Thankfully, we didn’t see Declan Rice yesterday, as Tuchel did the sensible thing and kept the Arsenal midfielder out of harms way as England got over a plucky Panama team last night. I watched the first half in a bar in London with some mates, pretty uninspired by England, but that’s Par for the course when it comes to the country I live in and their national team. My Expectations for england are always low, and after the Ghana game and last night, I yet to be convinced that this England side can get to the finals. There’s just too many things missing from the side.

Tuchel said that as the opponents get better,  so will England, which I suspect will happen. But I still doubt they’ll be better than a Spain, Argentine, Brazil or France.

The next game they’ll have will be the Democratic Republic of Congo, for which England will of course be favourites, but I suspect what we’re also going to see is a game akin to the Ghana and Panama matches; England will dominate territory, possession, attempts and field tilt, but Congo will get one or two chances and if they take those it could be an uncomfortable evening for the Three Lions.

My family background also enables me to claim a stake in Germany and, loosely, the Netherlands. For the Germans it’s Paraguay in the next round, which I suspect they’ll overcome quite quickly, before probably playing France in the Round of 16. The Netherlands have a tricky time of it next, with a game against Morocco, but if they overcome them, I think they’ll get through one of Canada or South Africa quite easily.

As for the Arsenal news, I didn’t get the chance to pen any thoughts yesterday as we were busy for most of the day, but the big talking point is Bruno Guimaraes, as I’m sure you already know and have been thinking about like I have. At 28, going on 29, he’s at the upper end fo the age bracket, and I keep flip-flopping on how I feel about this. I think ultimately I’ve landed on this being a good deal, but probably based on the fee. You can’t be paying north of £80 million for a guy of his age. He’s a very good footballer, very talented, but that represents a hefty ol’ outlay for a player who will soon be knocking on the door of 30.

There is another way of looking at it though, and that’s when you think about the lifespan of this current ‘Project’. Arteta has been manager for six-and-a-half years now. He’s done a great stint, I hope we get a few more years and a few more trophies, but if he has the longevity of Pep at City, that’s ten hyears, which means he only has another three or four seasons before he probably starts to think about doing something else. If we have one more trophies in three years time with Arteta at the helm, I think it is almost inevitable. But he’ll have a bunch of his players who have grown up with him, all getting to the age in which renewal will be needed. Rice will be 30 in three years, Odegaard too. Saka will be 27, if we kept Martinelli he’d be 28, Big Gabi will be 31 and Saliba will be 28 as well. So for me that ‘feels’ like the duration of ‘The Process’ will reach it’s natural conclusion.

So, that being the case, Arteta and Berta might be thinking “do you know what? This guy is good for three seasons, so let’s have him”. It feels like it would very much be a signing to ‘top off’ this current project, rather than build for the next five to ten years. It would certainly make our midfield more imperious, and if you think that Rice has just spent some time for England with a big strapping on his calf, this Bruno potential signing is perhaps an acknowledgement from the manager and the club that we can’t keep flogging Dec with 4,000+ minutes each season. Sooner or later, he’s gonna break.

Do I think if you’re looking at this potential deal through the lens of ‘great player who adds to the ‘win now’ attempt at getting another Premier League or two, in addition to perhaps getting us over the line in the Champions League, you’re probably taking that.

A lot of this is conjecture though, because it is Newcastle we’re dealing with here, who will want to play hard ball despite note being able to offer Champions League – or any kind of European football, actually – to their players. But I doubt they’ll allow their team to be purged, and with Tonali probably off to The Scum, I don’t see the Mags letting us have their captain as well. They’ve lost Gordon too, so there’s no way they offload both of those midfielders.

But it’s a good start in terms of the vibes of the players we are after. Of course, we need to start seeing things go a little more concrete, but we can’t complain too much with the calibre of player we are after.

Right, that’ll do for today I think, as I’ve got a fair bit of gardening to be getting on with. have yourself a lovely Sunday, and I’ll catch you tomorrow – might be later in the day as I have a few more bits and bobs to be getting on with.

Ciao folks.