Elliott shines as England reach final! | Have Manchester United had enough of Garnacho?
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories and making headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm Rob Jones. Joining me, the Daily Mail reporter Ishan Khan and Jack Rosser of The Sun. Welcome to you both.

But let's start with the Chancellor, shall we? And that back page of the Sun. Scandi drama slot ready to join Jokeres' fight as Toon plot record Isak wage deal. That it may just prove too difficult for Premier League champions Liverpool to lure Alexander Isak away from Newcastle this summer. So Victor Jokeres might be in their sights. Isan, already Jeremy Frimpong is in.

in Florian Wurz is in it looks as though Milos Kirkez will be added to that list and maybe Liverpool aren't finished at three

Yeah, well, from an Arsenal perspective, they'll be really worried to hear about this news. Already, they've got this striker situation where they obviously, as everyone pretty much has known for every year now, they badly, badly need a striker. And now the news that Jokeres is potentially being chased by Liverpool will be a real concern for them. And as you say, with the signing of Wurz, Frimpong and Kerkes,

expected to join the Reds as well. It's a phenomenal start to the window by Liverpool and it just shows you their intent ahead of next season. Just weeks after winning the title, they're already recalibrating a formidable squad as it is already. So,

Very, very worrying sides for the rest of the league. From a Liverpool perspective, it's a very strong start indeed. What about Alexander Isak, Jack? Did it always feel to you that the moment Newcastle reached the Champions League that it was going to be very difficult for any club to get Isak out of Newcastle this summer?

Yeah, absolutely. I think he's absolutely adored there. They're becoming increasingly confident in terms of their PSR position, Newcastle, since they moved

you know, further under the Saudi ownership, they're getting a bit more flexibility to go out and spend some more money. And the most important money they can spend is tying down players like Alexander Izak, Bruno Guimero, Sandro Tonali, giving them the packages that make them happy at Newcastle to ensure they can sustain what they're doing. They absolutely need to sign some people, but it's going to be a much more attractive club to come and play for with someone like Alexander Izak. And for

For him, he's happy, he's settled, he's obviously playing incredibly well. And to be able to do that at Newcastle in the Champions League will be a big boost. He obviously would have been a fantastic signing, but Newcastle, with the Champions League, are in a very strong position. And having won the EFL Cup as well, they're in a very strong position to keep him happy, ask for huge amounts of money to even consider it. And with PSR being such a big thing across the league, how there aren't many clubs that can afford to meet those asking prices.

PSR is never far away, Hasan. Just on a slightly wider point, it does seem the flaw with it that a club that have had success on the pitch like Newcastle, who have owners that are prepared to bat them, should really ever be in a position where they might have to consider selling someone like Isak to comply with those rules, doesn't it? That is, which is I think the common argument from clubs like Newcastle and Aston Villa, that it's stopping them competing with the big boys on a regular basis.

For sure, it's...

It's a difficult one and obviously with the Club World Cup as well, with the fees that are going to be earned from just the matches being played there and if you win the tournament, it's probably, I think, over £100 million that you could possibly net overall. With PSI, it's such a minefield and in some ways it can seem unfair, the balance. It doesn't seem to be... It doesn't cause an 11-playing field across all the teams in the league,

And you can only imagine a team low down the table, how much of a frustration that is when you see a much bigger team able to splurge money despite having already spent so much. So you can totally understand the frustrations there and it is a complex issue. Just on Jokeres then as a player, Jack,

The great thing about Alexander Isak is he's proven it in the Premier League, hasn't he? And some of the other strikers that are being banded around, particularly with Arsenal, who we'll get to in just a moment, but Jokeres and Sesko, that is the big question mark, isn't it? Can they do it in the Premier League? Absolutely. It's the biggest question mark we always have about strikers now. They're obviously the most expensive area in the world.

expensive position for a club to go and invest in they're the ones that either hit the ground running and pay off immediately they're judged so quickly now you look at someone like nicholas jackson at chelsea i think he scored 15 goals in his first season which isn't a bad return really and fans already want more they want something else and aren't that isn't seen as quite good enough and i think jokeres is an interesting one you go back to before the january window after he was

scoring freely in the Champions League group stage and it felt like it was a nailed on that somebody would have that wrapped up before the end of the season. And there just seems to be, we're obviously not very far into the summer,

