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Pep Guardiola unmoored is a beautiful thing, raising in some the idea that his emotional outpouring over the innocent victims of global conflicts could point to a premature parting with Manchester City at the end of the season.

When the influential and powerful raise their voice, commotion ripples through the ether. Goodness knows the downtrodden need all the help they can get.

With Pep on their side, the people of Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, anti-government protestors in the United States, all referenced in Guardiola’s remarkable press conference about a football match, are at least seen, their complaints heard, their anguish acknowledged.

“Never, ever in the history of humanity have we had the information in front of our eyes more clearly than now. The genocide in Palestine, what happened in Ukraine, what happened in Russia, what happened all around the world, in Sudan, everywhere. Do you want to see it? It’s our problem as human beings,” he said.

“Is there someone here who is not affected every single day? For me, it hurts me. If it was the opposite side, it would hurt me. Killing thousands of innocent people, it hurts me. It’s no more complicated than that. I have a lot of friends from many, many countries, but when you have an idea and you need to defend, and you have to kill thousands of people, I’m sorry, I will stand up.”

"When thousands of innocent people are completely killed it hurts me!"

"Humanity is better than ever in terms of possibilities. We can do everything. But still, right now, we kill each other. For what?!"

Pep Guardiola delivers hugely passionate speech on the power of images and… pic.twitter.com/EJ3AQmZmmU

— Hayters TV (@HaytersTV) February 3, 2026

Well said, Pep. However, speaking up in this way also raises the spectre of justifiable whataboutery, so forgive me if I highlight the contradictions here, and there are many.

Were Guardiola to have spoken out in Abu Dhabi, home of City’s ownership, as he did before the Carabao Cup semi-final, for example, he might have been subject to criminal investigation and likely expulsion.

A cursory glance at Amnesty International’s commentary reveals how freedom of expression is curtailed by the heavy-duty application of the United Arab Emirates’ legal apparatus. For example, a Palestinian academic was deported in April last year after sharing his political views with colleagues at New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus.

The following month a foreign student was arrested and deported for shouting “Free Palestine” at an NYU graduation ceremony.

You can imagine how Pep’s volley at the Etihad might have been perceived by City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the UAE representative no less on Donald Trump’s questionable vanity project launched in Davos last month, the fantastical “Board of Peace”.

Al Mubarak has already been pinned by the Jewish Representative Council over Guardiola’s remarks at a charity concert he addressed in Barcelona last month wearing the keffiyeh scarf, the universal symbol of Palestinian resistance.

Moreover, the UAE is involved in the conflict in Sudan as a significant backer of the rebel paramilitary group RSF (Rapid Support Forces), which for two years has been locked in a deadly power battle with the ruling SAF (Sudan Armed Forces). The latter accuses the UAE of being complicit in genocide, which if course the UAE, a heavy importer of the gold controlled by the RSF, rejects.

Separating right from wrong in complex, internecine struggles rooted not in principles but power and control is the devil’s own work. It is perhaps as well that Guardiola made no mention of Yemen, where, as a supporter of the separatist group STC (Southern Transactional Council), the UAE had boots on the ground until 2019 and has since maintained proxy support in a brutal civil war that has ravaged communities.

Guardiola cannot be held accountable for the foreign policy of his club’s owners, but if his heart strings are sufficiently plucked by interminable conflicts that claim innocent lives he might do well to peer through the emotional mist to establish a clearer understanding of global events and the forces involved.

Or, as some are suggesting, it might be that Guardiola does not care, that he has gone nuclear knowing that the end is nigh, that his departure is decided and he has nothing to lose. Guardiola will know the power of his voice, how anything he says is grist to the social media mill and open to wild interpretation.

How’s this for an hysterical link? Guardiola has been resolute in his support for the Abu Dhabi ownership in the case brought by the Premier League against Manchester City, which resulted in 130 charges relating to alleged financial irregularities, all denied by the club.

We still await the outcome of a hearing that convened for two months at the end of 2024. Perhaps Guardiola knows something we don’t. The question will be asked.

Either way the needle has been moved. Pep has spoken and is now fair game having entered the same geopolitical realm that saw Abu Dhabi buy City in the first place, not for the connection to east Manchester, nor for the love of football, but for the soft power clout that association with the world game brings.

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It is not the anger that really sticks with you at the King Power Stadium, nor the sadness or angst. It is not the groans and boos or the catcalls against sporting director Jon Rudkin or the style of play.

