Transfer Talk LIVE! | Latest on Ivan Toney, Raheem Sterling, Marc Guehi & more!

Hello and welcome along to Transfer Talk. Raheem Sterling's Chelsea future looks in doubt. Will he stay at Stamford Bridge or could he seek a move away? It's a big story. We've got the latest on it so we've wheeled out the big guns, sorry big guns. Kevin Hatchard of course is your European football expert. We've also got Flex, we've got James Svidre and we've got Dave Rhee as well. Now Ivan Toni's future is unclear too with an offer from Saudi Arabia on the table. Will he leave West London? Arsenal are trying to get a deal over the line for Mikel Mourinho. We'll have a fresh update on that move and will it take three bids for Fulham to get Scott McTominay? Right, lots to come. Good afternoon to you and of course to our chief reporter Kaveh Solakul. Good to see you mate. We're going to get into Chelsea first of all because there's a lot to unpack, isn't there? Starting with Raheem Sterling. Does he have a future at Chelsea? Good question. If I had to put money on it, I would say that I think Chelsea would listen to offers for him. Enzo Maresca spoke to the player on Friday, explained to him that for technical reasons he wasn't going to be in the matchday squad for the game against Manchester City yesterday. I think if a player of Raheem Sterling's experience and standing is not in the matchday 20, that tells you that a message is being sent to him that perhaps you need to start looking elsewhere because your future may not be at this club. Now looking at it from Raheem Sterling's point of view of course, he's still got three years left on his Chelsea contract. So he's well within his rights to say I'm not going anywhere, I want to stay here, I want to fight for my place in the squad and the team. But I think it's a big decision for him to make and I think speaking to Enzo Maresca last night after the game, Enzo Maresca was asked about this sort of statement from Raheem Sterling's camp about him needing some clarification about what was going on and Enzo Maresca basically said look if he needs clarification we might have that conversation in the next few days. A bit of sympathy from a lot of fans, a lot of Chelsea fans with the situation, a senior player but then this statement gets released just before kickoff really. So how has that statement gone down with the club itself? I think it's gone down very well with Chelsea. You know the thing you do in football if you're a player, if you're dropped you stay quiet, you fight for your place, you don't say anything in public. But we don't know what happened at this meeting between Raheem Sterling and Enzo Maresca on Friday. If Raheem Sterling was told we want you to leave, you don't have a future at this club, then you could understand why he would want to get on the front foot and make his point, want to get as soon as the team news drops today 75 minutes before kickoff for him to be in a position to let the world know that he's got three years left on his contract, he gives everything for the club, he feels he has a deep connection with the Chelsea fans as well and he doesn't want to leave. But it's just one of these things that is going to run and run now I think until a deadline day, because I get the feeling that Chelsea would prefer it if he was to go, although they've never said that in public. Remember he's on big big wages compared to a lot of the new players they're bringing in, but then he's got three years left on his contract, so if he doesn't want to go he can stay at Stamford Bridge. Yeah, all right we're going to talk more in a moment just on potentially where he could go and what will happen. A few players have come and gone already with Chelsea, one big potential incoming though is Victor Osserman, that's a name that's been bandied around, that's a name that's going to excite the fans, I mean how close is that? Well I think it's a deal that could happen, but if it's going to happen it will happen closer to deadline day. I think Chelsea are playing a massive massive wages, wages that they just cannot afford. He's not training with the first team squad, he wasn't involved in their game yesterday which was a terrible performance under the new head coach Antonio Conte, so look he is leaving Napoli, Napoli can't afford to keep him and Chelsea know that. Chelsea don't want to pay over the odds for him, Chelsea are not going to be paying any players £300,000 a week anymore, they've made that very very clear. So I think if there's a possibility of doing a deal for him they will try and do a deal later on this window and speaking to Chelsea fans yesterday at Stamford Bridge, he is the player they want, they're desperate to have a striker, somebody like Haaland. Okay you're not going to get somebody as good as Haaland, but somebody in that kind of mould who's got a physical presence who can lead the line. Chelsea are desperate for a player like that, they've had players like that in the past, they need one again and I think Osserman for a lot of Chelsea fans ticks a lot of boxes. They might be desperate for Osserman but they need to get some players out the door as well, so I mean what's going on with the Conor Gallagher move at the moment, is it looking likely? Well I think it could depend on what happens with Joao Felix coming the opposite direction from Atletico Madrid. Obviously Atletico Madrid have spent big money on Julian Alvarez as well, but Conor Gallagher, I know the fans love him, he was the Chelsea captain