Tuchel dishes out ‘brutal ultimatum’ to Arsenal star as ‘next Bukayo Saka’ sparks transfer scramble

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·12 de novembro de 2025

Tuchel dishes out ‘brutal ultimatum’ to Arsenal star as ‘next Bukayo Saka’ sparks transfer scramble

We’re deep into the interlull wilderness now, with various publications pretending Thomas Tuchel has issued a ‘brutal ultimatum’, or that some speculative transfer hoohah about Brighton and Bolton is in fact Arsenal and Bukayo Saka news, or that Man United have pulled off some kind of ‘transfer trick’ with Alejandro Garnacho.

Mediawatch has plenty of sympathy given there really is nothing much actually happening and that means guff has to fill the vacuum. As it were.

Vídeos OneFootball

But good grief, it really is a lot of guff.

Myles out

We’re not surprised The Sun decided against including Thomas Tuchel’s relevant quote in full under this bombastic headline.

Arsenal star handed brutal ultimatum by England boss Thomas Tuchel if he is to salvage World Cup dream

And there’s no headline stitch-up here, because this ultimatum is just so brutal that it’s repeated in an intro that is essentially just the headline again with some words rearranged a bit.

ENGLAND boss Thomas Tuchel has handed an Arsenal star a brutal ultimatum over his World Cup hopes.

Let there be no doubt that there is an ultimatum, and it is brutal.

So, what did Tuchel actually say about Myles Lewis-Skelly (for it is he)? The Sun opt for cherry-picking a couple of half-sentences from a longer and more thoughtful answer in order to remove anything so awkward as context or nuance.

Happily, the internet is a pretty big place and those Tuchel quotes in full are readily available in several hundred other places.

‘Myles was a very good team-mate and played for us in the last camp in the World Cup qualifier in Riga, so was Ruben Loftus-Cheek, so was Morgan Gibbs-White. ‘But I said last time there is a component to it and that is about competition and performance and the door is always open for guys who perform on a high level regularly. Myles, Ruben and Morgan got out-performed by O’Reilly, Alex Scott and Jude Bellingham in their positions. ‘Myles simply needs more starts, more minutes. Now came a time when O’Reilly had so many starts in that position, so he is slightly ahead for this camp.’

A brutal ultimatum, or a fair and really quite basic requirement of a player yet to start a single Premier League game this season? You decide.

Another fine Mess

The Sun have some fun with Lionel Messi quite rightly and correctly saying he will only be at the World Cup with Argentina next summer if he is fit enough and playing well enough.

Lionel Messi refusing to commit to Argentina for World Cup 2026 and admits ‘I don’t want to be a burden’

He hasn’t refused to ‘commit to Argentina’; he’s acknowledged that there are no guarantees now he’s 38 years old and playing non-elite club football that the world champions will commit to him. Although they probably will, like.

‘But as I was saying, I don’t want to be a burden, so to speak. I want to feel physically fit, to be sure I can help and contribute to the team. ‘Our season is different from the European one. ‘We’ll have a pre-season in between, with few matches leading up to the World Cup, and we’ll see how things go day by day to see if I really feel physically fit enough to be where I’d like to be and be able to participate.’

There is absolutely no refusal to commit there. He’s just refusing to make guarantees that are outside his control.

And while we’re here, lads…

The reigning champions were the first South American team to qualify for the tournament, securing their spot on March 25 when Bolivia drew 0-0 with Hungary.

That would be Uruguay. World Cup qualification is pretty wild now with a whole 48 places up for grabs, but it hasn’t yet reached the point of shipping Hungary off to the CONMEBOL qualifiers.

Super Amario

Needs must in the international break and we get that, so it is with grudging respect we bring you this Mirror headline, which is a truly sensational way to sell the possible potential that some unconfirmed Championship clubs might possibly potentially be interested in making a loan move in January for a player currently already out on loan in League One

‘Next Bukayo Saka’ sparks January transfer tussle after leaving Arsenal as free agent

The admittedly very exciting Amario Cozier-Duberry is actually a Brighton player on loan at Bolton – not that you’d know it from that headline.

The piece concludes with the following prediction:

Don’t be surprised if we are all talking about another Brighton transfer masterstroke, this time next year.

Just not in headlines, obviously. Those will still be about Arsenal and Saka.

Long Con

And sticking with the Mirror and loan spells at Bolton, there’s this time-mangling mischief-making effort as well.

‘That’s me done at Liverpool’ – Conor Bradley claim speaks volumes after Pep Guardiola remark

Pep Guardiola’s remark was actually about how well Jeremy Doku played against Liverpool despite Conor Bradley being among their opponents’ better players on the day. Which really wasn’t saying much.

Conor Bradley’s ‘that’s me done’ claim? Well, that did not in fact come ‘after’ any Pep Guardiola remark. It came when he was on loan at Bolton. In 2022.

Volumes indeed.

Bon chance

Bonnie Blue has dealt a big blow to one Premier League manager with her take on the title race. ‘My ex is an Arsenal fan, so I wouldn’t want them to win.’

Not sure there’s any way back for Arteta now.

Trick or treat

We’re not saying the Mirror are easily impressed…

Alejandro Garnacho transfer trick protects Man Utd from nightmare scenario

…but they’re talking here about a 10 per cent sell-on clause. Why has nobody thought of including such things in contracts before Man United came up with such a cunning ‘trick’?

Curiosity killed the gap

We’ve all got the hang by now of the need for your modern online headlines to leave – or quite often actively create – a curiosity gap rather than do anything so daft as give readers crucial information before they’ve handed over their precious, precious click. But it does quite often result in headlines tinged with the absurd.