"IN CONTROL" Ben Jacobs provides LATEST on FUTURES of Rodri, Bradley Barcola, Cristian Romero & more

You're in the company of Sean Custis and Henry Winter here on Sunday Edition.As I said, plenty of texts and WhatsApps exercising you this morning.Dan is back.What do you expect Bruno to do?Should he look unhappy during his announcement video?He's excited for a new challenge.

You're being ridiculous.Why don't you get it out of the way by having a tantrum, Sean?Get it off your chest.Well, yes, I have had a tantrum.Thank you very much.And it's a justified tantrum anyway Transfer news now more transfer news seen as Bruno's now gone Ben Jacobs talks more senior football correspondent joins us morning Ben.

Good morning Morning, don't smile about that.We had a long chat about Bruno last week and we're forgetting about him now We're gonna move on to Rodri Where's he gonna go Barcelona or Real Madrid?

Yeah, by the way, Jasler, very exciting appointment for Newcastle United and hopefully they'll spend some of that money.But with Rodri, I think Barcelona are leading the race, as we revealed on Talk Sport, moving ahead of Real Madrid.In fact, Real, as it stands, have stopped all talks with Manchester City.So no kind of El Clasico bidding war as of now.And yet the real complication here is not Rodri, it's Manchester City.They're looking for at least 75 million euros.

Barcelona bid 45 million plus add -ons total package in and around 50 million go for family as well as football reasons and that's why I think that this deal will eventually get done.Yeah, £170 million really, so it hasn't moved at the moment, but that's partly because Liverpool are playing a smart waiting game.And if Paris Saint -Germain add Ferran Torres, personal terms are in place and now they're starting club -to -club talks with Barcelona, suddenly that will be two attack -minded players coming into PSG because Magnus Akelius has already moved from Monaco and if that means therefore that Liverpool wait and come in after that deal should it go through then suddenly you're in a situation where PSG's asking price might drop.Liverpool have held preliminary talks we've heard some suggestions in the last 24 to 48 hours that there's been a bid even some reports intimating an agreement in principle that's not my understanding but Liverpool's pursuit of Bradley Barker At the back of, I suppose, Liverpool fans' minds, they'll be worried that because Arsenal didn't get Vini Junior, they could suddenly move for Barcelona.And if Arsenal pay the asking price, then Barcelona might change his preference, which at the moment is to join Liverpool.But so far, Liverpool feel in control of the negotiation, but they're not going to bid as long as PSG maintain that 170 million number.

But if Torres arrives, I suspect that that number might come down by 20 or 30 million euros.Liverpool's starting point is more around the 100 million euros mark.And again, that could come up by 10 or 15 million euros.And as a result, this big golfing

need a left -sided attacking player, a left -sided attacking player who had actually a fairly decent World Cup for England and he's currently relaxing and refreshing after, during the sort of the 30, I would say about 21 days that they're stipulated that they have to take off via FIFA after the World Cup, Marcus Rashford.Why isn't there more Links between him and and some of these these clubs like an arsenal spurs arguably Yeah, it's a great question.

I think the answer is twofold.One, wage, and two, Rashford's own desire to see whether he can be reintegrated at Manchester United.There was a clause, £40 million, which expired, which was available to everybody except Manchester City or Liverpool.And prior to that, there was a €30 million option to buy.And Barcelona, of course, didn't take it.So Manchester United's valuation will be informed by those two numbers, even though neither clause is active.

The challenge is Marcus Rashford other attackers as I've just mentioned Arsenal I sense will have other names in mind unless the Rashford wage goes down Manchester United don't have an appetite to do what Chelsea did at the last minute with Raheem Sterling he had a massive wage Arsenal got a great deal there but it was a loan so everything has kind of come to a halt because Rashford will return and ultimately know that Man United are not going to add a left winger unless Rashford goes so he'll have the opportunity to maybe get a lot of minutesleft -winger he finds an opportunity he'll consider it in a big five league but if someone comes calling in the Premier League at the moment anyway his preference would be to stay at Manchester United.

I mean, it's fascinating that this is timed with some of these photographs you're seeing of him, which we're obviously seeing a lot of them over here, relaxing on a boat.And the one thing we do know about Marcus Rashford, and I haven't spoken to him or to people around him for quite some time, so this is probably an uninformed guess, but I don't think he particularly enjoys the scrutiny that he gets over here from the media.I think so...I would imagine that if there was an opportunity for him to stay on the continent, he would seize that.I completely agree with you on Turkey.Obviously, Saudi is a different continent.

But with respect to the Turkish league, and we've seen Mo Salah go there, he should be competing for a leading European club at his age.And he has to look at the financial situation and actually go this, you know, he has got, what, two, three years at the very elite level, and he has to seize these moments for his legacy, for his trophy cabinet, for his own sense of self -worth, rather than fattening what I imagine is a fairly substantial bank balance anyway.