But it feels like that was something that would have been done by now. You wonder whether there are question marks over his record, the level he's done it at. He's been in the Championship with Coventry and then in the Portuguese division, which a lot of players have been a success coming from there. But it just doesn't compare to the Premier League in terms of the level that they're going to be facing, that Jokers will be facing in the Premier League. So I think clubs are maybe having some reservations over whether he's worth the fee. There seems to be a fair bit of...

haggling over whether they're going to get the bargain deal that it looked like.

earlier in the year. So I think there'll be a lot of consideration and a fair bit of waiting before we see Jokeres move. And I wonder whether, you sort of touched on it in your first answer, that this story might just jolt Arsenal into action and whether so far this summer they've played quite a clever game in it not being really clear who the primary striking target is. But if it's Jokeres, they might need to get a move on. Yeah, absolutely. Thus far they've been

playing all, well, Benjamin Sesko and obviously Jokeres, they've not really signalled who their frontrunner is. Internally, they'll be aware, but in terms of the two clubs, the way they've dealt with them is to at least pretend that they're equally interested in both. But with this Liverpool interest, as you say, it might now jolt them into action. From what I understand, Mikkel Arteta,

has said he wants a striker before the pre-season tour, which I think Arsenal fly out July 19th to Asia for their pre-season tour of Singapore and Hong Kong. So in the next couple of weeks, it's going to be absolute crunch time. What is for sure is that Arsenal are definitely going to bring a striker in this window. So it's just a matter of

when, not if. And there'll surely be now a few more twists and turns, especially if this interest in Liverpool does materialise and does suddenly start to spiral because with the position Liverpool are in, no player is going to just turn their nose at such a side. Anything could happen.

It's interesting, if you're being hypercritical, Jack, some people will say, well, why didn't you get the striker first? You're closing in on Christian Norgard. Zoubemendi has been in the pipeline for a long time. Why not sort out the striker? But you would like to think that a recruitment team like Arsenal's can do more than one thing at once. For the price tag and with an expectation that Thomas Partey is about to go, is Christian Norgard a smart bit of business?

I think he's a perfectly smart signing, but you make the right point that football fans are very fickle in terms of optically. And it is something that, you know, a lot of clubs consider if they can get a small deal over the line, an easy deal right at the start of the season. Some sporting directors and owners will, and managers even, will think, I can't have that being my first signing of the summer. Fans will absolutely kill me for it. It's almost an embarrassing thing. And I'm not saying Norgaard is that. He's a very well-established Premier League player. Arteta once...

more quality in terms of the depth he has in his squad. He's felt it's been too thin, too light on quality coming off the bench this season. And Norgaard will address that even if Thomas Partey goes. But I think, you know, this business with Arsenal of Berta wanting to spin many plates, keep people guessing, keep people on their toes...

We'll only be able to judge that at the end of the summer. It could make him look a genius when they get everything they want, they hit all the right targets, they've got five or six new players and start the season in a really strong place. If any of them go slightly wrong, then you're going to look incredibly foolish when it's been absolutely evident why.

what Arsenal have needed all along. Arsenal fans would have wanted a striker in the day after the season ended and they finished second again because Arteta has done incredibly well, but now for him, for them, it's all about taking that final step and winning the Premier League title again. A manager will want a striker in as early as possible to work with him for as long as possible. Such a crucial position, such a crucial signing.

So, Norgard is a good signing, he's a smart signing, you'd be a bit worried for Brentford. It's not the sexiest thing that will get Arsenal fans very excited at the moment. Well, Christian Norgard will be disappointed, Jack, that you don't think he's particularly sexy, but I'll let you tell him that whenever he pitches up at the Emirates. Just from a flip side then, Issan and Brentford,

We asked the question at the end of the season, because it's back-to-back seasons where the three promoted clubs have gone straight back down, and you think, well, who might slip in to allow a Leeds or a Burnley or a Sunderland to stay up? Brentford have lost their head coach, they're about to lose their captain, and they're possibly about to lose Brian and Bermo as well. Should their fans be a little concerned? Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's not just small jigsaw pieces that have gone the major, major parts of their side now. They've obviously got the set-piece coach,

in charge as manager. If I was a Brentford fan, I'd be quite worried indeed. And Buemo, with his 20 goals last season, he was phenomenal. Thomas Frank did a great job at Brentford. That's not going to be easy to replicate or replace. And now Norgaard, I know he's only, I think, about £12-15 million to Arsenal. He's the captain, so he was also another...

important piece of that team. So it's three separate pieces of that puzzle to go at once. It's hard to replace one of them mind or three. So they do have a job on that.

