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Ryan Christie believes the Scotland squad has the “perfect” mix as it looks to take a giant step toward Euro 2024 against Cyprus. Steve Clarke’s side have won their first four qualifiers to sit top of Group A, eight points ahead of Georgia and Norway and nine ahead of Spain, albeit the Spanish have only played two fixtures. After thrilling wins, most notably away to Norway and at home to Spain, the Scots are looking to at least extend their unbeaten run to nine games in Larnaca on Friday, hoping to eventually reach a second successive European Championship finals. Scotland then host England in a 150th anniversary match at Hampden and can qualify that night if results in the other group games go their way. Talking about the team spirit and confidence in the camp, Bournemouth midfielder Christie, 28, said: “It is probably the perfect mix. I’ve never had it so perfect in any other club I have been a part of in my career. “You can see it when everybody meets up and has a brilliant laugh with each other, but when game time rolls around or when we’re on the training pitch everybody’s completely locked in. “So it’s just a nice feeling. I think it also helps when everybody’s meeting up and everyone’s just kind of sliding in again back to normal and ready to go again. It definitely helps and hopefully that will help on Friday. “I think the togetherness is always spoken about a lot, but the belief and confidence we have within ourselves as a group now has never been higher. Obviously qualifying for the last Euros and when we had that kind of slip qualifying for the World Cup, we were desperate to bounce back from that. To be fair ever since that we’ve been right back on track. “The group of boys we’ve got now, from experience right down to the young boys pushing in, everybody’s pushing in the same direction and starting to show.” We need to now keep qualifying for these tournaments because we've got a good enough squad to do it Ryan Christie Christie believes the squad has benefited from the experience of qualifying for Euro 2020, the first time Scotland have reached the finals of a major tournament since 1998. The former Inverness and Celtic player, who will win his 40th cap if selected in Larnaca, added: “Obviously qualifying for the last one, and I’m sure you guys (in the media) felt it too, was just like a massive weight off the shoulders, if anything. “And up to that point, it felt like almost we were jinxed not to qualify for anything. “So to get rid of that feeling was nice. It’s definitely gone. And now we need to now keep qualifying for these tournaments because we’ve got a good enough squad to do it. “We know that so we put that pressure on ourselves from within. I think before the last Euros we qualified for there was a pressure externally as well for us. It feels like everybody’s together.” Christie scored the first of his five Scotland goals in a 2-1 win over Cyprus in Nicosia in November 2019. “Very good memories,” he said of that contest. “My memories are that it was tough to be honest. That’s my first memory. “It’s easy for the onlookers or supporters to overlook Cyprus but, especially when you’re playing away from home against these guys, they make it so hard. “That last game was a tough one. So we expect the same on Friday.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Topsy Ojo backs Steve Borthwick’s England to come good at World Cup Rory McIlroy vows to take ‘sensible’ approach to pre-Ryder Cup stag do Charlie Nicholas urges Scotland to capitalise on Euro qualification chance

Scotland will stay humble as they look to battle past Cyprus and keep themselves in the driving seat to qualify for Euro 2024, according to former national team striker Charlie Nicholas. Steve Clarke’s men are aiming for a fifth straight Group A win in Larnaca on Friday night, which, if other results go their way next week, could see Scotland’s place in the finals confirmed. Nicholas, who played for Scotland at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, believes Clarke will not allow any thoughts of having already booked a ticket to Germany next summer as his team focus on showing the required mentality in the heat of the AEK Arena. “This is the first time I can ever recall being in a position of comfort in a group like this. It is a kind of weird experience,” Nicholas told the PA news agency. “Steve Clarke’s business as a