Yeah, and it's one of those, isn't it, where you do have to look at the long term, because footballers don't stay footballers very long compared to other professions, andhave to ask for a market valuation and Rashford probably feels like the combination of making England's World Cup squad and having an excellent season for Barcelona warrants him to ask for a large financial package and yet when you think about Premier League inflated market and the European windows outside of England not really matching that.The challenge is this kind of position he's in where he's already got what he wants financially at Man United, which partially will inform why he wants to stay.He can get that in Turkey, he can get that in Saudi, he might find another equivalent club like Barcelona.that want to use him regularly and he can get Champions League football from that but they won't be able to match the wage so it rules out places for example like Italy and France unless PSG come calling and add all of that up and he just doesn't have many options and this is partly why I think the player's comfortable staying at Manchester United.

I agree I don't I'm not sure he's comfortable at being at Man United but I agree with you Ben I don't think there's that that many options and he might have to swallow his pride in some ways, albeit on £325 ,000.

He has to make a football decision, not a financial one.He's back tomorrow though, isn't he?

Yeah.And going on their tour to Dublin, I believe.Ben, we've got a few others to rattle through.Rapha Liao, what's going on with him?

Yeah, Turkey looks like the most viable destination at the moment.Fenerbahce, Galatasaray have both held talks.My sense is they can match the financial package so that one could develop.I'm always reticent putting one or the other Turkish club ahead because we saw with Mo Salah, Beşiktaş going really hard and him not joining, but definitely Turkey and Lyao.He was offered to Leeds United, by the way, as I revealed a few days ago, plus Manchester United and Tottenham, but no Premier League clubs biting.So my sense is that we won't see Liao in the Premier League despite the fact every single window there's links with Liao in Premier League clubs but Turkey the leading destination then.

was once 150 million pound rated i remember not that long ago two or three years ago but i don't quite see it with rafael liao i wouldn't be queuing up for him either christian romero there are a few stories around that he wouldn't mind moving to arsenal probably because bruno's just joined so he probably joined him uh but i don't think they'd be very pleased about transferring somebody from spurs to arsenal yeah there's a lot of romero links at the moment because the player will leave and Tottenham don't want to sell to Arsenal.

Surprise, surprise.Doesn't look like we're going to get a repeat of the Sol Campbell situation unless there's some kind of hidden clause that we don't know about that takes it out of Tottenham's control.But as long as it's a kind of normal transfer negotiation, the perspective of Spurs is they will not sell to Arsenal.Romero would be interested if Arsenal came calling and Arsenal have genuinely discussed this.So it's not a story that's come out of nowhere, but they've not really made an approach yet at the time we're live anyway to the player side or to Tottenham Hotspur then you have a very interesting story developing with Atletico Madrid because they wanted Romero a year ago and he said in a public interview that he wanted to move to La Liga and Napoli have already agreed a deal with Spurs for 40 million euros but not terms with Romero so we know what the number is 40 million euros at least for a side outside of the premier league and if atleti match that number then there's a fair chance this deal happens but they want to be relatively quick because barcelona are still potentially looking for a center back and ronald orejo is on his way as i speak to liverpool to undergo his medical so there might be more clubs coming forwards at the last minute for cristian romero but atletico madrid are leading the race at the moment because romero would also want that move and let's see whether after Arsenal try and do something crazy at the moment, like I say, all we can say is they've discussed it internally.

Bit of a theme this summer with Arsenal, isn't it?Have they made an approach?Have they not made an approach?Was there a bid?Was there not a bid?It seems to be the way they're operating.

Just finally, I know you've got news of a possible Brendan Johnson -Dwight McNeil swap because McNeil of course was nearly signed for Crystal Palace, didn't he?Was it January?It nearly happened?

Yeah, and this could be a viable possibility the challenges on valuation for each player at the moment and I would imagine that we'll see a situation where either ones alone with a conditional obligation and the other is an outright purchase same as Morgan Rogers Alejandro Garnaccio because that's how you can kind of circumvent the 45 -day new UEFA rule that doesn't just allow you to put the profit of each transfer within a 45 -day window on the books of each club or if they've got equivalent valuations who knows a good old -fashioned swap to not going to move unless Marcus Rashford departs and then Arsenal have also discussed N 'Jai so let's see whether they move and that's also led Everton to make an initial inquiry on the player side for Marcus Tavernier as well so it's clear that the Toffees in particular want to strengthen in that position and if the clubs can align on this valuation I do think there's an appetite for this McNeil -Johnson swap or separate deals to get off the ground so that's going to be one to watch between now and the end of the window.

Top stuff has ever been covered a heck of a lot of ground there well done Ben Jacobs talk sports senior football correspondent Did he cover as much ground as Bruno Grimaris covered for you?

Can I just say quickly?Romero and Diego Simeone looks like a marriage made in heaven.

Yeah, it does really.

I don't think he'll be going to Arsenal.

No chance.No.The FIFA story is still high on the news schedules as Gianni Infantino continues to fight for his position at the top and we're going to delve into that shortly.You're listening to Sunday edition on Talksport in partnership with Volkswagen Transporter.Volkswagen's five plus promise is included when you purchase a selected vehicle.TNCs and exclusions apply.