Arsenal get ‘approval’ for £170m double signing as Arteta plots title defence

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Football365

·12 June 2026

Arsenal get ‘approval’ for £170m double signing as Arteta plots title defence

Arsenal have ‘approval’ to push ahead with a £170m double signing, but Manchester City are no longer signing Elliot Anderson for £65m.

Thomas Tuchel has also BANNED England players from doing something they weren’t going to do anyway.

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The World Cup is upon us but still transfers rule the roost.

Powell play

Just two headlines from the MailOnline over the past few days to kick things off:

‘JEFF POWELL: This was the loudest atmosphere I’ve ever heard at a World Cup – and I’ve covered THIRTEEN of them… England will be up against it if they end up here’ ‘JEFF POWELL MBE’S 12 WORLD CUPS: Bobby Moore took me to his favourite West End pub after England’s 1966 win, I sipped coffee with Zico to hear a Ronaldo-shaped bombshell, exposed Diego Maradona’s drugs cheating… and a whole lot more’

Anyone have any idea how many World Cups Jeff Powell has been to?

Throw me a frickin’ bone here

All the time in the world for The Sun website calling Ivan Toney a ‘shock call-up star’ while writing, presumably with mouths wide open in sheer disbelief, about him scoring a ‘HAT-TRICK’ against Miami FC.

Their report on the behind-closed-doors friendly also includes these lines:

‘The former Brentford ace even netted a “worldie” from range.’ ‘Ngumoha was also claimed to have scored a “breathtaking” goal from range.’

They’ve missed a trick not giving the byline to Dr. Evil.

His name is Rio and he sends a direct message

‘Liverpool starlet Rio Ngumoha sends direct message to Thomas Tuchel in private England friendly,’ is the Liverpool Echo‘s take on what wasn’t even a full 90-minute match against second-tier American club opposition, designed specifically for players actually picked for the World Cup to get some vaguely competitive preparatory minutes.

It is entirely unclear exactly what this ‘direct message’ was, beyond Ngumoha revealing to Tuchel that he is indeed quite good. Which the England manager who has him training with the squad before a World Cup at the age of 17 probably already knows.

A Tuch of class

Ngumoha will be relieved to be free of Tuchel’s tyranny, the German having imposed one absurd rule on his England players at the World Cup, as documented here:

‘Thomas Tuchel sets just ONE World Cup rule for England stars and makes ‘trust’ claim’ – Daily Mirror website.

‘They can almost do what they want’ – Thomas Tuchel reveals his one England ban during World Cup’ – The Sun website.

And both, quite inevitably, completely miss and perhaps just intentionally ignore the actual point behind the ‘ban’.

England players have not, as Charlie Wyett and Tom Coley report in The Sun ‘been BANNED from flying on days off during the World Cup’. It is specifically a pre-tournament thing. Players don’t really need to be banned from flying during the World Cup, because doing so is just patently a bit mad.

Nor has Tuchel really ‘ordered his England players to stay grounded,’ as John Cross reports for the Mirror.

Rather, he’s given them carte blanche to enjoy some time off before flying out to their World Cup base in Kansas, saying “they can almost do what they want” but, “for example, they can’t take a flight because hopefully we have a lot of flights through the tournament”.

Did anyone intend to? Obviously not because that would be daft. As Tuchel said: “No one has asked for a flight. They are adults.”

At least someone in the room is.

Worried about Ray

Moving away from the World Cup, this is absolutely massive:

‘EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal get approval to sign two names on transfer wishlist as combined spend could hit £170m’

With respect to Yaya Sithole, Julian Quinones and friends, that is quite some get for the Daily Mirror website. The Premier League champions getting exclusive authorisation for £170m worth of signings? Huge.

That is more than enough preamble; time for the big reveal. We can hardly click quicker.

‘Ray Parlour has given Arsenal his seal of approval…’

Oh for fu…

Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta will be thrilled to get clearance to sign Morgan Rogers and Eli Junior Kroupi from a ‘former Invincible’ (is that status revocable?) ‘at the launch of E.ON Next’s ‘Watch and Wash’ World Cup campaign’.

Flamin’ Ell

At this point it is imperative that the Daily Mirror release Jeremy Cross from any journalistic commitments beyond reporting on the future of Elliot Anderson.

His coverage on the developing transfer story has been, it must be said, absolutely impeccable and in no way hilariously bad.

On February 27, Cross wrote that Manchester United and Manchester City were ‘ready to go head to head’ in ‘a bidding war for the £75m-rated ace’.

By April 7, it was revealed that Manchester City felt they had won said race, with Cross suggesting they were ‘confident of landing Anderson in a £65m deal’.

Then on May 27, Manchester City were described as ‘increasingly confident’ of signing Anderson, with Manchester United ‘not willing to meet the asking price of around £100m’.

Now June 12 is upon us and ‘Manchester City are considering walking away’ from negotiations after having a £120m offer rejected.