manager is being serious, so the boys will stay humble – and I do think they will get it tough in Cyprus. “Now this becomes the most important one, because it would give us a really nice buffer if we were to win it, but it will be tight. “It will be in the heat, which obviously doesn’t complement us, but we have put ourselves in a great position so we must not let it slip now.” Scotland’s assistant coach John Carver has branded the current squad the “most focused group” he has ever worked with, having seen them beat Spain at Hampden Park in March and then win away in Norway. Nicholas added: “Looking at these guys, what you have got is a lot of important players playing at top football clubs – even with Kieran Tierney’s move, it is to a top club in Spain (at Real Sociedad). “There is a lot of knowledge in there and also with that desire – they will be told the whole truth when it comes to these qualifying games, because we are so close to it. “If we go and win in Cyprus, that doesn’t guarantee us (qualification), but it more or less does – and in Scotland we have learned never to take too much for granted. “They are a well-respected group with what they stand for together. There is no faking with these guys, they are bang on the money and know where they are trying to get to.” On September 17, Nicholas will be joining broadcaster Jeff Stelling when he takes on a 34th marathon Football March for Prostate Cancer UK, from Wembley to Wycombe Wanderers, in honour of the late Bill Turnbull. Former Celtic and Arsenal striker Nicholas lost his father, Chic, to prostate cancer, which affects one in eight men, in December 2009. The Scot stressed the importance of early diagnosis, which brings with it more options for advanced treatments such as radiotherapy and better life outcomes. “I think we (men) are a bit afraid about it, because you don’t want to turn up at the doctors and think you are going to get bad news,” Nicholas said. “It is scary and it is not nice to go and find out – but the thing is if you have symptoms, then just go and get it checked. “Because if you sadly have got it and they can spot it early enough, that actually puts you in a good position. It might not sound like it, but you really are.” :: Jeff Stelling’s Football March 2023 is sponsored by specialist cancer care provider GenesisCare. You can sponsor Jeff to honour Bill’s legacy and help beat prostate cancer via – https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/JeffStellingsFootballMarch2023 Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Saudi Arabian human rights activist says Newcastle protests can make difference Dan Cole ready for ‘dangerous’ Argentina in England’s World Cup opener Manchester United taking abuse allegations made against Antony ‘seriously’

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A leading Saudi Arabian human rights activist says Newcastle are being used as a “tool” to legitimise Mohammed bin Salman’s regime and urged supporters not to underestimate the power of protest. Members of the NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing group are set to stage a demonstration outside St James’s Park on Friday night, prior to the first of two international friendlies set to be staged by the Saudis at the venue this month. Lina al-Hathloul, whose sister Loujain was imprisoned and tortured after leading a campaign to allow women to drive in her homeland, was on Tyneside this week to stress that shows of dissent can still have a significant impact on the actions of the regime. More than two years after Newcastle’s controversial takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the small minority of dissenters among the club’s fan-base is refusing to give up hope of pricking the consciences of enough fellow supporters to make an impression. Speaking at a public meeting close to the stadium, Hathloul said: “They (the Saudi regime) really think that they’ve bought everyone’s silence, but you should not underestimate the power one word can have. “We’re still in a phase where image is important for the Saudi regime. That’s why they do as much as they can to cover up the (human rights) violations. We're not asking you to choose to love your club or to speak up - both can work together. You can be happy about Newcastle winning and still criticise what is happening in Saudi Lina al-Hathloul “We’re not asking you to choose to love your club or to speak up – both can work