Caicedo offer rejected by Brighton half an hour before Arsenal exclusively make it

Editor F365
Arsenal's Martin Odegaard is tackled by Moises Caicedo

Brighton had already rejected a £60m bid for Moises Caicedo by the time Sky Sports exclusively and gleefully revealed that Arsenal made the offer.

 

Pep talk

“Anything can happen on the touchline in the moments of the game. I’m not a judge, everyone is everyone and sometimes I behave as well in this way. If we’re going to fight on the touchline, it’s going to happen sooner or later I guess, but it won’t change the respect.”

That was Pep Guardiola’s response to a leading question about Mikel Arteta and his #touchlineantics. And Mediawatch says it was a leading question because here is a quick look at how said response was covered:

Arsenal newspaper back page headlines

They wanted their back page. They got their back page. Everyone is happy. But at no stage did he ‘predict’ anything, never mind a ‘bust-up’.

Worse still is the Daily Mirror website‘s headline of ‘Pep Guardiola willing to have touchline bust-up with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta’. He said it’ll probably happen as a result of them both being passionate coaches in direct competition but ‘willing to’ is nonsense and ‘bust-up’ is little better.

 

Then again…
‘Pep Guardiola accepts he’ll ‘fight’ Mikel Arteta ‘sooner or later’ ahead of Man City-Arsenal showdown’ – Football365. F***.

 

Broken news
Fabrizio Romano exclusive, 11am:

‘EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal have submitted £60m bid to sign Moises Caicedo as new midfielder #AFC. Chelsea had £55m verbal proposal rejected this January as Brighton hope to keep the player – but Arsenal are now pushing. Negotiations enter into key stages for Caicedo future.’

David Ornstein and James McNicholas, The Athletic, 11.24am:

‘Arsenal have had a £60million fixed bid for Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo rejected.’

Sky Sports, 11.52am:

Reporting an ‘exclusive’ 52 minutes after someone else broke the exact same Caicedo story – and almost half an hour after the most well-connected Arsenal journalist there is disclosed an update to the original – is stunning work.

 

Hard twerk
On the subject of Arsenal, this Sun website headline is preposterous:

‘Zinchenko gesture to Kiwior revealed after he saw win vs Man Utd with twerking Wag’

Were Kiwior’s wife and girlfriend twerking while watching the match? Or is it simply not possible to even mention Jakub Kiwior without referring to his twerking wife and girlfriend?

 

You know you make me wanna WOUT
Neil Custis has written a perfectly serviceable and ordinary story about Wout Weghorst in The Sun, covering the striker’s comments against the first leg of Man Utd’s Carabao Cup semi-final over Nottingham Forest.

It turns out he is quite happy playing for Man Utd instead of Burnley or Besiktas and he would quite like to continue doing so beyond the expiration of his loan deal.

But that isn’t quite shouty or dramatic enough for The Sun website:

‘Wout Weghorst reveals he wants to STAY at Man Utd beyond loan transfer after scoring first goal for club against Forest’

Player who would not have the opportunity to play for a club the size of Man Utd in ordinary circumstances wants to keep on playing for Man Utd. No, it turns out someone whose previous biggest team was Wolfsburg actually wants to STAY.

It’s quite the revelation. Next week: Harry Maguire wants to play MORE football and Phil Jones wants to LEAVE.

 

Crist the redeemer
Content creators know that blaming Cristiano Ronaldo for something is usually a goldmine. His weird supporters will click out of impotent fury and everyone else is happy to laugh at the Portuguese for being a manchild.

Which is how we get to this from the Daily Mirror website:

‘Al-Nassr boss takes Cristiano Ronaldo dig after star blanks again in Super Cup defeat’

By the first paragraph, Rudi Garcia has only ‘partially laid the blame’ on Ronaldo for the loss, and we soon get to the crux of the Frenchman’s apparent ‘dig’.

“One of the things that changed the course of the match was Cristiano’s missed opportunity in the first half,” he said, which is less a dig and more just a statement of fact. But they already knew that.

 

STILL water
While we’re on the second-best player of his generation…

‘Cristiano Ronaldo STILL goalless for Al-Nassr as ex-Man Utd star misses chance at first Saudi trophy in Super Cup shock’ – The Sun website.

‘Familiar foe masterminds Ronaldo’s Saudi Super Cup exit as goalless start extends’ – Daily Mirror website.

‘Cristiano Ronaldo STILL waiting for his first goal in Saudi Arabia after drawing a second blank as the 37-year-old struggles to make a major impact during Al Nassr’s 3-1 Super Cup semi-final defeat by Al-Ittihad’ – MailOnline.

Can someone be STILL without a goal after two games? Sure, it’s the actual Cristiano Ronaldo. But still. Or STILL.

 

Woke up this morning feeling fine
The Sun‘s headline: ‘Newcastle star Joelinton ADMITS drink-driving after downing 2 glasses of wine – and gets fined a huge sum’

The end of The Sun’s ninth paragraph: ‘…it will take less than a week to pay the fine.’

 

Mart watch
‘EMI MARTINEZ has been warned by football’s law-makers: We’re coming for you’ – Martin Lipton, The Sun.

Alternatively, the International FA Board will be changing the rules for all goalkeepers from penalties and not just persecuting Emi Martinez.

 

Worst headline of the day
‘Stunning BBC presenter shares troll’s X-rated DM and says it made her ‘feel ill” – The Sun website.

No doubt being objectified by a national news outlet will make everything better.

Mediawatch