for a lot of the games last season. When they conceded, when Haaland scored yesterday, you could hear Chelsea fans singing Conor Gallagher's name. So the Chelsea fans are not happy about him going but I think he's on his way. It just depends on Atletico Madrid being able to get the finances in place to do the deal. Looking at the Chelsea programme yesterday, Conor Gallagher's name was not even on the back of the programme. There was the names of something like 30-40 Chelsea players, no Conor Gallagher, no Broglie, no Calabar in there either, so no Lukaku. Ben Chilwell's name was there but I don't think he's got much of a future. I think Chelsea would like him to move on as well but he's got a contract as well so he doesn't have to leave if he doesn't want to. Yeah, okay. Let's move away from Chelsea. We could probably do a whole show on Chelsea again but we're not going to. A big story or big association with Ivan Toni at Brentford. He was not in the squad at all in that first game. He's been linked with a move to Al Ahly in Saudi Arabia. How strong is that possibility? Well, the interest is very, very strong. Al Ahly at the moment are in talks with Brentford and also Ivan Toni's representatives. Now, I was in Saudi Arabia at Christmas. We went and visited Al Ahly. You know, they're one of the biggest clubs in Saudi Arabia. They're owned by the Public Investment Fund. They've got players like Riyad Mahrez, players like Firmino. They're one of the biggest clubs in Jeddah as well, along with Atlet to have they want a striker and at the moment, the striker they want is Ivan Toni. Now, everybody knows Saudi Arabia, okay, the level of football may not be up to the standards that you would get in the big leagues in Europe but the level of finances on offer are incredible. So, I think it's going to be a difficult deal for Ivan Toni to turn down. The finances are going to be really, really mouth-watering but he has to weigh up what kind of impact that would have on his future because he's somebody, of course, who's got ambitions to carry on playing for England. Would moving to Al Ahly affect his chances of doing that? Having said that though, players like Laporte, who plays in Saudi Arabia, he won the Euros with Spain. He was in their starting 11. So, I think the level of football in Saudi Arabia is improving and the finances, I think, could be crucial but definitely, definitely Al Ahly really, really want him. Okay, always very enlightening. Thank you, mate. Thanks for popping in. Alright, I know you're very busy. Enjoy the rest of your day. Okay, let's get into this with the guys then. James, I want to start with you actually. Let's start with Raheem Sterling. Is his position now untenable and if so, where do you think he might end up? What's really interesting is Enzo Marisca suggested in pre-season, on their pre-season tour for America, that he was one of Chelsea's most important players and he featured in pre-season. He started against Real Madrid, played in all their pre-season matches, even did some media in the build-up to the game for the club, suggesting it probably has taken people by surprise at Chelsea, the fact he's not in that 20-man squad for their first game of the season. But with Parma and Kunku, Neto, Mudrick and Madwake in the squad, somebody's going to have to miss out. You can't fit all those wide players in a 20-man squad. So, somebody was always going to miss out and somebody, based on that list of players I just mentioned, needs to leave, you'd think. What is fascinating is that Sterling was actually the first marquee signing that the Clear Lake group brought two years ago, the first signing under this new ownership model. If he leaves, then three players they signed in that first window, three senior players, will depart the football club with Koulibaly and Aubameyang as well and that is a suggestion that they have got things wrong when it comes to recruitment and they're looking to get that right now, but they're still feeling the consequences of what they did in the first couple of windows. Which Premier League clubs could potentially be interested in him? It's difficult to say because of there'll be the wage demands that come with it, there'll be the fact that clubs are just so well run now and they don't want to blow their own wage structure spring players in unless they're elite and Raheem Sterling over the course of the last two seasons hasn't been elite, he hasn't hit the numbers that we've seen for Manchester City when he won the PFA Player of the Year award, when he won all those different titles as well, FA Cups, League Cups and so I've struggled to see a Premier League club that fits with him. His defence would be he's had two years at Chelsea, he's played under five different head coaches if you include Enzo Amorescu, so it's been very difficult for him to hit the highs that he hit for Manchester City. He's still 29 years of age, he's still got a lot of football ahead of him, but his list of options are very different from the list of options that maybe he would have had two years ago when he was hitting those heights for Manchester City. All right, so James saying that you know his wages are going to be a big barrier to moving within the Premier League, how about within some of the bigger clubs in Europe? It's just as much of a problem because you look at say Spain, he's been linked with Real Madrid in the past, they absolutely don't need him right now. You look at Barcelona, they couldn't afford him even if they