together. You can be happy about Newcastle winning and still criticise what is happening in Saudi.” Saudi Arabia’s two friendlies, against Costa Rica on Friday and South Korea four days later, are widely regarded as further proof of the regime’s links to the takeover, despite “legally binding assurances” given to the Premier League in 2021 that it had no such influence. Al-Hathloul called the Saudi claim a “lie”, adding: “I love my national team, and for me it’s always difficult to dissociate the regime and what I love about my country. “[But] when has the Saudi national team played abroad in a friendly? It is very rare, and now it really is a coincidence that they are playing in Newcastle. “So we see the Saudi government is using Newcastle as a tool now to push their agenda.” Loujain al-Hathloul was released in February 2021 after spending 1,001 days in jail under counter-terrorism laws. Al-Hathloul and her family continue to live under restrictions that prevent them leaving the country. Newcastle have been contacted for a response. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Dan Cole ready for ‘dangerous’ Argentina in England’s World Cup opener Manchester United taking abuse allegations made against Antony ‘seriously’ Bukayo Saka keen to improve after winning England men’s player of the year again

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Manchester United have said they take “seriously” the allegations that Brazilian winger Antony attacked his ex-girlfriend, but the club have not confirmed whether an internal investigation will now take place. Brazil have dropped the 23-year-old from their upcoming international fixtures, but United have not clarified whether he remains in contention for club selection. “Manchester United acknowledges the allegations made against Antony and notes that the Police are conducting enquiries,” a statement read. “Pending further information, the club will be making no further comments. “As a club we are taking this matter seriously, with consideration of the impact of these allegations and subsequent reporting will have on survivors of abuse.” In an interview with Brazilian website UOL – which also published photographs and screenshots of messages between the pair – Gabriela Cavallin claims she was attacked by Antony “with a headbutt” in a Manchester hotel room on 15 January, leaving her with a cut head which needed treatment from a doctor. Cavallin, a social media influencer, also alleges she was punched in the chest by Antony, which she claims caused damage to a silicone breast implant which required corrective surgery back in Brazil. Another alleged incident is claimed to have taken place at a house on 8 May, with Cavallin saying she suffered a cut finger while trying to protect herself, accusing Brazil international Antony of throwing a glass cup towards her as well as then taking her passport. Cavallin is said to have filed a report to the Sao Paulo Civil Police concerning allegations of physical and verbal abuse by Antony while on holiday in Brazil during June 2022, when she was pregnant, as well as making a separate complaint to Greater Manchester Police (GMP). Writing on Instagram, Antony, who signed for United from Ajax in an £85.5m deal in September 2022, protested his innocence in response to what he called “false accusations”. “Out of respect for my fans, friends and family, I feel obliged to speak out publicly about the false accusations I have been the victim of,” Antony said. “From the beginning I have treated this matter with seriousness and respect, providing the necessary clarifications before the police authority. The police investigation is under judicial secrecy, and therefore I cannot make its contents public. However, I can calmly state that the accusations are false and that the evidence already produced and the other evidence that will be produced demonstrate that I am innocent of the accusations made. “My relationship with Gabriela was tumultuous, with verbal insults from both sides, but I never committed any physical aggression. At each moment, whether in testimony or in an interview, she presents a different version of the accusations. “Therefore, I come to vehemently deny the accusations made and inform you that I remain at the entire disposal of the Brazilian authorities to clarify whatever is necessary. I trust that the ongoing police investigations will demonstrate the truth about my innocence.”