It is the silence; long periods of ghostly nothingness where something used to exist because everybody has forgotten what it is like to watch a team that they are proud of. They trudge in, fearing the worst, and too often trudge away dissecting it. There are roars before the match, but only out of habit really. They soon dissipate into an air of displeasure.

You can see why; you can hardly blame anyone present for the misery. Five years ago this week, Leicester City were third in the Premier League, five points off the top and 11 points ahead of Arsenal. No club in England has fallen from such a height to where Leicester are now. The silence reflects the disbelief at the breadth and length of the decline.

Last week, owner Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha gave his first sit down interview in years to a number of journalists. The timing was predictable, given the latest on-pitch nadir and the sacking of manager Marti Cifuentes.

In amongst the typical soundbites about taking responsibility, needing to fight and focusing on making better decisions, almost all of which has been evident for three years, Top said that he was still baffled by how Leicester got relegated.

It was a worrying thing to hear from supporters, because they could all tell Topp: a powder puff midfield and a leaky defence; illogical managerial appointments; gross wastage on players despite financial limitations; failing to keep a clean sheet away from home and only scoring 15 times at home. That will do it. 

In the same interview, Top responded to the sustained criticism of Rudkin’s work by insisting that there should not be a culture of blame and revealing that Rudkin would be moving further up the food chain with a new sporting director on the way.

But why shouldn’t there be blame? This is a supposedly elite football club, not a school sports day. If systemic issues have been identified and a series of significant mistakes made that have undermined previous progress and doubled down on decline, it is not enough to say “We will do better” without evidence that the root causes of that decline are addressed. 

Leicester spent money so badly – on transfer fees and wages – that it caused them to fail profitability and sustainability rules. They are a bottom-half Championship club with two £15m-plus signings out on loan and another six in a first-team squad that is still light on depth in key areas. Their last three managerial appointments, in order, did not fit the club (Steve Cooper), never had the experience for the task (Ruud van Nistelrooy) and were never likely to implement their style with the squad inherited (Cifuentes).

If there is too little accountability within the club’s management, do not act surprised when the same happens on the pitch. Leicester have forgotten how to win games, forgotten how to show fight and steel and forgotten how to defend without making daft mistakes. The third worst defence in the Premier League last year is the third worst in the Championship this year.

The financial limitations have clearly hit hard here; the only route out of the strife is through sustainability and the Championship is hardly its natural habitat. But it is the continued threat of points deduction, Leicester’s own sword of Damocles, that creates the most reason for fear.

Leicester’s argument, although effective, that they existed in a hinterland between Premier League and EFL and therefore that any punishment could not be applied, has become counterproductive. The Foxes are living in a scenario where their league position is false and the eventual punishment not yet confirmed; neither is its timing. Were it to be nine points, say, Leicester would be in the bottom three.

And so now longer-term good intentions meet with understandable short-term panic. Andy King has taken over as caretaker, but lost 2-0 at home to Charlton Athletic in his first game. Leicester supporters are desperate to see meaningful change but the only noticeable shift is their team getting worse and worse. 

Uncertainty is the whole of their truth: Leicester need a new manager, sporting director, chief executive, commercial director. They need to know what their punishment will be for past failings and need to know if that places them in a battle to go up or a battle to stay up. You can have a decent stadium, a wealthy owner, a sizeable fanbase in a one-club city and recent success. None of it provides a VIP pass to jump the queue to avoid calamity.

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Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea (4-2 on aggregate) (Havertz 90+7)

EMIRATES STADIUM – Being generous, encounters like this are described as a “chess match”. The trouble is not many people turn up in the torrential rain to watch live games of chess, with good reason.

That will not worry Mikel Arteta, who finally banished one of his great hoodoos – winning a semi-final at the fifth attempt as Kai Havertz’s stoppage-time winner sent Arsenal to Wembley.

They are a team of contradictions – so controlled and hyper-fixated on precision that they forget to bother with aesthetics. Too hysterical to win trophies and yet seemingly devoid of the normal emotions that accompany the biggest occasions.

It should alarm Liam Rosenior more, one of the brightest coaching prospects in England. For a window into the mindset of the modern manager, you could not have hoped for a better showdown than the one here. It was like watching a couple of data deities for the kind of football fans who enjoy expected goal metrics more than actual goals, slowly rearranging the pawns from the dugout.

"I'm surprised people have done it more."

