Chelsea beat Real Betis to win Conference League | Arsenal finalising Zubimendi deal | Newcastle United ready to swoop for Guehi and Mbeumo
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm Teddy Draper and joining me are Miguel Delaney from The Independent and Martin Ziegler from The Times. Welcome to you both.

Well, after Chelsea's big win in Poland, those back pages will be coming to us very shortly. The Telegraph, though, first off the mark. No surprises, they are leading with Chelsea's come-from-behind victory over Real Betis 4-1 in the Europa Conference League final. And there you have it, the headline, the history, boys. Chelsea battle back to become first club to win all major European trophies. Martin, how significant was it?

I think it was actually quite an important thing for the season. I mean, not as important as getting into the Champions League. I think that would have been the number one target for them because financially they really had to do that. But in terms of the sort of getting the prestige of a trophy, even though it is the smallest of the three European trophies, I think it will...

do a lot for Maresca and actually for the squad who've been over the last three years have been through some pretty testing times. I think it will be some relief actually as well.

It's quite a surprise, isn't it, that Chelsea are the first club to achieve this in some ways, Miguel? I suppose you might picture Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool even, AC Milan. But Chelsea battled back, as The Telegraph reports, to become the first club to win all major European trophies. Is there a caveat that you have to be quite bad to get in the Conference League in the first place? Perhaps that's why the other big teams haven't achieved it?

Well, that's exactly what I was about to say. I mean, when we're in Barcelona, they'd consider it an absolute disaster to be in the Europa League, let alone the Conference League. I mean, look, there's two layers to this debate. And I'm conscious of saying like the celebrations that West Ham had two years ago as well. It's obviously great for the players.

it's great for the team as a team to grow. I think that could be important. It's really good for Maresca in terms of being in charge of the club and kind of, as he alluded, well, he didn't allude to it, he spoke very directly about it on Sunday. I was at the city grounds in what was quite a bit of a victory lap press conference the other day. He's felt the criticism this season and,

It's obviously important for the fans, even just by virtue of getting to enjoy a trophy again, something that Chelsea would obviously become so associated with winning trophies and have done so regularly, they haven't actually done since 2021.

But as you say, you've pretty much got to fail quite badly, at least for a very wealthy club to be here, or certainly the sort of club that was involved in setting up a Super League. And I mean, this competition actually came out of the discussions that led to the Super League. And its original intention was basically, it was to give clubs and leagues that are way below the wealthiest opportunities

a proper experience of European football, a chance to win something. Now, the flip side to that was that in order, I suppose, to make it commercially viable, to bring some income on the other side, they had to include clubs from the top five leagues,

Now, what has happened, of course, is that because there's such a budget imbalance, it's the clubs from the big five leagues that regularly get to the final. So we've got like Roma, West Ham, Fiorentina, and now Chelsea and Betis in the last few years. And Chelsea were, I mean, I think we were speaking last week about, say, the distance between Manchester United and Tottenham and the rest of the Europa League field. But Chelsea to most of the Europa Conference, I mean, it's...

Had they not won this competition, and even in the second half, to be fair, like, really, they just physically overpowered Betis because of their greater strength and depth. Look, Betis are a historically big club. They're in La Liga, one of the five big leagues, one of the three strongest leagues

But La Liga's obviously had this massive historic problem of the two big ones recently joined by Atletico Madrid and a massive gap to the rest, particularly in the last 20 years. And that was borne out in a game like this. And I suppose you could see that with the real emotion from the Betis side and how much they put into this. But then, of course, I would question whether La Liga club should be in this competition as well. I think actually if...

if your league is in the top is in the top three by UEFA coefficients which is a reflection of European club performance you probably shouldn't have a club in this competition I'm probably going to get battered by Chelsea fans on social media but

It's my honest opinion. Maybe it's not a fair fight at times, I suppose, is the point, Martin. Good game from Betis tonight, in fairness, particularly that first half. But, Martin, what do you make of this? Where should Chelsea fans place this in terms of prestige and difficulty? Does it sit beneath the League Cup in terms of targets?

I mean, you know, a European trophy, you can say, you know, for something like West Ham, it was hugely important and symbolic. And Nottingham Forest, I guess, will get a chance next season to go into that. But I think for Chelsea, you know, they've had so much European success over the last 15 years. I think it's sort of...

it's not one that they're going to be sort of like taunting their rivals about, but that's for sure. So I think they will take it, they will enjoy it, they will perhaps use it as a springboard to try and achieve greater things, but I don't think it's one that's going to sort of go down in the annals of history. And in terms of the fans' thoughts on Enzo Maresca, how significant is it, Miguel, particularly up against his old boss, Manuel Pellegrini?