A new fund to support players with dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases has been created by the Professional Footballers’ Association and the Premier League. A fund has been in the works to support affected players and their families ever since PFA chief executive Maheta Molango met with campaigners Dawn Astle and Rachel Walden early in his tenure in 2021. Further meetings followed with the Premier League, the Football Association and the EFL. At this point, only the PFA and the Premier League are involved in the fund, which has an initial £1million available for distribution to families. Molango insists this should be “a football-wide responsibility” and the ultimate goal is that the fund be replaced in the longer term by a charity backed by all the four key stakeholders in English football. The FA is involved in funding a number of research projects aimed at understanding why there is a heightened risk of neurodegenerative disease among footballers, something identified by the 2019 FIELD Study. However, the fund is designed to tackle the immediate needs of players already living with dementia. Molango said: “This is an important step forward in the way football provides practical support to former players who develop dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions. “It’s an issue where, in all areas, we continue to believe there needs to be a football-wide responsibility. “That includes providing access to financial support for former players and the families who most need it. “The Premier League deserves credit for the proactive way in which it has approached these discussions. Obviously, we hope that other stakeholders in the game will choose to contribute to the fund going forward. This is an important step forward in the way football provides practical support to former players who develop dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions PFA chief executive Maheta Molango “There is much that still needs to be done, but this is a positive development which will provide help to former players and their families, and which demonstrates how football has to work together on this issue.” Former professionals who have been members of the PFA, and their families, will be able to make applications for financial support which will be assessed by an independent, expert panel. The PFA will proactively approach ex-players and their families it is in contact with who it believes would benefit from the support to explain to them how to make an application. The union’s brain health unit will also act as a point of contact for former professionals and their families who come forward looking for support or advice. Dawn Astle’s involvement has been pivotal to the creation of the fund. Her father Jeff Astle, a former West Brom and England forward, died in 2002 aged 59 with early-onset dementia. A coroner recorded the cause of death as industrial disease, owing to the repeated heading of a ball. She was once a vocal critic of the PFA under its former chief executive Gordon Taylor over what she perceived to be a lack of support offered to her family and others, but joined the union’s former player care department in early 2022. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said the welfare and care of players “has always been a priority” for his organisation and added: “We feel it is important to offer our support to this newly-established brain health fund. “The fund builds on our long-standing partnership with the PFA and strengthens our collective support for former players facing health challenges.” An FA spokesperson said: “We welcome the new Brain Health Fund, which will provide valuable support for former professional footballers. “We will continue to work across the game with stakeholders to provide research, education, awareness and support on brain health. As the governing body of English football, we continue to focus on research into brain health through multiple ground-breaking programmes, such as the Advanced Brain Clinic and BrainHOPE, to help gain a greater understanding of this area through objective, robust and thorough research.” The EFL is involved in discussions with other football stakeholders to establish a charitable vehicle as a longer-term provider for support. The league is also working through a pan-football brain health action plan to understand, protect and support both current and former players regarding brain health and head injuries.

Manchester United are “taking seriously” allegations of domestic abuse made against forward Antony. The 23-year-old was dropped by Brazil after accusations of physical aggression on a number of occasions since January towards his former girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin. Antony, who has made 31 appearances since Cavallin made a complaint to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in January, has denied the claims. “Manchester United acknowledges the allegations made against Antony and notes that the police are conducting enquiries,” said a club statement. “Pending further information, the club will be making no further comments. “As a club, we are taking this matter seriously, with consideration of the impact of these allegations and subsequent reporting will have on survivors of abuse.” United have not said whether Antony remains available for selection. In an interview with Brazilian website UOL – which also published photographs and screenshots of messages between the pair – Cavallin claims she was attacked by Antony “with a headbutt” in a Manchester hotel room on January 15, leaving her with a cut head which needed treatment