It can be done and we've seen before teams lose their key players and rebuild and Brentford have often in the past been very shrewd and smart with bringing in players, especially little known players who then go on to flourish in the Premier League. But yeah, they've got some task

It's not going to be easy for sure.

Quite frankly, it's looked like the writing is on the wall for Alejandro Garnaccio well before this in terms of him talking after that Europa League final about being disappointed and surprised that he didn't play longer, wasn't included, ironically, against Villa on the final day of the season. I think he knows before he's put this shirt on that he's done at United, doesn't he?

Yeah, we all know from some time which way it's going, really. I think the last cruel blow almost was taking him on that post-season tour where he looked incredibly unhappy and caused a bit of trouble, I think, along with a couple of other players. It's quite a sad ending for Garnaccio, I think, really. He's clearly a very talented player and having come through to some point in the academy, he's someone that the fans would have absolutely latched on to, someone that could

can make a difference in games. He's obviously not been as consistent as everyone would have liked, but it's clear that there's a talent there and for the right price, they will absolutely have a market for him. But these are the sort of players that Manchester United should be harnessing and building the future around. And it just feels like

whether it's the players' attitude or not, but you've had issues with Sancho, Rashford, Garnaccio over the last few years now. And whether it's all, you know, it might be too much of a coincidence for all three of them to have a serious attitude problem. It must be something to do with the way the club are managing these players and looking after them. And whether it's in terms of the discipline around them or anything like that is something they need to get a handle on because these are some clearly talented players that will be playing elsewhere and will make Manchester United look

look a bit silly if they go on and succeed incredibly elsewhere. But I think for Garnaccio, it's probably maybe a little parting shot having the way it's all fallen out in the last six months or so under Ruben Amorim. But we've all known for a while he's going elsewhere. And if somebody can get that management of him right, there's so many fees that have gone around. I think it says 45 million on the back of one of those papers, and it's been up to 70 elsewhere. I don't know if you'd get 70 for him, but

If you can get Garnaccio for 45 and get him playing to the level that everyone knows he's got on a consistent basis, then that could be a fantastic deal for someone. Well, I just wonder, Isan, actually, about the point about the fee to whether Manchester United are even more irked by a stunt like this because...

You're sort of playing into the hands of the clubs that might want him in terms of the price because they say, you clearly don't want this guy around if he's going to sit and cause trouble as he is. You want him nowhere near the training ground and that might knock a few million quid off the price tag because you know how desperate Manchester United are becoming to get rid of him. Yeah, the minute he's posted that picture, you'll have known the effect.

It would have had, there was already question marks around his potential character attitude around the team and squad. So posting a picture like that is only going to make matters much, much worse for both him and Man United. It's a sorry state of affairs. He's clearly a very talented young player who's on his day, we've seen what he can do on a football pitch. So it's a real shame that it's ended up coming down.

to this in the end and as Jack was saying it's obviously there's the problems with Rashford between Amarim and Rashford Sancho and now Garnaccio so in some ways getting the three out the exit door could possibly obviously improve the culture and the mood around the dressing room but from a Man United perspective they need to get good

Figures for each of the players, for example, with Jadon Sancho, who they signed for around £70 million a few years ago. If they let him go for a very small fee, that's a big loss there. And with Garnaccio, because as you say, with his picture and the question marks over the effect he can have in terms of attitude and temperament around a team, talent-wise, he's worth easily 50, 60 pounds.

million pounds, but with these question marks, it could potentially lower the price tag, which would be a further blow to Man United. Just to come back, Jack, to your point about the fact that, you know, is it coincidence that they've got three problem childs in the last two seasons, or is it something that's going on there? I mean, is it partly to do with the fact that they've not been a very good team? And the other point about

is that whilst one of their signings is clearly a good player, Mateus Cunha, he comes with a little bit of baggage for behaviour at times over the past season.

