Arsenal summer transfer targets update - major forward incoming? | "Their No.1 target"

Okay, let's get to the latest transfer news now with Arsenal potentially ready to splash the cash one of England's brightest young players. As you can see, Damas Cef joins me now. Damas, what can you tell us? Let's go back to the Champions League final first of all because Mikel Arteta in his post-match news conference said, I want to get transfer business done quickly and efficiently. Easier said than done because there's a World Cup but we expect things to start for many clubs now that the World Cup is coming to an end. It's our information that this man, Morgan Rodgers, the Aston Villa forward and the England forward who started that game, some might say surprisingly, against Argentina in the semi-final. He is Arsenal's number one target in this transfer window. We're told there's no club-to-club contact as yet but Arsenal have explored the conditions of a deal. We're told personal terms will probably not be an issue for this one. However, that's just one side of it. Aston Villa, of course, are under no pressure to sell. They don't want to sell and they've got no intention of selling. Not for sale. However, we do know that money sometimes will talk and when you talk about a transfer fee for someone like Morgan Rodgers, has the marketplace completely changed because of what's happened already in this transfer window? We've seen Elliot Anderson go for 116 million pounds. Mateus Fernandes goes for 85 million pounds. Sandro Tonali go for 100 million pounds. I know they're not strictly comparable with their positions but Aston Villa will probably point towards deals like that and say, well, if those players are worth that much, well, Morgan Rodgers is going to be worth at least 100 million pounds. We think there's been tentative talks at ownership level but not official club-to-club contact as such. So, definitely want to keep an eye on because Arsenal are definitely interested. It looks like there that Morgan Rodgers is their number one target but they do have alternatives as well. Okay, this man Rodgers aside, who else are Arsenal interested in? Yeah, I mentioned those alternatives. I mean, the one big story that just won't go away and it's probably more in Spain than in here is Cuden Alvarez, the Argentina striker. Currently, of course, at Atletico Madrid, Barcelona are desperate to sign him and they've been very open about that they want to bring him in. They've made a bid of around 100 million euros, which was dismissed out of hand. We think that Alvarez's release clause is around 500 million euros, which the Spanish clubs tend to insert these crazy numbers when they sign players of the ilk of Cuden Alvarez. Joan Laporta, the Barcelona president, has come out and said, yes, he has made his feelings clear. He clearly wants to come to Barcelona. We've made this bid. There's a talk that they'll probably go even higher than that 100 million euro, but they have got alternatives if that is not the case. Interestingly, the Atletico Madrid chief executive Miguel Angel Gil has said, we're not going to sell him for 100 million euros. We've already rejected that. We probably won't even sell him for 170 million pounds, which is 200 million euros. They have made their stance very, very clear. Cuden Alvarez is our player. We do not want to sell him. We are under no pressure to sell him. Now, there has been that back and forth between those two clubs. They've been very, very public about this deal. Arsenal have just been waiting in the background. There is a link there, isn't there? Andrea Berta, the sporting director, used to be the sporting director of Atletico Madrid. He will have spoken to people at Atletico about Cuden Alvarez. He will probably be told he's not for sale, but it's probably in Arsenal's interest just to keep an eye on this situation, only because if, and it's a big if, Atletico Madrid decide, yes, OK, the player has made it so clear he wants to leave, but we don't want to sell him to a La Liga rival. Could Arsenal then nick in there with a deal to bring Alvarez to the Emirates? That is a long way away, because as it stands, Atletico Madrid simply do not want to sell. There is another player that Arsenal retain an interest in, and that is the PSG forward Bradley Barker. Now, this is an interesting one, because PSG, rather like Atletico Madrid, are saying, no, not for sale. We don't want to see him go. However, if you go back to last season and you look at the big games that PSG played, particularly in the Champions League, in the quarterfinals against Liverpool, in the semifinals against Bayern Munich, in the final against Arsenal, Desiree Due started all of those games alongside Ousmane Dembele and Varus Kelia, and it was Barker who came off the bench. And now we're hearing that PSG are interested in Yandier Mande as well from sporting. Would that further reduce the game time of someone like Barker? And later on in the window, will PSG stance change? So again, worth Arsenal keeping an eye on that situation, because you never know what can happen in that market if PSG decide to strengthen in that area, whether Barker would then be surplus to requirements for them. In terms of the Premier League champions, it looks like they're going to try and strengthen their squad this summer. Can you give us a bit of insight into how they're going about their business in this window? I think it kind of changed when Andrea Berta came to the club. And if you look at what Arsenal do, particularly last summer, we got a real insight into it. If you look at the example of Jocares and Cesco, they were trying to do deals for both before deciding which way they were going to go. And I think Andrea Berta, that is his style. So we're talking about Morgan Rodgers, we're talking about Bradley Barker, we're talking about a number of other players in that position that Arsenal are interested in. And what Andrea Berta and Arsenal tend to do is try and get down the line with as many deals as they can, and then decide financially and playing wise, which one is the right one to go for. They don't want to be in a position where they just focus on one player, and then come one week before the end of the window, find out that player is not going to come, and they haven't got anything else in the pipeline. They're very, very shrewd when it comes to transfer business. They will try and get a number of deals done in principle before deciding which player they're going to go for. And if number one choice is not available, they've still got other alternatives. The other player that looks like he's on his way, Christos Zolis, we reported yesterday that that deal is agreed with Club Bruges for around £34 million, a Belgian Pro League record. So he could be coming in with Leandro Trossard leaving for Besiktas. Damos, thank you very much for now.