from a doctor. Cavallin, a social media influencer, also alleges she was punched in the chest by Antony, which she claims caused damage to a silicone breast implant which required corrective surgery back in Brazil. Another alleged incident is claimed to have taken place at a house on May 8, with Cavallin saying she suffered a cut finger while trying to protect herself, accusing Antony of throwing a glass cup towards her as well as then taking her passport. Cavallin is said to have filed a report to Sao Paulo Civil Police concerning allegations of physical and verbal abuse by Antony while on holiday in Brazil during June 2022, when she was pregnant, as well as making a separate complaint to GMP. Writing on Instagram earlier this week, Antony, who signed for United from Ajax in an £85.5million deal in September 2022, dismissed the claims as “false accusations”. “From the beginning I have treated this matter with seriousness and respect, providing the necessary clarifications before the police authority,” he wrote. “However, I can calmly state that the accusations are false and that the evidence already produced and the other evidence that will be produced demonstrate that I am innocent of the accusations made. “My relationship with Gabriela was tumultuous, with verbal insults from both sides, but I never committed any physical aggression. “Therefore, I come to vehemently deny the accusations made and inform you that I remain at the entire disposal of the Brazilian authorities to clarify whatever is necessary. “I trust that the ongoing police investigations will demonstrate the truth about my innocence.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Bukayo Saka keen to improve after winning England men’s player of the year again Fund for footballers suffering from dementia launched by PFA and Premier League Brendan Rodgers says Jordan Henderson criticism coming from ‘morality officers’

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There are still moments when Arsene Wenger sits at his desk in Zurich – of course overlooking every type of pitch, from 11-a-side to beach football – and wonders about the scale of the task he has taken on. Perhaps facing Sir Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola was easier. “When you sit here and think, ‘I have to improve football in the world’, you realise that it’s not easy, you know," Wenger laughs, before gesturing to the pitches below. "I would rather say ‘give me a team and down there I can show you what I can do’. But once you sit here and say, 'how much, 211 countries? OK, thank you very much!’” And yet, as great as Wenger’s managerial legacy is, there are so many moments in speaking to him about his role as Fifa chief of global football development when it’s impossible not to wonder how much the wider game could have benefitted from his rare insight. “I can understand that as long as I was at Arsenal I didn't care too much about that because I had to win the next game," he says. "Once you have a global vision of world football, you realise something is not right.” Wenger has probably attracted most focus in the role for fronting the move for a biennial World Cup, but his real work – and a truly great responsibility – is raising the level of the sport across the planet so every country and every child has a chance. “I believe really football can change the world,” he said at the Fifa Women’s Football Convention in Sydney last month. “Not just on the football side, the human side. That’s the next step.” Wenger is sitting here on transfer deadline day explaining in a wide-ranging interview with the Independent exactly how. It is a particular challenge when he goes to countries like Cote d’Ivoire and the president tells him they haven’t had an official youth game in five years. “And here you have Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure, you know we have the players, it’s a football country,” Wenger says. “I always think there’s a little girl or a little boy who has a dream, has the talent and no opportunity.” It’s all the more frustrating for Wenger since there is now a strong argument that football is the most popular cultural pursuit the planet has ever seen, particularly with the way it spreads into the United States and India, all while developing huge money. Most of that, however, stays in one corner of the globe. “In Europe, it's all done and we are a little bit not conscious of the needs elsewhere, because in some countries there's no [football] education… it’s incredible. “Football is conquering the world at an unstoppable speed and at the moment there is a dysfunction between the audience and the practice in some countries.” In other words, there aren’t the resources to match the interest: the dream. Wenger talks about how the first steps to solving this are creating free centres of excellence for the best young talent and spreading out from there to create grassroots structures. Fifa is currently funding 25 academies, and the former Arsenal manager recently had the coaches involved at his office for the final preparations. Such is the nature of the discussion and the nature of his thinking, though, that an hour-long interview spreads into all manner of areas. They include: How football may have to “create striker schools” to solve a lack of goalscorers How modern academies offer high technical quality but have meant “we lose a bit of that freedom, that creativity” How pressing has affected that “The trend in some academies is to recreate park football” How football isn’t producing anywhere near as many good players as it could “Does the world produce enough good players? I think