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  • 6 weeks ago
Transcript
00:00Who wants to kick off? Ed?
00:03Hello.
00:04Let me have a little squint of water.
00:07Sorry.
00:08No worries.
00:10I just wondered if you got what you wanted this summer,
00:13you asked for a big summer and you got the players that you wanted.
00:17Do you feel under more pressure than them to deliver a trophy this season
00:22or is the feeling going to seem quite relaxed?
00:25The same one as last year, I think we've done nothing different
00:28to any of the top teams.
00:30If anything, some of them have done even more, you know,
00:34and they've been doing more in the last few years as well
00:37and they come from a different place.
00:39So, no.
00:40My will, more than anybody else, to win 100 per cent.
00:43Does that concern you then that the other teams
00:45may have even got further ahead of you?
00:47Do you think you've managed to keep up with them?
00:49I think we've done so far and still days to go.
00:52Very, very good transfer window.
00:55I'm super happy in the process that we put in place,
00:57the people, how Andrea has work adapted to the club,
01:00the support from board and ownership.
01:02It's been tough.
01:03We are really happy with what we've done.
01:04That's the only thing we can control
01:06and we're going to spend energy on.
01:08And just on Martin,
01:10you mentioned how he's obviously going to be the captain again this season.
01:13Is the onus on him to perform a bit better, return a few more goals?
01:18Because last year you struggled and have obviously had injuries as well,
01:21but is he determined to try?
01:24Yeah, but nobody else is going to be more.
01:26And the way Martin behaves, trains, prepares himself,
01:29and the demands that he puts himself, there's no question about that.
01:32And our job is to give him the best, again, context, tools,
01:36players around him to facilitate his qualities and I'm ready to do that.
01:40When did you first become aware of Victor and his potential?
01:48Because next door at Watford,
01:50there's a few people who say he was the best player
01:52that they encountered in the Championship two years ago.
01:55Was he already on your radar then?
01:57Yeah, he's been in the radar and scouting department for a long time as well.
02:01But the reality as well is that you have to have a place and an available place in the team.
02:09And now the time has come, he was available and we decided to bring him
02:14and he decided that the best option for him was Arsene.
02:17Was he always your number one choice to be your marquee signing up front this summer?
02:23You and Arsenal were linked with two or three other players,
02:26but was Guillaume always your first choice?
02:28We've done the process like we always do,
02:30to analyse every single option.
02:31It's not only about as well what we like about the player,
02:34it's many aspects that have to at the end come together
02:37and we're extremely happy that that is Victor.
02:39Is Old Trafford a perfect stage for him to show what he can do?
02:44It's his first Premier League game in this country.
02:46I think Arsenal is the perfect stage for him to show what he can do for the team
02:51and he's got incredible teammates around him to make sure that he fulfills that.
02:55Can I say one more?
02:56As people have said on paper it's a difficult start
02:59and as you've said you've got to play everybody twice at some stage in the season,
03:03but in a couple of recent seasons where you've been top of the league after a few games
03:08with what some people will regard as favourable fixtures,
03:12if you're right up there after your first half dozen games against Man Utd, Liverpool, City
03:19and after your difficult start, will that give you more conviction than ever that this is the year you are equipped to win the title?
03:26That will help for sure and it will create the right atmosphere, the right confidence around the team
03:31and they will say still 32 games to play.
03:34And that's a long, long marathon to play.
03:36So let's go step by step, make sure that we do what we have to do that Old Trafford
03:40to earn the right to win the game.
03:43I just wanted to ask about Max Dalman, obviously a really productive pre-season.
03:48Is he going to be in consideration for the Premier League squad to move forward?
03:51Well, he's going to be in and around the team.
03:53We're going to have to manage very well his development, his next steps
03:57and we are fully connected with everybody in order to achieve that.
04:02So make sure that we give the platform that he needs, the time that he needs, the environment that he needs
04:08and I'm sure he's going to push every door towards the first team and having opportunities with us.
04:14Absolutely, thank you.
04:15Just come to the back, Charlie.
04:16Michael, in terms of Victor, how much of an advantage is it that he's played in English football before?
04:21Because often you see strikers coming to this country, sometimes struggle with physicality.
04:26Does it make a difference that he's been in the Championship and obviously been at Bryant before that?
04:31Well, I think it helps once you have lived in the country and experience and understand the culture,
04:36the passion, the style of play, the demands that they put on that piece, the intensity, the referees.
04:42There's a lot of things that it's great to experience before.
04:45Then he's going away to a different league, adapted to that, being very, very prolific.
04:49And you just tell. Look at his body language, the way he talks, the way he carries himself.
04:54He's a really confident boy and I'm sure he will be very, very good for us.
04:58When you spoke to him for the first time, did you speak about the life at Coventry,
05:03life at Brighton, the fact that he didn't play for Brighton? Did that come up when you spoke about everything?
05:09That's probably the most important part of his career when he had to accept a different role
05:15and don't play and then value other things so he had to improve and evolve.
05:19I think that's the moment when he took the platform and went to a different level.
05:24That's sometimes very useful in your career at a young age.
05:27Can you imagine the captains, could you explain for us what Martin's qualities are
05:35that someone you're looking at from afar, like Tony Adams?
05:39What can't he see that you know and the players know in the leadership?
05:45Well, Martin has got hundreds of qualities and everybody that has come across to him
05:50will notice them very quickly.
05:51The biggest one is that to be named captain, to be respected and especially admired by somebody,
05:57he doesn't need to open his mouth.
05:59That's a massive quality.
06:00A lot of people talk and shout and this and then when you close the door,
06:04they do something very different.
06:06Martin doesn't need to open his mouth and everybody will go,
06:09he's my captain, I want him to represent, I trust 100%, he's the guy I want to have next to me.
06:14That says it all in my opinion.
06:17Okay guys, thanks very much.
06:26Thank you very much.
06:29Thank you very much.
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