wanted him and they don't need him to come in either. Atleti are concentrating in other areas so that's Spain dealt with, nobody else can come close to affording him. You look at Germany, none of the top clubs I think would need to make that move or want to pursue that and again would completely smash their wage structures if they were to do that I think. Bayern maybe could make it work but they don't need him. PSG are actively pursuing Jadon Sancho it seems or talking to United about you know how that lines up with Ugarte, so they're looking at other options as well. So then that takes you to Italy and the only club really that you can think of that maybe could make it happen is Juventus. They're the ones who've been most consistently linked with him in the Italian media. There was talk a few days ago of could they include Chiesa in that, they seem quite clearly to be trying to edge Chiesa out of the door which I think is a shame. But unless that happens I just don't see how Juventus can make the numbers work so he might be in a bit of a gilded cage really. Okay well I mean he's got a bit of time hasn't he to maybe get interest from somewhere, sort something out. How about Ben Chilwell, as I mentioned there he actually was included wasn't he in the squad list on the back of the program but we're hearing that he has been told he is surplus to requirements, he's up for sale essentially. Why would he be on that list of players that are surplus to requirements? I think there's a variety of reasons. Firstly you have to look at stylistically, does he fit what Enzo Maresco is trying to do with this new look Chelsea side. Possession based, wants his fullback to be able to tuck in, he wants his fullback to be able to be good in 1v1 duels and when you look at what Ben Chilwell's strengths have been over the years they've very much been as a progressive wing back, on the overlap, on the gallop, getting crosses in the box, back to his time at Leicester and you know the fantastic shot from outside the box etc etc and that was what Chelsea needed at that time but Enzo Maresco going to look a left fullback with those capabilities. You look at Marku Kurea of how different they are, Marku Kurea relishes 1v1 duels, he wants to be aggressive, he wants to get at people's heels and do that sort of side of the job and also he's going to be comfortable in possession and want the ball at his feet as well so a completely different style profile but then we also get to his availability or lack of. In the last three seasons Ben Chilwell's missed 100 games of football, it's absolutely staggering as we can see some of the situations there with his minutes and there has been 20-21 season, 27 games you're thinking that's not too bad 2,290 minutes but then the season after that 21-22 down to just seven games played then again he manages to find some fitness and form in the 22-23 season plays 23 games again nowhere near all of the Premier League games but a substantial amount more than the seven this season before and then it gets to last season 23-24 big injury only 13 games played and that's been a common theme for Ben Chilwell which I'm sure for himself has been super frustrating it has for a lot of Chelsea fans they've experienced that at the opposite side of fullback with Rhys James as well so availability and style both not weighing in Ben Chilwell's favour at the moment under Enzo Maresta. Okay so in general consensus on Sterling is you know he hasn't got loads of options but how about Chilwell this is a guy who was bought by Chelsea for big money you know he was bought for almost 50 million pounds not that long ago. You feel like he's in a similar situation really to Raheem Sterling he only signed a contract extension I think last year and he's got another three years to go on that contract so again Premier League clubs will have to assess the football that he's played the amount of wages they're able to offer if there's a loan deal potentially on the table for him could Chelsea supplement that wage structure to enable him to get that move and to go out and get minutes but from his point of view there's no international tournament for him to be fighting for next year and there's so much going on at Chelsea I think some players might be sitting there thinking well maybe I'll be here longer than the manager maybe I'll go away on loan for a year and come back and I can still be a Chelsea player I know Chelsea are fully behind the manager I know they're fully backing him they're bought into this style of play there's nothing to suggest that that's going to change anytime soon but I think given the track record of what's gone on at Chelsea it can't be something that you can say absolutely not going to happen to him. Okay so Sterling and Chilwell could both be a way out of Chelsea I wonder if someone else could be leaving West London could be Ivan Toni couldn't it could he be leaving Brentford we will be live to the training ground for the latest next. Welcome back to Transfer Talk let's get to another big potential move and that is Ivan Toni could there be big developments on his future over the coming days let's get the very latest right now get to the club's training ground and join Paul Gilmour who's been there all morning for us. Hi Paul what's the latest bring us up to speed. Well Matt are we nearing the end game of the Ivan Toni saga of course he has one year left on his contract was left out of the squad to face Crystal Palace yesterday for transfer related reasons it has