no” How this has led to an inflated transfer market, where “everybody thinks the same” Why countries like Croatia and Uruguay are so repeatedly successful How football is addressing these issues There’s then the vintage manner he offers profound insights about football, and seemingly simple lines that capture so much, just in sitting there talking about it. Employing Wenger to directly study the game only amplifies that, which is what he has spent the last few years doing since taking the job in 2019. “We analysed football in 205 countries and we found in half of the world there’s a deficit in education… which I mean as identification of talent, coaching programme, quality of coaching, quality of the competitions and integration in the first team. “What we basically found out by analysing the whole world is there’s a huge correlation between the quality of the educational system and the results in the first team. That was mathematics. “We proposed to each member association to help them to develop the education. Basically, if you have no education in life, you have no chance so my purpose was of course to change that.” Some of the challenges themselves come from what has been one of the most transformational factors in the modern game. That is the way a sequence of wealthy western European countries like France, Spain, Germany and now England have essentially industrialised talent production. Wenger himself points to how Clairefontaine-fashioned underage teams were thrashing England’s when he arrived at Arsenal in 1996, but that no longer happens. England has caught up. It’s put to him that the old line from journalist and former footballer Eamon Dunphy - that “dictatorships and poverty” produce good footballers - no longer applies. It is typical Wenger, though, that immediately leads to another fascinating path of discussion. “No, no, I would say it's quality of education. What has dropped in recent generations is that of course park football has disappeared and now the trend in some academies is to recreate again what happened before. The game itself is a good coach. “Why? Because, if I play in the park, I have to make decisions. If I’m shrewd enough to think why did that not come off, and have a right assessment, the next time I am in the same situation I am correct. We have lost that a little bit. And maybe today we are overcoaching a little bit sometimes, and we lose a bit that freedom, that creativity, that individual personalised training that happened before.” A classic example of what Wenger is talking about comes from one of the most famous goals of all time. In bearing down on Peter Shilton in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final, Diego Maradona remembered a previous occasion when the England goalkeeper went one way. So, at this moment of heightened tension and consequence, the Argentina great went the other way. The rest is history, but the evolution since has removed something from the game’s present. Wenger believes the greatest cost of the more homogenised academy system is with that fundamental of the game - putting the ball in the back of the net. Or, more specifically, he believes it has resulted in a decline in strikers that has inevitably brought a decline in classic centre-halves, too. READ MORE: ‘Would Messi still have been Messi?’ A lost generation of future footballers The hermetically sealed nature of modern academies has meant young players are not “educated for the fight” in the same way. “I think football has improved dramatically all over the world but some positions today are more difficult to find because maybe the evolution and the quality of the coaching has suppressed natural fighting qualities in positional play. “The emphasis has become more on quality of passing, quality of coaching. What you lost from the wild football is, if you go out now to a training session here, it will be built to start with passing, after that the quality of possession. “Before, the training pitches were not good, so you had to lift the ball to the striker. A striker had to fight to get the ball so, naturally, you develop qualities that, with the passing, you develop a little bit less. “If we go out there and play in the park, you think you have to score goals to win the game. Then you have to fight. “As well, the man-to-man marking has disappeared so it’s easier to get the ball. You are less confronted with fight. You see that in Germany. Since they play zonal they don’t produce strikers anymore. “If you look at the global evolution, we have moved away from defenders who only defend, from strikers who only attack, from midfielders where some defend and some attack, to be more demanding completely. Technically, today, the players in every position need to be better because of higher demands than 30 years ago. The pace is higher, the athletic side is higher. So, today, the right-back is technically better, the centre-back is technically better. Of course, you had exceptions in history but maybe it has also kicked out specificity; the creativity of some players because of the pace. “Overall, every player in each position has become a more complete player. I would say because we have gone in a more specific passing game today, the demands on the striker to score is smaller than it was before. Jurgen Klinsmann made an interesting point on that at the World Cup. He said to me. ‘I played with only one thing: I have to score. I feel the strikers today judge their own game by how they combine with other players. I only judged my game on did I score or not.’” READ MORE: The Premier League is having an identity crisis – but one thing can