Bradley Barcola transfer saga develops as Liverpool could battle rivals for France star

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Jack Lusby brilliantly debunked the baseless rumour, which misrepresented Tanzi's position but was picked up by countless outlets, for This Is Anfield.And amid the Mexican stand-off for Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola, everyone and their dog seems to be coming out with exclusive updates, leading to a whole slew of self-proclaimed in-the-knows announcing the Reds are set to imminently bid for the 23-year-old winger.Of course, we'll try and get to the bottom of what's really going on with Barcola, but one thing is for certain - Liverpool need to start getting more deals done if Andoni Iraola's team is going to be in competitive shape for the start of the season.Join us once again as we dig through the detritus to round up the latest gossip and rumours in the Reds transfer news column....Will Liverpool face competition for Barcola?Let's start with what we know for certain before we start delving into the slew of contrasting reports, because this one gets very complicated.Aston Villa and England star Morgan Rogers last night joined Chelsea in another head-spinningly expensive deal worth £117m, depriving Arsenal of the player widely reported as their top target on the left wing this summer.Leaving aside the fact that Rogers isn't really a winger, and studiously resisting the urge to comment further on what is obviously a step down from Villa in sporting terms for the Brummie midfielder, this surprise deal has left Liverpool fans with one question on their lips: will the Gunners now bid for Bradley Barcola?Liverpool's interest in the Frenchman is well-established. But that's looking less and less straightforward with every passing day.PSG looked nailed on to land Diomande after multiple journalists reported his preference for the European champions, but that was almost a month ago.Some reporters - including L'Equipe's aforementioned Tanzi (on the 100% PSG - ICI Paris Ile-de-France podcast) - have explained that Diomande's complicated agency situation could be causing the deal to stall, all while more clubs are attempting to muscle in for the Ivorian, according to Romano on X (Twitter).Optimistic Liverpool supporters might want to listen to Romano, who has been the most vocal in talking up the Reds chances of signing Barcola.Speaking on his YouTube channel on Sunday, Romano said: "My understanding on Barcola is that so far Arsenal have not made any checks."While they made some checks on Yan Diomande, for example, they didn’t make any fresh check on Barcola over the recent days.

So at the moment the conversation Barcola, Arsenal, is still cold I would say."Liverpool remain very attentive to the situation, Liverpool remain very keen on Barcola, so I stand by my information and I keep telling you that Barcola-Liverpool remains a concrete possibility depending on the fee they want to spend, because PSG would ask for very important money."At the same time, also important to say that Arsenal will need now to react on the market and we have to see the consequences, we have to see what's going to happen."All the while, PSG are still closing in on Monaco attacker Maghnes Akliouche, having seen a third bid rejected but "already close" to matching the principality side's €50m valuation (Onze Mondial).You sense there is a tipping point coming soon, whether it's PSG acquiring Diomande or Akliouche or something else entirely. Liverpool fans will just have to remain patient - and hope there's a back-up plan in place if this rumbles on into the latter stages of the window.Liverpool 'target' Kone "would like to play in England"Liverpool have once again been tentatively linked with a move for Roma midfielder Manu Kone, after the French international was tipped to form part of the club's 2023 midfield rebuild.The Reds opted for Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo at the time, with Kone going on to join Roma from Borussia Monchengladbach the following summer.Since then, Kone's stock has risen further with strong performances in Italy backed up by an impressive showing at this summer's World Cup as France reached the semi-finals.On Sunday, Football Insider claimed that Liverpool were "prepared to join rivals Manchester United in the race" to sign Kone, which may have come as some surprise to any supporters who have been closely tracking reliable journalists' updates on the club's plans for the midfield.With homegrown quotas and squad size rules to bear in mind, it looks likely that Liverpool will wait to see what the future holds for their current midfielders - especially Curtis Jones and Mac Allister - prior to sanctioning any further midfield signings.Nevertheless, L'Equipe reported on Monday that Kone "would like to play in England" and "make the leap to a higher-profile club" - ideally one "capable of achieving solid European ambitions".United are said to "have the upper hand" with Arsenal also interested, but L'Equipe mysteriously also claim that two other Premier League clubs - "whose names have not been revealed" - are sniffing around the 25-year-old.Roma were knocked out of the Europa League at the hands of fellow Serie A outfit Bologna last season, but have qualified for next season's Champions League.If L'Equipe's reporting is accurate, it stands to reason that Kone would back himself to feature regularly for a team that can reliably get to the knockout stages of the Champions League rather than anything lower than that.That could give Liverpool or the Gunners the edge over United, who have featured in the Champions League just three times in the last seven years and only reached the knockout stages once during that time.The Athletic also reported today that Kone "has been discussed [at Manchester United], but at this stage it is not certain United would commit the finance possible required to sign him from Roma".Corriere dello Sport recently claimed that Roma have set "a precise price" of €60m (£51m), but a bidding war would no doubt suit the side from the Italian capital - and it's not outlandish to think that Premier League interest could prompt a higher asking price than what Roma quoted to Atletico Madrid earlier in the summer.It's worth bearing in mind there's no concrete indication as yet that Liverpool would have any real interest in revisiting a player they decided against signing three years ago.Scott turns down new contractFinally, something tangible!

If Scott puts his foot down on securing a move this summer, it would be in Bournemouth's interest to take the money and run.While there's been no solid talk of a Liverpool move, Scott has been very complimentary of Iraola and that faith was clearly reciprocated by his former manager.In terms of a functional, dependable player to move play forward quickly and hold the midfield structure together, Liverpool could do a lot worse. Everton, maybe it's more difficult because he's coming across the city, but there's not a lot of business going on from those clubs."We'll have to see over the next couple of weeks, now that everybody's back, whether the market moves in that area."While the market might still move for Jones, who only has a year remaining on his current contract, we doubt it's going to move in that direction.No player has moved directly between Liverpool and Everton in either direction since Abel Xavier in 2002, and Football Insider are right to label the suggestion as controversial.Borson certainly has a point, though, when he describes the lack of interest in Jones as surprising.