emerged that he was the subject of a failed bid from Saudi Arabia side Al Ali and the reason that failed is because it didn't get close to Brentford's valuation that said having there's been a lot of interest in Ivan Toni from various clubs across the world the Al Ali interest of late has been the most realistic and that just always a sign that when a player is left out of a squad for that reason it is getting closer the word is that you know what we're hearing it's not imminent maybe nothing in the next couple of days but certainly time is ticking if Brentford want to make some money in this window because as I mentioned he has a year left on his current deal it's a case of who blinks first in this kind of transfer negotiation we saw this with Harry Kane and Bayern Munich and Tottenham one year left on his contract Bayern Munich ended up and paying over 100 million pounds for a striker like that will it be the same for Ivan Toni in terms of maybe not quite as high as that valuation we know that Thomas Frank did say he was worth 100 million as recently as November the reality is that Brentford may accept something closer to 60 million or around that mark but will any interested club be willing to go that far so it's a case of of who blinks first there's two ways of looking at the one is Ivan Toni is 28 years of age he may be able to guarantee you as a club maybe 20 goals minimum per season he had an impressive euros where he made an impact with England on the route to the final the other side of that is his age can also work against him in a market that is actively promoting the purchase of young players with a sell-on value he won't have that but what he will do is guarantee the goals straight away so that does that put certain clubs off in a market of profit and sustainability rules where it would ultimately kind of be a gamble or certainly a short-term move and those are the two ways of looking at it so it's an interesting saga isn't it it's gone on for some time a lot of talk since it emerged that Ivan Toni wanted a new challenge away from Brentford they've been doing okay without him they had a good record without him during his ban and of course at the weekend they won 2-1 and they have planned for this eventuality it hasn't crept up on them so I think we're going to hear a lot of Ivan Toni over the next week or so as as it ramps up towards that deadline at the end of the month okay cheers Paul thank you very much always happy to see Gilmore no right let's move on from that quick Dave can Brentford cope with what they've got without Ivan Toni if he goes well I think they've they've proven that they they probably already have and what you can guarantee with Brentford is that they know exactly what they're doing in the transfer window and they have got every eventuality planned out but let's not rewrite history Ivan Toni has scored plenty of goals but I'm going to show you why Brentford might just be fine without him first though we have to go back he really has been a focal point of the Brentford attack Toni scored 34.5 percent of Brentford's goals in 22-23 behind some big names only Harry Kane and Erling Haaland the only problem is this wasn't last season that's the season before last and Brentford have had to cope without him because of his ban so let's take a look at how they've got on over the last year with and without Ivan Toni remember he returned in January for the final 17 games of the season Brentford won more games scored more goals per game they also conceded fewer goals per game and they had a much higher win percentage and also collected on average more points per game as well so it seems like they've done pretty well Thomas Frank had to shuffle things around without Toni and finished the season 13 points clear of the bottom three staying up was a successful season for Brentford last year can they do the same again this time around it's understood Al-Ali are the team that want to sign him and they've already made significant signings in the last couple of years as well Edouard Mendy Roberto Firmino Riyad Mahrez and Frank Kessier as well could all be new teammates for the striker we know that Ivan Toni has been a man in demand and he gave a round of interviews in January saying he wanted to win titles and wanted to be competing at the very top of the table so where does this leave him now well exactly so I mean look he could join some good players in Saudi Arabia no doubt but surely there's a Premier League club out there that would want to sign Ivan Toni he's well if we if we turn the clocks back to sort of a year ago that conversation was very much at the forefront Arsenal really linked to him that didn't materialize of course and you're looking at other Premier League teams but it leaves them in limbo because we did hear there from Paul Gilmore in terms of the valuation hasn't been met and he's got a year left on his contract so we're not privy to know exactly what that bid was and why it was turned down but maybe that's what's putting off a lot of Premier League clubs as it stands I mean if you're looking at the window drawings who are close you may be predicting Premier League clubs could come in a few days before the end of the window and test Brentford's resolve they know that he's only got a year left and Brentford needs to sell Ivan Toni but if we just go through some of the traditional top six sides as you say I mean second top scorers in the league last year conceded the fewest goals a lot of people say they need a striker