Ian Wright and Karen Carney on how Chelsea have dealt with Arsenal's corners #ITVFootball | @Carabao_Cup pic.twitter.com/rsY1vOuh6R

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 3, 2026

If Arsenal are robotic, they are also uber-professional. Rosenior, by contrast, seemed to lose sight of what Chelsea were there to do, arriving at the Emirates with a one-goal deficit. They went conservative when there was nothing to conserve. Reece James and Pedro Neto were absent and Estevao and Cole Palmer could only start on the bench.

But likewise Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard were missing too. This was no vintage Arsenal performance. In the first half, Viktor Gyokeres was restricted to just three touches. There were the familiar struggles from open play; indeed the most interesting thing Chelsea did in 90 minutes was a sudden rush to take three players out of the box as Arsenal prepared a corner, ensuring their hosts had to do the same.

There has been so much to like about Rosenior’s early work at Stamford Bridge, the dramatic comebacks against Napoli and West Ham, and there are mitigating factors. There is still not enough depth in that defence and it looked nervous on the night. In practice it was a back five and the transitions were not effective enough. Upon the hour mark on went Estevao and Palmer and Alejandro Garnacho soon joined, but it was too late once the life had already been sapped out of the tie.

Garnacho has required some bold handling. In the first leg, he was the only reason Chelsea remained in the tie with two goals, but his role in the two they conceded against West Ham was enough to see him hauled off at half-time. It cost him a starting role in north London, Rosenior’s firmest hand towards a Chelsea player so far. Given the repeated question marks over discipline under Enzo Maresca, that is no bad thing.

Teams have to change and evolve but Rosenior does not enjoy the same luxuries as Arteta. The latter can insist that, contrary to the naked eye, they are in fact “the most exciting team in Europe”, rebutting Paul Scholes’ claim that we are about to witness “the most boring team to win the Premier League”. And he can say that because Arsenal are even closer to silverware now as they head to Wembley.

Instead Chelsea emulated Arsenal’s worst traits without delivering the best ones, finishing with an xG of 0.68. They looked reticent, overawed and stagnant. It is the first time since replacing Maresca Rosenior has really fallen into such an obvious trap.

Paul Merson delivered the most scathing critique of the night, saying he was “flabbergasted” by Rosenior’s approach.

“I can’t believe what I’ve just watched,” he told Sky Sports. “Chelsea aren’t a bottom-five team. They have World Cup winners. “[Wesley] Fofana is crying. He should be crying because they never had a go. They’ve gone out with a whimper in a semi-final.”

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For a plausibly bright bloke Gianni Infantino is impressively dim, taking us all for fools with his brazen sycophancy. A primary school ethics class would have little trouble weeding out the fallacies and contradictions in the Fifa president’s inane proclamations, the latest of which calls for the lifting of the ban prohibiting Russia from playing international football.

We should not, according to Infantino, “ban any country from playing football because of the acts of their political leaders”. We see you Infantino. The knee bend before Russian president Vladimir Putin is as clear an example of fawning over power as the award of a Fifa peace prize to Donald Trump, which of course gave the big, fat lie to the separation of sport and politics.

It is so far beyond parody to reward the Russian state with inclusion four years after it launched an illegal invasion of a sovereign neighbour, it does not deserve the consideration of mutant ninja turtles let alone salient human beings. Not only does it insult the intelligence of right thinking souls, it offends the victims of Russian murderous aggression in Ukraine, the war dead, military and civilian, the casualties and the displaced among the near 38 million population.

Infantino knows this, of course, but can’t help himself. Whether it be a direct siren call to Putin or at the bidding of Trump, his faux separation of sport and state is an appalling act of opportunism and appeasement that should be called out and was by Ukrainian sports minister Matvii Bidnyi, who described his comments as “irresponsible not to say infantile. They detach football from the reality in which children are being killed.”

The ban, according to “Infantilo”, has achieved nothing, other than contributing more “frustration and hatred”. So we welcome the Russians back into Infantino’s world and skip along holding hands while Putin continues his monstrous imperialist drive to make Ukraine Russian again.

“Having girls and boys from Russia being able to play football games in other parts of Europe would help.” If only someone had thought of this before. We could have brought Adolf Hitler to his senses, persuaded Joseph Stalin gulags were not the way, helped South Africa’s leaders understand the folly of apartheid, because no matter how brutal the regime, the beautiful game has a way of making us whole again. Ye gods.

What is really happening here is the appropriation of the world game by its most powerful figure for the purpose of personal aggrandisement. Infantino is a conceited, vainglorious, fool, who believes the world leaders to whom he kow-tows actually value and admire him. That he might be their useful idiot, allowing them to use the world’s biggest sporting event as a propaganda tool, has not crossed his tiny mind.

