Arsenal have to play a waiting game if they want to sign Rodrygo. The Real Madrid forward, who plays alongside Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr, could be sold for approximately £70million. His wage structure would put him at the top of Arsenal’s wage earners.

Real are playing hard to get but my insiders at the Emirates say they expect the Spanish giants to eventually be interested in negotiating.

Arsenal need to strengthen in several positions and do not want to spend all their money on one target, and they would also like to sign a No9 striker with RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko top of their wish list. Talks with Sesko’s representatives have been rumbling along for 18 months and they have discussed several offers for the Slovenian. However, the Bundesliga outfit are sticking on £70m at the moment. I can reveal that several Gunners’ officials are rather tired of Leipzig’s delaying tactics and Chelsea’s Noni Madueke is now also of interest.

Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta is famous for dealing with negotiations for several players at one time and then moving for the best deal…he is a clever and skilful operator.

Another two on his list are Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres who says he wants to come to the Premier League and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins. Arsenal also say they have agreed on a fee of £10m for Brentford’s captain Christian Norgaard.

Napoli boss Antonio Conte has spoken in depth with their new signing Kevin De Bruyne about the possibility of signing Jack Grealish who has fallen down the pecking order at Manchester City. De Bruyne and Grealish have a good relationship and Kevin encouraged Conte to follow up his interest in the winger. Manchester City are aware of the conversations and Pep Guardiola said that Jack must move if he wants regular playing time after leaving him out of his Club World Cup squad. The main problem is Jack’s huge £300,000 a week salary and therefore Napoli have suggested they pay £200k a week with City paying the rest and a loan deal is done. The 29-year-old has two years left on his current City contract but said he might accept a pay cut if a deal can be done. City would lose £60m if they sell him permanently for £40m after paying £100m four years ago. Could Isak leave Newcastle?

I understand that Liverpool have learned during talks between club officials and the agent of Newcastle’s Alexander Isak that he is interested in a move across the northern part of the UK to Anfield.

Liverpool have long admired Isak who has scored more than 20 goals in each of the last two seasons. Both the Reds and Arsenal believe signing Isak would be their dream to fulfill the No9 striker’s shirt.

I am slightly in doubt because Isak is on a good contract at Newcastle and is looking forward to Champions League football next season but both Liverpool and Arsenal would also give him that opportunity and there is obviously some truth to the reports.

I heard that having paid Bayer Leverkusen £116m for Florian Wirz, Liverpool could top that with a bid for Isak which would be £100m plus a package of add-ons. However that might still not be enough and only a figure of £150m would interest Newcastle.

If talks fail for Isak, then Liverpool will pursue Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike as plan B.

No bids yet for Marcus Rashford

Despite Marcus Rashford’s desire to join Barcelona, there have been no offers for him yet. Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Juventus have made noises but again no bids have resulted. United would sell Marcus for £40m but his weekly wage is around £300,000 which is beyond most clubs. Ruben Amorim says Rashford, Antony (who has been approached by Cesc Fabrigas at Italian Serie A side Como), Garnacho and Sancho are all available but again no bids have been received.

Guardiola says “I have too many players”

Pep Guardiola says, “We have too many players. We cannot go with 26, 27 players this season so a few players are going to move. I would love to have the players that we have now all season. I would love it. I don’t have any complaints about how the players behave. The problem is they will be unhappy during the season. They will be sad, they will be disappointed. I don’t want that. I don’t want to have six or seven players with no injuries staying at home…We still have a long time, I would say, until the transfer window will be closed. So, we’ll see what happens.”

Don’t play in Saudi Pro league Garnacho warned

Manchester United reject Alejandro Garnacho has received a message from Argentina advising him not to play in Saudi Arabia if he wants to keep his place in the national squad. United boss Ruben Amorim has made it clear that Garnacho does not play a part in his plans for next season and his agents have been talking to several clubs including the Saudi Pro League. Argentina would prefer him to play in a stronger league if he wants to appear in the World Cup next year which will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Chelsea are searching for a left winger and Garnacho was of interest.

Zubimendi to Arsenal a done deal

Martin Zubimendi’s £55million move to Arsenal is happening but will not be official until July 1st. His club wants the deal to go through after their financial year begins on Monday June 30th. The 26 year-old Spanish defensive midfielder was in London last week and met with Arsenal officials to put the final details to his contract which will see his club Real Sociedad earn an extra £4m after the Gunners requested favourable payments terms to allow them to spread the cost over a longer period to help them stay within the PSR restrictions.

City new boy targets United

Manchester City’s new signing Rayan Cherki has a score to settle with neighbours Manchester United. The 21-year-old joined from Lyon last week for £35.5m and he is still upset that United knocked his home team out of Europe last season. He said, “I don’t like when Manchester United won the game against Lyon because I am a Lyonnais. Now, I am waiting to play against them to kill them.” He certainly sounds motivated.

Coutinho leaving Villa at last

Philippe Coutinho is finally leaving Aston Villa two years after his last appearance for the club. The 33-year-old Brazilian still has one year left on his contract at Villa Park however Brazilian club Vasco da Gama are finalising a deal for him to join them after a season long loan. If the deal falters then Villa could agree to cancel his contract to allow him to move as a free agent which would save them from paying his £125,000 a week salary.

Milner marches on

Remarkably James Milner has extended his contract with Brighton and will play on into his forties. He has managed to do this because of his amazing fitness and punishing routine to maintain his stamina. He joined the Seagulls following his departure from Liverpool in 2023. He will be 40 years-of-age in January. James wants to become the league’s oldest outfield player which means beating Teddy Sheringham’s record playing for West Ham when he was 40 years and 272 days! Of course, Milner is a substitute player these days and made just four Premier League appearances last season but he helped Brighton secure an impressive eighth place in the table. (Weekend Trust)