absolutely people some people depending on your opinion on Arsenal some people say they'll be absolutely fine without one they need to tweak in other areas other Arsenal fans will say absolutely but maybe Toni's not the answer but for me definitely would help Arsenal be a stronger outfit a good alternative to Kai Havert through the middle or Jesus completely different to both of those two players but Mikel Arteta seems to have almost certainly gone in a different direction if you're looking at Spurs they've just had a huge outlay on Dominic Solanke there was a in pounds there so do what Angers preference is and how he wants to play at Liverpool I don't think there's much point even discussing that with Jota and Darwin Nunes not even getting a look in at the minute Manchester United have opted for younger profiles they're going in a completely different direction and and also the price point as well Newcastle I'd fairly settle with Alexander Isak yes in terms of Callum Wilson as injury concerns there but Ivan Toni's going to want to go to it I'm going to be the main man and the clubs that we've just discussed there it's not going to happen so it leaves Ivan with with very few options and whilst we don't know what the valuation is that needs to be met also limits his options too yeah but then if you're Ivan Toni and you go to Saudi Arabia is it not a little bit early in your career you're not then potentially cutting short your career at the top level of club football it'd be a really big decision for him to make I think it's important to state that there are clubs interested in signing Ivan Toni but they'd be more interested in signing him for free next summer Dave spoke about some of the quotes in many interviews he's given speaking about his ambition to the challenge for titles but Brentford wanting such a significant fee this summer of Ivan Toni's weight demands and with Ivan Toni wanting to fight for titles it leaves you with very few options that can match his ambitions and match what Brentford want in this transfer window so with that in mind the Saudi pro league becomes potentially the only avenue in this transfer window his argument may be I can spend another year at Brentford I can't be sold against my will play another year at Brentford score plenty more goals keep Brentford in the top flight and then leave for free next summer clearly Brentford may not want that to be the case because a player they bought for 5.5 million pound they want to make some profit on him if he's not going to sign new contracts the club fascinating situation he's in maybe he may think this may be the best option and then next summer assess his options again of course there is the tax implications if he's to come back from Saudi Arabia early if he goes there but at this point in his career that could be the only option in this window because as Flex has really well pointed out instead of the top six clubs it doesn't feel like there's any avenue in this window it seems unlikely unless Arsenal can get a really cut price fit at the end of the transfer window whether they'd be interested or not well give his agent some hope come on how about around Europe I think around Europe's difficult because I think you look at say Germany they wouldn't be able to put that kind of money on the table Harry Kane Spain as well but I think what's interesting is just the point that Jones made actually about Brentford want to make a big profit on him well they can't have it both ways you can't say oh we want to make a profit but you set it at a level where clubs aren't going to come in and then you can't moan a year later when he leaves on a free because you priced him out of the move so you've got to be really that's not me having a dig at Brentford but I just think in general clubs do have to be quite careful with that because players are very very aware of the power they have now once you get towards that final year of your contract and so you know around Europe with just to go back to your question clubs are being very risk averse they're not spending enormous amounts of money unless you know buy-in can do that for example not many others can and you look there's a handful of clubs around Europe PSG Gonzalo Ramos has just been injured they seem to be looking at other options and we'll talk about those later but I think clubs are being very careful okay all right well uh stay tuned because it's gonna be very interesting to see what happens to Ivan Tony over the next few days and stay tuned as well because coming up Kevin has picked five European players to watch in the transfer market always very interesting find out who's next and Goretzka of Bayern Munich could be on his way yeah I think the Goretzka thing's really interesting what shifted here is that Rudi Völler who has the ear of the Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann is a big part of that setup of the DFB he has said recently that if Goretzka has real interest in being part of that Germany squad for the World Cup he's gonna have to move you look at the players that Bayern have in that central midfield area they've brought in Joao Pallinha and they've already got Alex Pavlovich they want to develop him he's a homegrown player Josua Kimmich looks as though he's going to be a big part of what they do in midfield now yes Goretzka's wages are big yes he's not the youngest player but I still believe he can do a job at a high level so I think Premier League clubs would do well to keep an eye on this he's saying