because I know you care about those things. It's quite low, 63. imagine that's going to go up now that he's no longer in the Bundesliga 2 reserves, right?
00:12:10
Zak
Because now he's in a championship team.
00:12:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:12:12
Zak
It really depends.
00:12:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
movie
00:12:13
Zak
We'll have to see. Because he's he's got a he was brought in as cover. He wasn't really brought in to necessarily be...
00:12:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:12:19
Zak
running straight into the starting sort of 11. But maybe he has an opportunity now to, you know, get into that starting 11. I had a look at the interview. did a five-minute interview when he first joined the club.
00:12:32
Zak
And he was very, very excited to come to a club of this stature. And as I said, his agents were instrumental. And ah as soon as he kind of heard Southampton, he was like, yeah, i want to join because they you know because we're quite big.
00:12:48
Zak
And he'd watched a lot of games of us play football, which I feel like if he watched most of last season...
00:12:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Maybe not last season. Yeah.
00:12:54
Zak
I'm very surprised he joined. Right. And apparently he's very much looking forward to getting involved in the more rough style of English football, because obviously that suits his game a lot better than sort of German football.
00:13:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:13:08
Zak
And it's been a lifelong dream for him to play in England. Yeah. He was also the fastest player in the Bundesliga 2 last season, clocking in one sprint at 37 kilometers per hour.
00:13:21
Zak
And like when he was asked or told about that after the game, he was kind of like, oh, didn't really know. And George Rhys-Julian from the Daily Echo does a really, really fantastic piece on when he joined. And that includes going into the the ins and outs of how he probably got that level of pace.
00:13:39
Zak
and And he he basically says, oh, there was a...
00:13:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank
00:13:42
Zak
there was a coach, a guy called Philip. George has literally listed like the entire, the entire like yeah, so this was the coach that helped him at age 10 or whatever learn how to run super fast and coached him in condition.
00:13:55
Zak
Because obviously from his perspective, he's just like, yeah, I did lots of running as a footballer when I was young and then got taught to run more and now I've just kind of carried on doing it. It was amazing to watch him answer these questions because he's a young lad. He's doing his best.
00:14:10
Zak
But he's just kind of like,
00:14:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:14:11
Zak
How is it? Where does the pace come from? It's like, I don't know me.
00:14:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:14:16
Zak
So I really, really
Zencastr Partnership Promotion
00:14:18
Zak
enjoyed that. But we'll get back into some other bits and pieces of before we wrap up after a word from our partners at Zencaster.
00:14:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform. Zencaster came out the clear winner. With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to start podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently.
00:14:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description and learn more about Zencaster.
00:14:49
Zak
Wonderful. So we are back.
Quorshi's Playing Style and Inspirations
00:14:51
Zak
And when we left off, we were talking about his interview with Southampton when he first joined. So he kind of spoke about himself as a player as well.
00:14:59
Zak
And like what he thinks sort of he brings to the table. So he said he's a composed player and tries to keep it simple. which made me laugh because that is clearly what we need after we after having so many seasons of just every player trying to over-complicated every single little thing, right?
00:15:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:15:17
Zak
Like we've been crying out for simplicity.
00:15:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:15:19
Zak
It looked like when Juric first came in that it was going to be, oh my God, back to basics. And then it just never happened. And then he went a bit insane. So is fast and athletic and that is going to be how he tries to play. So he's going to try and be quick on the ball and he's going to try and sort of bring his size and sort of strength into the game uh he's really inspired by virgil van dyke who the interviewer had to point out played for us and he was like yeah yeah i'm aware of that but also good and that's mainly because he wants to live up to his quality because they have a very sort of similar build he's a big guy sort of uh you know and that that seems to be the game that he's kind of aiming after which you know as we know van dyke were the probably
00:15:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:15:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:16:00
Zak
one of the best defenders, in my opinion, in the world. And, you know, he started somewhere small as well. It's not quite the same level as when we poached him from Celtic, but he clearly got the drive to want to do better.
