‘Too many Bourbons’ – Ray Parlour offers update on Alan Brazil and sends well wishes

Arsenal legend Ray Parlour has provided an update on his best pal Alan Brazil after he was taken off air on Thursday morning.

The legendary talkSPORT host felt unwell during the Breakfast show and was replaced in the studio at 8am.

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Katie Shanahan presented the remainder of the show alongside Gabby Agbonlahor.

Rest assured, Alan is doing just fine after coming off air and is set to return to the Breakfast show on Wednesday.

Friday’s show was instead hosted by Parlour and Brazil’s compatriot Shebahn Aherne to give Big Al’ a well deserved rest.

Meanwhile, Jeff Stelling and Ally McCoist will host as usual on Monday and Tuesday.

Despite Brazil’s absence being a classic case of ‘man gets ill’, there was panic across the nation’s media, with multiple outlets covering the story as a top priority.

With the nation clearly desperate for an update on their radio treasure, Parlour and Aherne discussed Brazil’s absence at the start of Friday’s show.

The former Gunners midfielder joked it had been down to eating ‘too many Bourbons’ for his sugar levels.

He also revealed Brazil had spent the rest of the show laid on the sofa outside the talkSPORT studio.

Parlour explained: “He had a little snooze out there.

“I hope he’s alright, Alan. He was getting dizzy last week as well when I was in here. The lights make him go dizzy.”

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Aherne added: “We are sending our love to Al,” although Parlour quipped: “He won’t be listening.”

Parlour hails Van de Ven

Later in the show, Parlour reacted to the news that Tottenham Hotspur value Micky van de Ven at more than £100million.

The Dutch defender is pushing to leave the club despite being under contract until 2029, talkSPORT understands.

Liverpool are amongst the sides to have been credited with an interest in Van de Ven.

Parlour believes the 24-year-old is worth the fee Spurs are demanding.

The former England international explained: “Van de Ven is certainly a decent player but the problem you’re going to have with Tottenham is it’s all down to players.

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“Players have got all the power now. If he wants to leave, he will leave. There’s no doubt about it, then Tottenham have got to get the most money for him.

“It’s one of those situations where he can go into the manager, managers can’t keep players, it’s impossible now because it’s too much money around and you’ve got too much power as a player.

“Tottenham can’t afford to (think), ‘have we got the right players in the dressing room, if he wants to leave’, all that sort of stuff.

“‘Will he upset other players?’ and that’s the problem you have with players. They sign contracts, but contracts don’t mean nothing now.”

Van de Ven has made 80 appearances and won the Europa League since joining Spurs from Wolfsburg in 2023.