Yeah. Um, I mean, look again, I mentioned that press conference he gave after, um, the victory over Nottingham Forest, where he really came out fighting and had a lot of comments, particularly for his critics. He used, well, he alluded to some word that he actually didn't fully use himself because his daughter was sitting in front of him in the press conference. But yeah, he prepared to use strong words. Uh, now I have to say when the Ballys were 1-0 up, I was thinking, should he really have gone that strident? Um,

when it was a European final to come on Wednesday. But, to be fair, his team pulled it out of the bag. I think you would say, even though I've just gone on a long rant, I suppose, about Chelsea shouldn't even be in the competition, given they finished fourth, qualified for the Champions League, and won a trophy, whatever that trophy is, you would say, I mean, he's... I mean, look, Chelsea, they're the fourth highest wage bill in the Premier League, so they probably should be finishing around there anyway. But given the cards he's dealt, given, I suppose, the difficulty of...

re-energising Chelsea in a strategy where I suppose a lot of people have questioned the club's recruitment policy. This season, he can point to it as a success for himself. He's done well with what he was given and given, I suppose, it was questions a few months ago over whether he might even be in the job in the summer. Obviously, there's going to be no doubt about it now. He can point to Champions League qualification and, yep, a trophy. And, Martin, how much credit on the night for changing the game around should Maresca have after the...

the first half where Chelsea seemed pretty up against it, didn't they? Yeah, I think he probably had admission that he'd got it a bit wrong and he needed to change it and he did and it seemed to work wonders. Actually, Pedro Neto who went off, he's been playing really well recently but

But it wasn't quite clicking. And then Gusto as well made way for Rhys James. And it just seemed to actually... Well, it did. It completely turned the game around, didn't it? I don't know if Cole Palmer found some space and time and delivered two brilliant assists, didn't he? And I mean, I think that... I imagine Thomas Tuchel will be very pleased about that because he'll be trying to draw up his plans. And the fact that Palmer, who's been off it...

I think it's fair to say for the last few months to pick the right time to show actually what he can do. And then I think the icing on the cake from the two late goals to really round off a brilliant second half from Chelsea.

On the note of Palmer there, Martin references Sam Dean there for The Telegraph, Miguel. Palmer takes charge to complete the comeback. Is that pretty much the crux of it when it comes to Chelsea? If Cole Palmer's firing, they look pretty good, and if not, it's regardless of what the manager does, they look pretty average?

Yeah, I have to say exactly the same thoughts when they played Liverpool three weeks ago. And actually a win that now, whatever you think about Liverpool's maybe form after winning the title, that win was obviously crucial to getting back into the Champions League. And I suppose the same sort of thing as the second half tonight. Once Palmer is on it, once he feels in the mood, which despite the last few months is often, especially at this kind of early stage of his career, he

Chelsea look a completely different team. I think what's key is his movement and imagination just gives them so much more depth and really sophistication. There are times when, I think maybe it's because of the tactical school that Moresca has come from, where it can occasionally feel like his passing can be a bit flat or can be a bit prosaic and there's not much penetration or imagination to it. But obviously, as soon as you put an unformed Palmer in the centre of that,

it just makes such a difference. And actually, to be fair as well, there should be special mention for maybe Jadon Sancho, given, again, there's been questions about him this season. All,

All the focus actually being on another Manchester United player on loan in Anthony. But it was Sancho, I suppose, that wrapped it up with what was a brilliant finish. Yeah, a brilliant finish. His fifth goal of the season. The headline in the Mirror, we can show you that now. The Mirror says, Comeback Kings for Chelsea. That is the headline there. Parma inspires the second half revival again on that topic. Where does it leave Chelsea then, Martin, reviewing this project today?

in terms of the big investment in so many players. Do we have to reserve judgment on it at the moment? What's your take? Yeah, I mean, they've got huge costs, not just the wage bill. Their transfer spending has been, I think, the biggest, certainly, since the takeover happened.

and also huge amounts on agent fees as well. So they really have spent a lot of money. In fact, it's ironic that actually the fact they're in the Europa Conference League means that they are going to breach UEFA's financial limits in terms of the amount they've spent and lost. So they're going to be a financial penalty. They're in talks over a settlement at the moment. We should find out in the next couple of weeks. So

So actually, if they hadn't been in the Conference League, they wouldn't even have had those discussions with UEFA. So that's a sort of, it is something they're going to have to deal with. But it's not, I don't think it's going to be something that's going to be critical to their future. They're going to be in the Club World Cup. That's going to be a big earner as well. So I think the challenge for them, I think, after this season,

European competition going to the end, the Club World Cup, it's what sort of state are the players going to be when they resume the next Premier League season because there's not going to be much rest for them and they really do need to have some recovery time.