publicly he wants to stay we'll see we might just expand on where he could go a bit later how about this chap Maxence Lacroix centre-back from Wolfsburg so I said back in April I thought as soon as Oliver Glasner went to Palace the light bulb went off and I thought well that's the kind of player I think could do really well in the Premier League and that Glasner has got the best out of because when he first came through really interesting player actually at Wolfsburg then dipped a little but then when Glasner took over at Wolfsburg he linked him up with the American defender John Brooks he was one of the best players in the league and they got into that top four and qualified for the Champions League only a year left on his deal cheaper option quick good in the air I think it'd be a great signing all right keep an eye on him how about Adam Ola Lookman of Atalanta hat trick in Europa League final of course there must be a few suitors for him so what shifted here being really strong with the move to PSG and apparently asked to be left out of the squad for the game against Lecce Atalanta want to keep in PSG are looking at options I said earlier about Jake and Sancho so they're looking for that attacking player Goncalo Ramos as I mentioned injured so they need somebody to come in and just beef up those forward options with Victor Rossi men quite expensive they're just looking elsewhere yeah okay let's get back to a centre-back then uh Jonathan Tarr of Leverkusen uh he's associated with with Bayern so Bayern very very keen on him at one stage in the window but Leverkusen holding firm they don't want him to go he was such a key part of what they did last season as they won the double in Germany he was only a sub in the super cup at the weekend but he came on played a big role they won it and so it looks as though it's leaning towards him staying but he's only got one year left on his deal okay and finally maybe a name you might not know that well Florian Neuhaus midfielder from so could he be coming to the Premier League it could be there was a stage where he was being linked with 40 million pound moves to Bayern to Dortmund maybe Premier League clubs and it's just all tailed off for him in the last couple of years his club Borussia Mönchengladbach have had a bit of a nosedive in general he's not even getting in that team right now and he wasn't anywhere near getting in the team at the weekend in the German cup so I think he could be if Premier League clubs are looking to snap up a fixer-upper he's a great technical midfielder in the right setup I like that fixer-upper I've never heard that of a player he's a fixer-upper I think I've been described like that okay yeah first there'll be plenty more on those stories as well I've just got to head to the website by scanning that QR code there and we'll have that and a lot more as well just all the big stories that are happening in the transfer world at the moment uh right Kevin I want to stick with you actually for a moment because West Ham are in talks with Paris Saint-Germain over the signing of midfielder Carlos Soler so West Ham potentially putting their hands in their pocket again they've got quite a lot of central midfielders so would he be a creative upgrade in that area do you think? I think he's certainly somebody I could see liking very much he's a really neat and tidy midfielder technically very good he can be versatile as well he can play a bit deeper in midfield I don't think that's where you get the best out of him necessarily I think when the the reins are off and he can really go for it really drive forward that's when he comes alive but he can play a bit wider as well so I can see why Lopetegui would be interested okay so we'll see whether West Ham actually do make a move there they have spent already quite a lot of money haven't they let's stick with a midfielder from Europe and Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Mourinho was left out of the squad over the weekend in their La Liga game against Real Vallecano as asked to negotiate with Sociedad Dave they've never fully replaced Granit Xhaka have they really in that sort of left-sided midfield role is that is that how you think Mikel Arteta sees Mourinho as the natural successor in that position yeah I think so I mean Granit Xhaka left and I think perhaps the idea that Mikel Arteta had was that Kai Havertz would fill that position in in the left eight and then it seems that he's moved into the forward line and now that's kind of his home now and then Declan Rice has actually moved into that left eight position and he's moved from that deeper lying six to the left side of the midfield and and he preferred certainly last season Jorginho and then Thomas Partey started at the weekend so Mikel Mourinho would come in and fill that role in in the left-hand side of midfield and you know he's he's got everything really he's combative he can get forward he can carry the ball I mean Kevin you'll have seen much more of him than than I have but he almost seems like you know a carbon copy of of Granit Xhaka in terms of the creativity side but can also win balls in the air and he's combative as well yeah I think he maybe hasn't got necessarily the passing range of Xhaka necessarily we've seen what an amazing job he's done at Bayer Leverkusen but he brings so much to the table in terms of mentality as well this is a guy that helped Real Sociedad win the Copa del Rey against Athletic Club they're big rivals he did it with a broken rib so you