The Athletic

Welcome to the Athletic

Welcome to the Athletic

I'm Ian Irving

and as this summer's transfer window appears to have kicked into overdrive already. On today's show, we'll be taking a closer look at how the Winter

World Cup might be responsible. To do that, I'm joined by a couple of the Athletics big hitters,

senior writer Don Feifield, and our Spurs and England correspondent, Jack Pitt, Brooke.

We'll also touch on some of the big news stories from the last couple of days and point you in the right direction of some essential reading before we're

through. But Dom, let's kick things off. You've written a piece all about this on the Athletic

at the minute. Essentially, is it all about regular game time for players ahead of Qatar now?

Yeah, essentially. I mean, people, the footballers target World Cups. They

see them as massive opportunities in their careers. They may only get one opportunity to

feature for their country at a major finals like this. So the calendar is obviously a bit altered this year, given that the World Cups taking place from November to mid-December. So the calendar is obviously a bit altered this year, given that the World Cup is taking place from November to mid-December.

So the first six months or five months of the coming season are critical.

Players need to be getting regular game time in that, getting a rhythm of matches, form and fitness together

so that they go to Qatar with their national teams,

peak form, peat fitness, basically,

so they can hit the ground running and achieve what they want to achieve on that stage.

Now, for most players, and there are key players at most Premier League clubs, I suppose, who will expect to be at that tournament, you know, seasoned

internationals. But for players who maybe don't feel quite as secure at their clubs and are not

going to be, they're going to be on the fringes, they're not going to be playing every week.

You know, there might be the players that feature more often in the League Cup and they do

...