00:16:13
Zak
obviously, Greg, the big thing, which I kept talking about when I was talking about how our expectations the other day are set a kind of becoming more and more set in stone, is that obviously he wants to get promoted and wants everything to do, to what wants to do everything he can to sort of help get there.
00:16:30
Zak
And again, like can't stress enough how important it's going to be that we like finish in the top two, because I feel like everyone that is going to join us has joined us for a specific reason.
00:16:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mm-hmm.
00:16:41
Zak
And, uh, they keep citing it constantly and it's getting a bit deafening. So, you know, we we really need to sort ourselves out before the start of the season. And hopefully we've got enough time to do that. So, yeah.
00:16:53
Zak
As I said, George Rieselian has a really good article where he does a big rundown on everything and expands on a lot of the interview points. I don't want to necessarily plagiarize the entire article.
00:17:03
Zak
So, I'm not. So, if you fancy reading that, check out the Daily Echo for it. But what I'm going to do is... I went through all of the stat websites,
Strengths and Areas for Improvement
00:17:10
Zak
some of the ones you use, correct? And it's just it's just painful because the problem is is that you'll go to one and it'll completely contradict the other one.
00:17:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:17:18
Zak
So, I've tried to get... some things they all kind of agree on. So he likes to play short passes, which is a okay. Expect that as centre-back.
00:17:29
Zak
I don't really know if I want him knocking the ball a mile up the you know ah ah pitch.
00:17:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:17:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:17:35
Zak
So that's fair. Apparently that's a thing. He like clears the ball out of the defence often, which my word do we need that.
00:17:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
Good.
00:17:42
Zak
I'm quite happy with that to take place.
00:17:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yep.
00:17:44
Zak
as you know i mean that we're not very good at set pieces, but...
00:17:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yep.
00:17:48
Zak
It's better to get rid of the ball than necessarily mess about with it for too long, which is what's happened a lot in recent years.
00:17:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
and Yeah.
00:17:55
Zak
He does not dive into tackles.
00:17:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
Very much nice.
00:17:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's good.
00:17:59
Zak
Take that as you will. One of the other things that apparently is considered good is his concentration, which is really, really good. And his ability to block the ball. That's the other one.
00:18:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. I mean, that makes sense. You talked about him taking lessons from Virgil van Dijk. And one of the things that makes van Dijk such a difficult defender to play against is his patience and his ability to position himself in the most awkward place possible without taking the ball from you.
00:18:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
So it makes sense that he doesn't dive in and he's concentrates because that's, that's the profile. But yeah, big, rapid, promising,
00:18:34
Zak
but I think we kind of need that.
00:18:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
oh yeah I hope that he makes his way in and amongst the first team, like you say. feels a lot like with you know his experience level and his price tag that he was bought you know as a rotation player.
00:18:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
But I'll be interested to see you know if he fights his way into the first team. It'll be be interesting to see.
00:18:58
Zak
Yeah, that's that's the thing, right? And there are there are some negatives that I've seen. Like, for example, because of the way that the stats work and and they they compile, I think, sort of his games playing for his last club in the Bundesliga 2, right?
00:19:13
Zak
It was sort of like his his very poor tackling. That's that's slightly concerning as a centre-back, for sure. But again, it's like take all this with a pinch of salt. One of the other ones was long balls. And I think that makes sense if he is used to playing short passes and likes to play short passes.
00:19:29
Zak
Him trying to knock it a mile up the field is probably not something he's going to try and do And when he has to, you might make him a mistake or two. But again, like
Promising Talent and Future Potential
00:19:36
Zak
he's very young. but He's only just turned 21. And although he has a significantly large amount of experience, he's very much in reserve and youth football.
00:19:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:19:50
Zak
Like, we are the first, what I would consider to be, sort of senior...
00:19:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:19:55
Zak
step up, right, for for him. Yeah, he's played in the Bundesliga 2 quite a lot and did pretty well, but they were both sort of short alone spells that he'd have liked. Hoffenheim, it was entirely reserved apart from one game where he played.