know this is a guy who I think has learned a lot from playing in the Premier League playing in England briefly with Newcastle so he learned a lot from playing briefly under Thomas Tuchel at Dortmund all of these different experiences really kind of taught him a lot and at Real Sociedad he's coming to his own as a real leader in that team so you're getting a gifted player but also you're getting a real voice in the dressing room as well I think I'm right in saying he won the most duels in La Liga last season or something like that he's Why James do you think Arteta is seemingly more keen to shore up the defence and the midfield than add to his attacking options? Well this is what Arsenal have done under Mikel Arteta and Edu 18 of their 24 signings into the first team players have been either goalkeepers defenders or defensive midfielders they've actually spent three times the amount on those type of players than the six attacking players they've brought and one thing Mikel Arteta has acknowledged is that title winning teams are built on having a strong defence last season they had the best defence in the Premier League way more clean sheets than anybody else so it's about creating that platform and signing players that can not only prevent goals going in but build that platform from the back and we saw that with the sign of Calafiuri somebody brought in to to help the side defensively but also to build that platform so the front three can can cause havoc so it does make sense because and one thing I love that Arsenal in their transfer strategy over the course of the last few years is ideally I think they're looking to sign players like Calafiuri and Ben White players who are young but also vastly experienced also when they see opportunities like Mikel Moreno into his final year his contract knowing get a good fee for him as they did with Jorginho as well at Chelsea they're ready to act and I think that's really smart it's not sticking to your guns and just having one way of doing things but when you see things you have to be flexible in the market and change things to alter your approach and to ultimately the main thing get that squad in a better shape than it was last season and speaking of being opportunistic Arsenal let's let's not forget Arsenal wanted Benjamin Shesco at the start of this transfer window and I think the view at the time was it was kind of Shesco will bust for for Arsenal for a front man this summer now whether that opinion will change within Arsenal probably not between now and the end of the window unless something again amazing becomes available so they do they have showed over the years that they are ready to act if something becomes available so if they do get Moreno does there need to be a midfield outgoing because you're going to have Rice, Odegaard, Jorginho, Partey, Moreno and Havertz can play a midfield as well you've potentially got six midfield options well not not necessarily the obvious one that I would be looking at would probably be Fabio Vieira who hasn't managed to nail down a starting spot I think the issue with Thomas Partey we see he's fantastic on his day when he's when he's playing and he's fit and he's firing but there's a probability there quite a high probability that there's going to be some injuries along the way Declan Rice is as robust as anything he can play as a deeper line midfield or like we're saying more advanced Jorginho they've given him an extension and I think he's going to be happy with his role in terms of when he's needed when he needs to come in and and use his experience Odegaard is a staple and I feel like with Kai Havertz if they don't go and get another out and out forward out number nine he's going to occupy that in in relation to Gabby Jesus as well so the outgoing might not actually necessarily have to be in midfield and then he's and left the side and it's it's more further forward in Ketiar it's going to be surplus so I don't think it necessarily has to be a Thomas Partey who must leave or Jorginho who must leave I think Mikel Arteta would absolutely want to keep that that department of his of his team completely intact because he knows what it takes to go up against this Pep Guardiola side Arsenal fans know exactly what it is they got to the last day of the season they need as much resources as they can look how stacked they are at the back we've still got Zinchenko just because Califiori arrived it didn't mean that he needed to leave he's still starting games Timbers like a new signing so no I don't think it necessarily needs to be a key one even but maybe Fabio Viera yes I think Havertz is a full-time center forward now I think if you look what happened with Germany in the summer that's always been the big thing with him where does he actually play where does he fit best I think those days of him bouncing around as a utility player finished I think he needs to and bringing that kind of almost unique skill set that he has to that position okay we've got some breaking news now concerning the championship and concerning Preston North End who've already gone through two managers this season believe it or not and we've heard that Paul Heckingbottom former Sheffield United manager is in advanced talks to become the new manager of Preston North End it comes after Ryan Lowe left the club after the first game of the season and Mike Marsh also stepped down from the interim role Heckingbottom has been out of work since December after he was sacked by Sheffield United Preston next play