Yeah, I think if you're looking for some level heads, you're not going to go and pick players from the wall squad. The amount of things that have happened over the last season. I've been at games this year where they were scrapping with their own coaches at full-time. I think that was West Ham when it might have been Kunja. Mario Lamina squared up to Shane Duffy and then Kunja obviously with the opposition as well going after them and causing a lot of trouble. He's someone that they're going to have

have to keep an eye on. I think you've probably got the other side of it if they go and get Brian and Buemo. It is about getting, a lot of clubs talk about getting good characters in. You do need a few in the squad that are going to push barriers, push levels up, push teammates and live on the edge of it. And Kun, you can certainly do that. It's whether they can handle keeping their heads and focusing that anger under the scrutiny of Manchester United. So I don't think we'll be too surprised if something happens around Kun in the first few weeks of the season.

Let's talk about another player whose future is up for discussion this summer, who's just propelled England's under-21s into the Euros final, which is Harvey Elliott, who I spoke to a couple of times last season after games, once in Paris when he'd scored the winner and he effectively apologised on camera and said, look, I'd love to be playing him more, but I just can't at the moment. Do you see him as still being a Liverpool player come the start of the new season?

I don't. I see, as seen by today's performance, them two goals, particularly the second one, where he just slams past a few players and strikes home in a man-of-the-match display. He's got real, real talent. And obviously now with the signature of Florian Wurz in that centre-attacking midfield position. In terms of minutes for next season, it's going to look scarce for Harvey Elliott.

Despite his talents, and surely with the talent he possesses and his ambitions, he'll want to start for a Premier League side. And it wouldn't surprise me if a few teams in the Premier League go in for him. Because with the momentum, with game time, he's only going to improve. And as seen by the performances in this Under-21s tournament, he's got real temperament and spirit.

grab the game by the scruff of the neck. And he's got the leadership qualities too. So he's definitely an attractive package. And I'm sure a number of teams will be keeping an eye on him for this summer. A word on the manager as well, Jack. I think it would be fair to say, and he would admit that that interim spell didn't sit well on his shoulders, that he probably found the scrutiny and the questioning all a little bit much. But Lee Carsey is clearly a very capable coach, particularly with young players.

Yeah, I think especially the way he went in with everything around the anthem and how big that was would have been a real eye-opener for Lee Carsey. He's someone that's been in the FA a long time and would have seen Gareth Southgate go through things like these around various different issues, the way he tackled it. I think it was something that took him by surprise a touch. I don't know quite how deeply affected he would have been by it, but I think he's clearly a coach they massively admire. I think the assumption when

Carsley went back to the 21s that he'd be there for a couple of months and then move off to a club job and move off to something bigger and better potentially because that was the expectation after they won the Euros the last time that he would move into club management but the fact he's gone in and signed a new contract he's clearly doing a fantastic job but he's a coach that's

too good just to be with the under-21s. So you would think there is a longer-term plan for having had that experience, he'll be all the better for it, to maybe go back into the senior job one day. You never know what's going to happen with Thomas Tuchel. He's someone that

or often has success and then it blows up into some sort of situation that sees him moving on from somewhere else. He's obviously suggested he might think about going longer than the World Cup, but if he doesn't, if it ends after the World Cup, then I think the FA would have an awful lot of faith in pushing Lee Carsley up again, even despite some of the talking points, the issues, the struggles he had with the media around him.

that interim spell and I think he was placed in an awkward position in there he knew for a long time that Thomas Tuchel was coming in and kept being asked about that job saying he didn't want it saying he's happy to go back to the 21s he was put in a very difficult position by the FA with that and not really announcing Tuchel so I think it

What he's done is fantastic. There were some question marks over how good this group would be and he's taken them to another final. So he's clearly a fantastic coach. Just very quickly to finish with you, Jack, I'll stay with you on the cricket and Paul Favre saying Joffre Archer maybe not quite ready for the second test against India. It would seem very sensible not to hurl him back in too soon.

Absolutely. I think it would. I mean, it was 1,500 days, I think it was, between Red Bull matches and bowling and first-class cricket. And we all want to see him back playing for England. I think Barstokes and maybe a bit of tongue knocking the tail over, England's bowling attack wasn't fantastic if the Indians could...

hold some of their catches they wouldn't have lost to England in the first test everyone wants to see him back but we know we have to be so delicate with Joffre Archer so I think a bit of time would be wise because while this is an important series a very important series we all want him raring to go and fit for the ashes