save it So, how does football solve this? Wenger believes this is being deeply considered, and that Erling Haaland represents a throwback who could point to a new spin on an old way. “At the end of the day, no matter what you do, football is always the quality of the one who gives you the ball and the one who puts it in the net. It’s true you find more good passers now than finishers. “And you can develop these qualities. I think it’s something that will be addressed. Now, after 15 years of age, we have to start specialisation and positional play. “Finishing under pressure. Finishing by being challenged and the quality of the movement… to get that responsibility on their shoulders, that their focus every day is to score, to fix them targets. So maybe we have to create striker schools, internally inside the club, or more specific work. I think it’s on the way to happening now. “If I look at Haaland, Haaland is for me the real typical striker. He looks like he is ready for the fight, ready to be focused on only scoring goals. Like [Olivier] Giroud is a real striker in mentality, that explains why he’s still playing at 36, 36. And [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, [Karim] Benzema, they have been educated for the fight, they have been educated to finish as well. “In France now, you have some good strikers again. Germany, where they had big strikers, they have less. They are thinking now how they can change that again.” It may bring a change in centre-halves, too, given how interlinked the two roles are. As someone who used to play in that area himself, Wenger now feels Jamie Carragher is right that it might be the most demanding position in the game. “At the end of my career, you wanted centre-backs to play out from the back. Today you want the centre-back to play like a number-10 and to defend as well, to be tough. Fighting and to play. It’s tough to always find that balance.” That, for Wenger, is also where the beauty lies. “You know, football is magic for me because there is a good balance we have to make between the technical, the physical and the tactical,” Wenger adds. “So, for example, one of the things we are cautious to change is the offside rule because we want to keep that balance right. READ MORE: The trick that made Erling Haaland the ultimate finisher – in more ways than one If I play for example against [Kylian] Mbappe, the only advantage I have is to play him offside. If offside is even more difficult for me to play, I have no chance anymore. So what can I do? When his team has the ball I can run in the box because I wait for him. The rest, I have no chance! Haaland is the same. “So, when you press, the defence has to move up, and the space is behind me. Against the quick players, it becomes even more difficult. That is a good example of the evolution of the game. The attack gives you a new problem. The defence responds by analysing your superiority. Then the attack finds a new solution and creates again a new problem and the defence comes behind. “So I would say now how do you slowly fight against the pressing, it’s by getting the players better technically. Evolution is created by opposition.” There is a similar dynamic in the transfer market, which has influenced some of this summer’s excesses. Whereas it used to be that Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane would command the record fees because they were in their prime and had established careers that offered absolute proof of quality, that sort of expenditure is now geared towards much younger talent. Even teenagers like Rasmus Hojlund and Jude Bellingham have gone for huge fees. Part of that is their ability, particularly with Bellingham. Part of it is the premium on their positions, particularly with a striker like Hojlund. Part of it is the thinking. “What is happening now is because clubs think that confirmed players are so expensive, they try to fight for the younger players. They are thinking they will get them at the cheaper price. The fact that everybody thinks the same makes the prices of the younger players too high, in my opinion. Why? Because it is at 19, 20, 21 where you see if the player has the capacity to cope with the pressure. READ MORE: The year that sportswashing won: A season that changed football forever “For the confirmed players, with the high levels of transfers come high wages and even clubs like Real Madrid cannot cope with both. What is the trend in the top markets? They get the players to go to the end of the contract to be capable of giving the players the wages they want. And it looks like now the competition with Saudi Arabia will even increase that, so overall I would say there’s more fight for the young players. “But two questions. Does the world produce enough good players? I think no, and I believe as well that the prices depend on the identity of the buyer. If he is tomorrow president of Young Boys Berne [gesturing towards Fifa media officer Stefan Curtis] and I am Arsenal, I will come to see him. ‘Who are you? Arsenal, OK, English, I have a good player.’ In Switzerland he would sell for £5m, in England for £50m. So somewhere, the identity of the buyer fixes the price.” It’s a theme that brings together much of Wenger’s work, and why it is so important for the game, as well as how it’s played. So much of the money is concentrated in western Europe, and particularly the Premier League, which has in turn generated even more mega interest around the rest of the world. Many countries don’t have anything like the same resources, though, which has meant they cannot maximise the potential talent. The talent they do have is meanwhile quickly bought up, reducing the quality of their domestic competitions as well as the money the football culture can consequently invest. Part of Wenger’s great mission, beyond just changing the world by changing the football world, is to lift the level of their entire game; to restore a vitality. “I believe the globalisation of the world has concentrated the big money in a few number of clubs,” Wenger emphasises. “his few number of clubs has a huge potential and the rest of the world watches the Premier League. So, what does a guy in China or South Africa do in the morning? He thinks ‘ah, Premier League.’ Why? Because the best players play there and that reinforces the Premier League even more, so that means the concentration of the money in the small number of clubs has created even an inflated market. “And then once you have all the best players in the world in the same league, that means if I have a Chinese player in the Premier League, all China will watch the Premier League. That reinforces even more that superiority. “What I want to create is that in Angola, for example, we produce as well players who are good enough to produce a quality in their own championship, that the guy can have a choice. ‘Yes, I will still watch the Premier League but in my league something is happening as well - oh, here we have as well some good players’. Then it creates interest. “That’s why I tell you the deficit of education today is detrimental to the quality of the championships and as well to the quality of the national teams worldwide.” This is the “dysfunction” Wenger spoke about. “For example, the television audiences in India are very high, in China very high, but the players are not educated at the same pace,” Wenger maintains. “What we want is to provide them with the capacity to play. That’s our target.” If the targets are the same for every country, the challenges are different. While an emphasis will inevitably be on countries of inferior resources, those with more resources can bring the opposite problem, which is privatised football; or coaching that costs parents more money. The most obvious example is the United States’ “pay to play” system. “We have in some countries a lack of football culture,” Wenger concedes. “A lack sometimes of structures, and in some countries, because the private academies have taken over, a child from a poor background cannot pay to get into the football school. It’s exactly the reverse of what I want to do.” It’s also the opposite of what football represents. “You can play with an orange or you can make a ball with paper. That’s why football is so popular. But today if you want to get to a good level of education in football, in some countries you don’t get it. I find that not right because, in many countries, there are some private initiatives, but the parents have to pay to get the children in there. “For me it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. If you are good, you come in. Our academies are free, just open to talent. You have to adapt and find a solution in every country.” *** It is here when another Wenger thought opens a whole new avenue of discussion. In this case, it is how some national teams constantly overperform. “What we found out, and what explains countries like Croatia, like Uruguay – who are small countries, three million people – is that a number of good players on a short surface is more important than a number of good players on a big surface.” In other words, they’ve realised how to use their size to an advantage, by being able to bring the best talent together more easily and enjoy a multiplying effect. “I realised 40 years ago from a study I made for Netherlands, why I want to put the best with the best. Because they play against each other, they stimulate each other. That explains countries like Netherlands, Croatia, Uruguay. “They keep creating teams and players because they have a good level of education and identification of talent. “Croatia was in the last four of the last two World Cups so that means success is not limited to big countries. It is just limited to the quality of education and organisation.” It is also a newly romantic virtue of international, that has inverted a lot of football history. It now offers a vitality that the club game can’t. No matter how big the population, international managers have to make do with what they have. The biggest clubs just buy what they lack. “Yes, the international team game is rewarding the quality of the educational work. The club game, and I am a big fan of big clubs, is the recruitment of the best players from all over the world. It’s fantastic, but I think you need the two, to give everybody the chance. “For example, Croatia today cannot compete with their clubs, at the top level, because the players leave early. Then they come back and compete with their national team so they are rewarded for the quality of their work. READ MORE: The famous Croatia shirt is transforming good players into World Cup greats “That’s our target. In Africa, it’s the same. In Concacaf it’s the same. I come back from Australia, football is unstoppable. “The boy or the girl wants the dream. When they watch football players, when they see the World Cup, when you watch it, you have the dream, which is to play football and to lift the World Cup. We create the dream. But we do not have at the moment the capacity to fulfil this dream.” That’s what he is pondering as he sits at that desk. It is in some ways the same as when he was a club manager, speaking to why the game is so popular. It’s to fulfil the dream. 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