against Luton Town not an easy game at Deepdale on Saturday they've lost their first two games of the league as well so they're in talks with Paul Heckingbottom with him potentially becoming the third manager of the season for Preston North End but I presume this will be the permanent manager right not long to go in the transfer window will Fulham push to sign a midfielder we'll bring you the latest on their pursuit of Scott McTominay next welcome back to the final part of transfer talk as usual just a few bits and bobs to wrap up in these final few minutes we'll go through a few names that have cropped up and one that's just popped up actually Kevin is Ilkay Gundogan there's some stories on social media in the athletic as well that he's apparently exploring his options in terms of leaving Barcelona in how voracious do you think these these rumours are it's a difficult situation because they've signed Danny Olmo who's a player they really didn't need to sign but it's a very Barcelona thing to do yeah exactly but it's a very Barcelona thing to do he obviously was hot property after the season he had the season he had with Spain the Euros he had with Spain but also he is a former La Masia graduate he was somebody who was with the youth ranks for Barca he went off to Croatia to play for Dinamo Zagreb and everybody thought he was crazy and it worked out brilliantly but they brought him in and now there is going to be a log jam in terms of that type of player because if you look at the way that Hansi Flick wants to play it'll be four two three one you would think they've got Pedri they've got Danny Olmo they've got lots of players you can play in that position is Ilkay Gundogan somebody that they could sacrifice to free up a bit of room because there are still deals they want to make there are still books they need to balance and so we see this a lot you see campaigns Frankie de Jong a lot of talking Catalan media oh he's gonna go trying to kind of edge him out and Gundogan seems to be the latest name okay um that'd be that'd be a big deal wherever he goes how about this potential Lukaku going one way Ossieman going the other Napoli and Chelsea do you think that will happen I think Lukaku will definitely happen because Conte is pushing really really hard for it and if you look Lukaku's best football has often been under Conte he was brilliant at Inter alongside Lautaro Martinez under Conte helped them win the Scudetto so I think he definitely wants to play for Conte it seems as though maybe it is separate it's not dependent on what happens with Ossieman but at the moment Napoli are a bit stuck because they've set the transfer fee really high his wages are really high so they're finding Ossieman really difficult to shift but I think Lukaku is an absolute priority there to try and beef up that squad and placate Conte who is not happy already if Chelsea could get Ossieman that would be some statement wouldn't it but they might have to offload a few more players to afford him it just feels like a difficult one for Chelsea to do within the wage structure and we spoke to Carvey earlier on and one thing they've worked really hard on doing in the past two or three years is it's cleaning up that wage structure not paying more than £300,000 a week to a player that's what they've given the likes of Enzo Fernandes and Moises Keiser these eight-year deals giving them that long-term security but on a lower weekly wage so it does feel difficult for that to happen but there does really feel like a willingness from all parties for both transactions to take place which gives you some confidence that despite this feel like an incredible move to happen that it could actually materialize yeah right let's talk about a couple of less heralded names involving Brighton now Brian Gruder is going to Brighton for £25 million a midfielder and Eugenio Ruta on the verge of joining Brighton as well I know he's your favourite player isn't he Ruta but you're telling me you love Gruder as well so which one is it both of them both in there look Ruta we know I was a little bit late in the sense that I said he was going to do really well when he got to Leeds, Leeds were terrible as we know and went down and he didn't really get a decent run at it but he dropped into the championship played really well goals assists that kind of entertainment that I knew we were going to get from him his challenge now is to prove that he can do it at a higher level Brian Gruder has been a name that's been talked about as a rising star in Germany for quite a while loves to run at people a little bit of like a five-a-side dream that kind of guy but also can score from range and when he played against Bayern last season Thomas Müller was so impressed with him like put out a message on Instagram about just how impressed he'd been with Gruder there's real potential there really exciting player okay I mean exciting times for Brighton really they've started well and they've got two of his favourite players coming to join them he's got to sign off it's not bad endorsement and I think Hurtzler really smart guy as well and it won't just be about attack it'll be about what they do in defense too Kev always a pleasure and it feels like an education as well when you're in here thank you very very much thank you Flex thank you Dave thank you James as well thank you guys for watching transfer talk as well we will be back tomorrow at nine o'clock in the morning coming up the latest on Raheem Sterling's future with Kaveh you