Absolutely. Cole Palmer, chief amongst them, international requirements potentially as well. Miguel, back page of the Sun, rock and coal star, Palmer sparks a stunning turnaround. Jack Rosser in Wroclaw for the paper. How does Thomas Tuchel, just as a slight tangent, solve the number 10 dilemma? Miguel, Ezz has come on strong, Jude Bellingham, Palmer, how does he figure it out?

I mean, the one thing with Tuchel in that sense, although I think early in his career he might have been seen as a bit of someone close to Pep Guardiola, was a bit of an ideologue. Since Chelsea, actually, and I think this is one of the reasons he's so good for England, well, potentially good for England and a tournament, is that

he has been able to kind of fit his team to what he's got available he doesn't necessarily have a fixed idea and from that I think if there is any coach who can and this is obviously in the context of the wider debate that was had over whether England should have an English coached

if not necessarily an English manager. But, you know, of anyone that you could pick for that job, I think he is as good... As a good manager that can basically come up with some sort of system that finally maximises that attacking talent. Because, you know, without getting to all ground, it was always... Southgate, obviously, I think...

I think he was maybe overly criticised for some of his management in terms of it was overlooked how difficult it was to actually gather a properly spirited squad at international level again. But the one thing missing was always that maybe that final tactical detail. And it could often feel like his attacking teams were a bit predictable or went on tram lines. I think Tuchel...

can offer maybe more movement, a bit more kind of maybe interchange and integration between the attacking players, and that's where maybe Palmer can come alive. Certainly, I think it's a very good choice of manager for someone like Palmer to have for his international team at this point in his career. Let's go to the mirror. Miguel, I'll come to you with your Spanish connections. Gunners grab Zuby for £51 million. Arsenal fans...

PLEADING AND CLAMORING FOR A STRIKER FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS AND THEY'VE GOT A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER. EXPLAIN.

Yeah, that obviously kind of maybe reframes the discussion around this a bit. I've written about this transfer a few times this season. From my understanding, it was actually pretty much agreed last summer, specifically as well because Liverpool obviously wanted him there and Arsenal were willing to wait and Real Sociedad were more willing to do the deal with Arsenal. Obviously as well, there's the Basque connection and Real Sociedad connection given Arteta came through the Real Sociedad academy, Odegaard's played for the club and

And yes, while Arsenal need a striker and are going for one at the moment, I gather it's a choice between Sesco or Giocaresh. Arteta still wants that kind of... I mean, he's going to lose some midfield players this summer. He still wants to kind of raise the level of it. He's going to lose a specific type in Jorginho. And to be honest, I do think this is a coup. I mean, if you remember the last summer...

when Zubi Mendy was a rising Real Sociedad player, Rodri went off at half-time in the Euro 2024 final. And there was a lot of thinking maybe, well, given how important Rodri has been, this could tilt things England way. But Zubi Mendy came in and he was just perfect, really. He immediately stepped into the role and, you know,

played the same sort of game. I think he is seen in football as the next best at that type of role as Rodri. And from that perspective, yeah, it is a coup with the caveat that Arsenal are still looking for that striker. Still waiting. They might get a winger as well. We'll get onto that in a second. Martin, what's your take on it? He's been likened to Sergio Busquets. How big a signing could it be for Arsenal?

Yeah, I think it's pretty major. I mean, Rodri's absence from Manchester City, I think, has been, most people say, been a very key factor in them having a relatively poor season. So just as one player in that holding role can make a huge amount of difference. And Jorginho is going to be leaving Arsenal. Not quite sure what's happening to Thomas Partey. I think they want to keep him. But I think Zubimendi, in that...

in that squad would certainly give Declan Rice more freedom to go forward and we've seen in this season how actually effective he has been for Arsenal in that more attacking role so I think it'll be really really important for Arsenal there is absolutely no doubt I think that they're going to have to get a striker even Havertz coming back from injury he is not

going to be able to lead the line on their own. So they really do need somebody. I'm pretty sure they will get somebody. It's just a question of who and how much. Interesting point about Declan Rice, Miguel. Quick thought on that. Does it reflect maybe a different conclusion they've come to about Declan Rice being a galloping box-to-box midfielder and not a holder?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, to be fair, one of Arteta's thinking on his midfield is basically that he has, I think it was described to me by someone within the club as almost like kind of a beyond a Swiss army knife. Basically, players that can play in multiple different positions, like be a six or an eight. Rice is obviously an example, but I think it's become clear over the past few weeks, really, that he can be suddenly he's at his most effective as a galloping eight.

and that we especially saw that in the Champions League. And this means there isn't as much of a burden on Rice and also potentially releases him to play in that role much more often. But beyond anything, Arteta has multiple options there.