00:20:08
Zak
And the rest of his career that people are citing are, you know, when he was literally in, like, not even youth youth squads, right? So there's a lot of promise there.
00:20:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:20:18
Zak
I feel like we shouldn't expect him to like just burst onto the scene. And if he does, we should probably give him you know a bit of a break because we're just as guilty of
00:20:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:20:28
Zak
Armabella Kochap is a perfect example of what happens when you put a bunch of pressure on a player that's very young and then he got injured and then there was the demotion from the Premier League and then he went off to Ajax and didn't really do that well and now he's in a bit of an awkward position.
00:20:43
Zak
But, like, he he's just turned 21. So it'll be interesting to see if he sticks around the first team. Will they put him in Premier League 2 a little bit more? I'm not really sure. Because, like, it seems like it's a first-team signing, especially from the way that they've they've talked about it.
00:20:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:20:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:20:59
Zak
But obviously, I don't know if they'll try and bed him in earlier. It's not the same as a Wellington or a Matsuki, right? Matsuki was essentially captaining a side in the top flight of the football in his country.
00:21:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:21:15
Zak
Wellington was in the top flight of his football in his country playing, like I want to say, 100 games in a season. He has not had... as much game time as I think we'd probably want him to.
00:21:25
Zak
But I also think that he's very, very excited to join and looks to be a profile that they have specifically targeted. Like, I don't think it's a surprise that he was the first pick.
00:21:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:21:36
Zak
So yeah.
00:21:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
But that's it. Well, look, look get the games in the championship come thick and fast, so it's important that you have a squad that's capable of that. and you know, there'll be opportunities for him in and around the first team, I'm sure, as the season progresses.
00:21:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Like say, maybe not as first choice based on all of that, but that doesn't mean he's not got his part to play. Like, there's going to be injuries, knocks, just fatigue.
00:21:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
like 46 games and they come thick and fast and that's without you know the cups as well like i've been doing the the schedule for our podcasts as the season starts and it's just non-stop it's uh it's all go go go so it's uh there's going to be plenty of opportunities so
00:22:02
Zak
Yeah. When you go up.
00:22:20
Zak
Yeah, it's it's kind of where I'm at. is It seems like they they've targeted a specific profile of a player. It's low risk because he isn't really proven. They've not broken the bank.
00:22:31
Zak
But with unproven, you also have opportunity. And I know that sometimes that our opportunity doesn't quite pan out the way that we want it to you know There are lots of examples of that and so in in ah in our squad even now.
00:22:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
Wait.
00:22:47
Zak
There are other opportunities. There are other examples of where it has worked. See Matias Fernandes, right? Like, whether he stays or goes, he had a banging first season here.
00:22:58
Zak
Lavia was another for example of a person that didn't play directly in the sort of top league. came to us, got that experience, and before you know it, bangers, you know, picked up by Chelsea for 50-odd million.
00:23:09
Zak
So, yeah, I think that he so far is impressed in pre-season. People think he's going to be a bit of a beast. He's very, very vocal. So we'll have to judge him on...
00:23:21
Zak
what comes, you know, next. And if it means that he establishes himself at our place and does really, really well, we're all going to be happy about it. And if not, as i said, it's a really low risk signing.
00:23:32
Zak
So I'm excited. I just think, again, it's just like, just had a lot of youth football but because he's 21 and i was 20 until like two days ago.
00:23:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:23:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's it. like but
00:23:41
Zak
so
00:23:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah ah sure like That is what I love about these episodes because I've learned so much. Genuinely. and And, you know, i didn't know what to expect from a sign that I've never heard of. i you know A new sign in you kind of immediately expect straight into the first team.
00:23:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
But actually, hearing this profile and hearing that that's probably more of one, not necessarily just for the future, but one that's going to take time you know just to bed himself in and and be that squad, presumably a squad player, I expect at this point our starting centre-backs to probably be what Harwood, Bellis and Stephens when fit.