How could it? He is too absorbed by the man he sees in the mirror. He loves the power his post affords him, mistaking that for what he believes are inherent qualities of his own. Big Gianni energy. God I’m so f***ing impressive, everybody worth a dime wants me at his table, the maker of men, the god of all things.

Trump would not touch Infantino with a goal post were he not Fifa head boy. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would not wipe his feet on that polished cranium were Infantino not accelerating the normalisation of Saudi Arabia via the gift of the 2034 World Cup.

It was never you, Infantino. Your obsequious tokens of affection, the bizarre Fifa “peace prize”, the smug self-importance, all expose you for the absurd vassal you are, an inconsequential lickspittle masquerading as substance.   

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Manchester United’s new hierarchy is anything but faultless, but the club’s recent transfer record has been impressive. And Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his executives want to keep it that way.

Evolving their approach from a previous wildly unsuccessful scattergun one has been crucial. Meticulous planning now goes into every recruitment move.

Instead of splashing the cash desperately in January, the summer is where they will likely do plenty of business, with particular focus on midfield. The pursuit of their three top targets – Elliot Anderson, Adam Wharton and Carlos Baleba – is in full swing. More than one midfield purchase is likely.

It is not just new arrivals who will give United senior figures major decisions to make.

Maguire’s future

Harry Maguire is very highly thought of at United for his conduct around Carrington and how young players look up to him. His performances in recent weeks, after he fought hard to win his first-team spot back yet again, have been crucial to Michael Carrick’s mini-revival.

The 32-year-old’s contract, where he earns around £200,000 a week, runs out in the summer. Senior figures are divided over whether to offer him a new one, The i Paper has been told, and are unlikely to exercise the option for an extra year in his current deal.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is keen to cut the wage bill down, especially by getting rid of ageing top earners. Casemiro, the club’s highest-paid player, and others on large salaries will leave.

But Maguire could be the exception, and the England international is willing to take a substantial pay cut of about £80,000 a week.

Some senior executives feel Maguire’s value on and off the pitch, in a dressing room devoid of leaders, could be crucial.

No decision has been made yet over whether a new deal will be offered, with interest from other Premier League clubs and across Europe, mainly from Italy, in Maguire.

Funds from exits

Whenever Manuel Ugarte plays for United, chaos ensues. His appearance from the bench on Sunday was no different, with Carrick’s side vulnerable in the extreme whenever Casemiro and the Uruguayan trade places.

As a result of his poor form, United are understood to be looking to move Ugarte on in the summer, with three Turkish clubs, including Galatasaray, interested.
Recovering even half the £50m they paid Paris Saint-Germain for the defensive midfielder will represent a major result.

Others will also leave. Marcus Rashford should secure his dream permanent switch to Barcelona, even though the cash-strapped Catalans are currently struggling to match his £26m option-to-buy included in his loan move.

Jadon Sancho will be released after his nightmare five-year spell at Old Trafford comes to end this summer. Sancho and Rashford’s exits alone will save around £500,000-a-week in wages.

Bruno Fernandes’ future is less clear, with talks expected between the skipper’s representatives and United officials before he heads to this summer’s World Cup.

Sesko forces rethink

The area of the squad that has had the most recent investment is the striker department – to startling success. United have gone from a turgid watch last term to Premier League’s third top goalscorers, with no team having more shots at goal this term.

New, proven Premier League forwards Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo have particularly impressed, but £74m signing Benjamin Sesko has not had quite the same impact, ensuring United’s recruitment department remained on alert when putting together their summer transfer plans. Another number nine was not out of the question.

Sesko’s conduct behind the scenes at Carrington, however, has started to win officials over, persuading them to remain focused solely on the midfield rebuild.

Despite spending plenty of time on the bench, the Slovenia international is described as one of the hardest workers in the group and has not showed any effect of his on-field inconsistency.

His determination to not become the latest in a long line of big-money flops has not gone unnoticed.

The culmination of his hard work came with his stoppage-time winner against Fulham on Sunday. Sesko was mobbed by every single one of United’s substitutes warming up on the touchline, showing his growing popularity and stature at the club.

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With the utmost respect to Haydeer Abdulkareem, the Iraq Under-23 international who was Al-Nassr’s only signing of the Saudi Pro League January transfer window, he was never going to move the needle for Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo has reportedly gone on strike over that lack of activity. Can you imagine his facial expression? Yes, because it’s the only way to imagine his face.