Multiple options there. He has got wide players, but I'll come to you, Martin, with the Times. Your paper, Gary Jacob and Paul Joyce, colleagues reporting Arsenal keen on Zane deal. They report that Arsenal are showing strong interest in Leroy Zane as they close in on completing a deal for Martin Zubamendi. 29 years of age. Martin, what do you make of Zane and what he might bring?

I mean, you know, clearly he's been a great player for Manchester City, been very good for Bayern Munich. At the same time, I'm slightly surprised if that is going to happen because obviously you've got Saka and then you've got Martinelli on the other side. So what's this going to do for that? Maybe the artist is thinking he needs more competition in those wide spaces, especially perhaps on the left. So...

I would be surprised if that is going to be prioritised ahead of spending big on a striker. I don't think if they're going to get Zubi Mendy as well, which looks like that's a done deal, just how much money can they spend? And to get Sané on top of a top striker...

is, I think, going to push them financially, that's for sure. He's been earning £220,000 a week, Miguel. He did score 13 goals last season, point out Jacob and Joyce, six assists across all competitions. What do you think? Should Arsenal fans be concerned that Miguel's trying to... Sorry, Miguel. Mikel Arteta's trying to add up 10-15 here and there and avoid the 25-goal season striker? What's your thoughts on this?

No, I mean, he knows him from Manchester City, obviously, when Arteta was there in assistance. But from my understanding, I wrote this a few weeks ago, that Arsenal basically have the budget right now for a midfielder in Zubmendi and a forward, which will be likely one of Sesco and Gakarez. And that the wide midfielder, while they do want one, that will be more dependent on

income or sales at least to the level they can go to the dream they obviously want is Nico Williams from Bilbao but in that context I think it makes sense at the moment they're exploring Sané given he'd be a more at least in terms of fee he'd be more a cut price deal

Yeah, comes out of contract at the end of the month. Bayern Munich are talking to him about the potential for a new contract. Times and indeed Sky Sports News, we've been reporting that as well. We'll keep across the Zane situation. Let's dip back into the Telegraph and review the bottom of the front page of the Sports Supplement. Newcastle to make swoop for Gueye and Mbomo. Gueye, of course, Martin, one they've tried for in the past. What do you make of those potential moves for Newcastle?

Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised. They obviously tried very, very hard to get Mark Gay before were thwarted. Crystal Palace would not budge on that. And Mbwemo, I mean, 20 goals, I think he got what a signing he'd be for anybody. And I'm not, you know, Newcastle, they've got plenty of money. If they're within their PSR limit, I'm sure they will be able to afford him.

I think it would be a great signing. Really, really good.

because they're sort of goal-scoring midfielders, wingers. They're hard to come by and he would be a great addition. Yeah, could be a great summer then after a great season for Newcastle United. Let's talk about the Champions League that Newcastle will be in next season. A piece from you, Miguel, in The Independent, how PSG's kingmaker seized chance to reshape football's future. This is an online story. Just tell us what this is all about.

Yeah, I mean, I suppose like on Saturday, as we know, Paris Saint-Germain owned by Qatar, Qatar Sports Investments. And if they win, this is basically the state's biggest sporting moment after the 2022 World Cup. And it will be used for all sorts of political reasons. You know, sports washing is the term. Obviously, Qatar wants a deep influence in football for their political ambitions. And Nasser al-Khelaifi, the president, has become...

an immensely influential figure in that. I mean, he essentially used the Super League crisis. Now, PSG would say he rejected this offer for three days. But at the end of the Super League crisis, he rose to the top of the European Club Association. And under, I mean, that's the body that represents, it's a lobbying group that represents clubs in European competition, used to represent the old G14, the big clubs. But through that, under his leadership,

which was actually responsible for the creation of the Europa Conference League as well. But through his leadership, it's almost gone beyond the lobbying group. And it's almost this body that sits with FIFA and UEFA, especially now that, unlike before, with this new Champions League format, the ECA actually has 50-50 control of the Champions League with UEFA. So suddenly someone who's ultimately answerable to the emir of Qatar is in this extremely...

powerful position in football. So Saturday might be the rise of PSG and Nasser as well. As Miguel says, Martin, we've got about 20 seconds, I'm afraid, but do you think the Super League is upon us by stealth? Six Premier League teams in the Champions League next season?

Well, UEFA always said that the Champions League was their Super League. So I'm sure it's just that they have control of it. But yeah, Miguel's right. He is incredibly influential. It's felt like an ever-ending story at times, hasn't it, this season, the Champions League? But I'm looking forward to the final after all we've been through, let alone the players. So, Miguel, Martin, thank you very much for your time on Backpages tonight. Hope to see you again soon.