00:24:26
Zak
More than likely, in my opinion, Harbour-Bennis went fit, Stephens as well, and then obviously Woods put himself.
00:24:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
Woods Edwards.
00:24:34
Zak
Edwards is obviously staking a claim as well.
00:24:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:24:37
Zak
And then you've got Kaya Sander in the back who might end up going on loan or alternatively go back to the under-23s PL2 team. But yeah, I think it's you're right. it's It's a good signing, but it might very much be like when we first picked up Ronnie Edwards, right?
00:24:52
Zak
And he had a sort of season where... He was sort of sitting and floating around the first team and then had a really, really good loan spell. If he doesn't burst out onto the scene and isn't picked to be a centre-back playing, starting for the whole first beginning the season, hopefully this gives a little bit of context as to why.
00:24:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:25:08
Zak
Or, alternatively, he'll start and then absolutely kill it, which, let's face it, we're all hoping for.
00:25:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:25:14
Zak
so
00:25:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Absolutely. Yeah.
00:25:16
Zak
<unk> I don't. i've way I'm so far looking at the players that, you know, look at the two players we brought in. and It's very, I'm kind of excited to see what they can do. I'm excited for them to, I want,
00:25:29
Zak
us to have all of these players that are brought in by sports and go, oh man, me he is a really good director of football. We made the right decision.
Transfer Market Dynamics
00:25:38
Zak
i don't want us to be sat here in, you know, couple, like a year's time having a similar conversation about a lot of players that we brought in, in maybe a emergency transfer windows that then kind of are stuck with the club forever.
00:25:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:25:53
Zak
And I think we've we've got a good chance of so far it going the way that we want it to. But, We'll see. I think there's still more incomings to come in now that most of our squad are disappearing off the face of the earth.
00:26:07
Zak
But had more links this morning to like a dozy, more links to a bunch of other people. It's really hard to keep up with
00:26:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I saw a pretty upsetting quote just before we started recording about 10 different clubs who are interested in Matty Fernandez. So...
00:26:20
Zak
Yeah, that's the owner of West Ham that that comes from, mate. it might just be that, you know, he's he's really, really salty that they haven't managed to get a deal over the line or alternatively, he's throwing out warning signs or unsettling people.
00:26:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:26:31
Zak
But either way, it's going to be it's going to be busy. And I think that I look forward to some of the the incomings being able to, you know, stamp their place in Saint's history. And hopefully, course, she'll be one of them.
00:26:44
Zak
There we go.
00:26:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
Fingers crossed.
00:26:46
Zak
but right, mate. That's pretty much it for today. you enjoy yourself?
00:26:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, wait, always. Like I say, I love these episodes. I learned so much from you in in ah in a way that I would never be able to on my own without you.
00:26:52
Zak
Nice.
00:26:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
That is not how my brain works, as you well know. But thank you very much for putting the working rating and getting that out because it's amazing stuff.
00:27:03
Zak
there is yeah yeah You're very, very welcome. And to all our wonderful listeners, thank you for listening. I'm sorry it's not the longest, most drawn out. I'm sorry I couldn't find significantly more information to to make it a bit more of a juicy episode. ah But we appreciate your time as always. And I hope you learned a little something along the
Engagement and Social Media Promotion
00:27:21
Zak
way.
00:27:22
Zak
If you fancy checking us out on the socials, we're on all of them. Facebook, Twitter, slash X, the everything app, whatever you want to call it. ah Blue Sky, YouTube, if you want to see me dazing in space when I'm trying to figure out a word.
00:27:36
Zak
ah ah Instagram, TikTok, all of them. We have a great time. We've got a massive backlog of episodes as well. if you're a new listener, we had we we did the whole of last season too. you can You can hear our more unhinged opinions or some of our other sort of research episodes.
00:27:51
Zak
Greg did a fantastic How Pep Guardiola Killed Football, which I will plug every chance I get because it is becoming more and more relevant. ah so So please, if you fancy checking that out.
00:28:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:28:02
Zak
And if not, thank you so much for listening and we will catch you in the next one.