I know what you’re thinking: fair enough for playing the long game. Ronaldo has lived in Saudi Arabia for three years, so he’s now fully educated himself on the human rights issues surrounding the treatment of migrant workers and the LGBTQ+ community. And he’s taken a stand. All power to the fight!

According to A Bola in Portugal, Ronaldo refused to play in Al-Nassr’s league game against Al-Riyadh on Monday in protest at the lack of transfer activity of his club. Part of his concern: Al Hilal eyeing up Karim Benzema from Al-Ittihad, a move that did eventually go through on Deadline Day. Benzema also went on strike after a deterioration in contract talks, to force a move.

How better to epitomise football’s slow dance with late-stage capitalism than such a farce: ageing elite-level footballers making themselves unavailable to get their own way and shape the business done by the four major clubs in the Saudi Pro League, all of whom have the same majority owner: Saudi’s own Public Investment Fund. At least you save money on the biscuits during transfer negotiations.

Ronaldo, we should remember, signed a new contract with Al Nassr/Saudi Arabia/Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud – delete as you feel appropriate – last July that runs until 2027 and is worth a reported £488,000 a day – a day – before all the myriad extras. As glorious sick days go, earning a cool half a million while you watch repeats of Hoarders and Minder is up there.

In Ronaldo’s defence, he may well have expected a little preferential treatment given that he has accepted being a key actor in Saudi Arabia’s soft power regime. At his contract unveiling Ronaldo did literally say the words: “I belong to Saudi Arabia”. Truly the romcom of our age.

And he’s paid his dues. In November, Ronaldo travelled to the White House for a meeting with Donald Trump and the Saudi crown prince. Elon Musk was there. There’s even a photograph of Ronaldo guffawing at something Trump said. That must be worth a new £20m signing in January at least.

Ordinarily, you might expect that Al Nassr’s response to Ronaldo’s world-class dummy-throwing would be to point at the numbers in that new contract and mutter “Are you taking the piss, pal? Our average home attendance is below 19,000”.

But nothing is normal here. Saudi Arabia’s original plan, as the great sportswashing disruption project of modern football through their own domestic league hoovering up the best talent, hasn’t really worked.

It has created a weird dichotomy: a league that services a series of vastly overpaid, ageing players who simultaneously seem to hold more power than their clubs and yet can only subservient to the ultimate kingmakers, the Saudi state itself.

For Ronaldo, merely the latest slide into prolific parody. Whatever you make of him, and of this gold-plated football mirage in the desert, he was at least always playing and scoring goals. Fewer goals than Ivan Toney this season, granted, but goals all the same.

That became the defence of this move to those who cherish him: he just wanted to keep on keeping on. Look past the individualism, the ego and the sulks and you still had a freak of talent and professionalism.

It reminds of Mike Clegg’s anecdote from when he was development coach at Manchester United and was asked how Ronaldo does it: “Thousands and thousands of hours of graft. He would be in the gym with me doing core work, then he would do activation, then his actual football training.

“After training, back into the gym and do some power work for his legs. Then home to the right food, swim, more work, sleep and then repeat. He did that for five or six years.”

Now the ultimate professional is refusing to play; a tantrum about a lack of new players that he feels Al Nassr need or risk Ronaldo missing out on a first domestic trophy in Saudi once again. He is missing the point. This isn’t about transfers because it isn’t about football because it isn’t about sport. It is merely reinforcing sport’s place within a nexus of geopolitical willy-waving.

Presumably it will all be smoothed over soon – perhaps they could give Ronaldo a pay rise? Until then, he is the £492m figurehead sat on his own naughty step, the geopolitical influencer who took the money, wore the crown and then realised that he still wasn’t the boss.

This hot mess would be quite entertaining if it wasn’t so damned bleak. Bask in this glorious football-themed dystopia.

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January is a notoriously difficult month to do business and this winter, it has felt like many Premier League clubs have been more reluctant than ever.

Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) has tied the hands of Aston Villa, Newcastle and Everton – among others – but the deals are still rolling in on deadline day.

Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal are both looking to be active at the 11th hour, for very different reasons. The Gunners are looking for the final pieces to get them over the line in the title race, especially after an injury to Mikel Merino, while Spurs are in the midst of an injury crisis of their own and aren’t totally out of the woods in the battle to avoid relegation.

Top-flight clubs have to register their revised squad lists by Thursday 5 February.

Stay tuned throughout the day for the biggest updates.

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