The Athletic FC.

Welcome to the preview from the Athletic FC.

It's the show where we get you set for the weekend's Premier League action.

This week we're looking ahead to Arsenal versus Manchester United.

And joining me today, we've got Stu James.

Welcome back, Stu. Thanks very much, Matt, for having back on. Good to you. Always a pleasure. And making this first preview appearance of the season, it's Art de Roche. How you doing, Art? I'm good, thanks. Thanks for having me and I hope your week's gone well. Good weekend of football to look forward to as well. Yeah, it looks like a really fun one. Later in the show, we'll get into some of the other big matchups of Match Week 23. And hey, it's the reverse of the Match Day 1 games. You'll remember those listeners. Spurs winning comfortably at home. Mo Salah putting the seal on a big win for the reigning champions. Nuno's Forest making Keith Andrews look like a goof, how far we've come slash fallen.

Let's get into our feature presentation.

So it is Arsenal versus Manchester United.

Before we get into the game, one man who might feature in it on Sunday, but won't when the teams meet next season, is Casimiro.

He costs Manchester United 60 million pounds back in the

summer of 2022, then aged 30, but he's announced that he is off at the end of the season.

How will we look back on his legacy, Stu, in terms of his Man United career. Good on him

for getting $375 grand a week out of them or a spent force who drained their resources. Both. Wow. This is complicated, Matt, right? As you said, he cost a fortune, a 60 million pound fee, close to the same again in wages by the time he leaves. And he was 30 when he signed. And I think all of that from day one,

it was almost impossible for that transfer to be a success. Well, unless he had a really

transformative effect on United right across those four seasons. And realistically, that was

never going to happen, not just because of him, but because of the mess United had been in

over that period. So none of that is to say that he hasn't played well at times, including this season.

He's been a mainstay in the team.

He was man of the match, Kent City last weekend.

What I will say is I do admire the way he responded to being written off.

And let's be honest, it wasn't just Carragough who thought he was finished.

There were plenty of people who thought his, in quotes, legs had gone. So fair play to him for turning that around in such a way

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