Peter Crouch will be at the centre of a tug-of-war this summer — if he decides to retire at the end of the season.
The BBC and talkSPORT are among those keen to sign up the veteran striker, now at Burnley, as a radio pundit as soon as his playing days are over.
Former England international Crouch, now 38, already does a podcast with the BBC but is not tied to them beyond that and will be in demand after proving himself to be eloquent, funny and knowledgable.
The Beeb are considering moving their flagship 6-0-6 phone-in show, with Alistair Bruce-Ball and Chris Sutton, back to the Saturday evenings where it started life from Sundays.
Both radio stations have understandably championed themselves as the big winners of the last round of rights, but it boils down to talkSPORT having two live commentary games on Saturdays while the BBC have the Sunday matches.
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However, the BBC will be keen to make sure they keep a good audience share on Saturdays as they also have the first pick of the 3pm games.
Former Brighton defender Leroy Rosenior should be another former player media companies swiftly snap up after proving himself a superb broadcaster during stints on Sky Sports.
FULL ENGLISH IS A LOT ON UEFA'S PLATE
UEFA are stepping up security ahead of the Champions League Final in Madrid, now that it will be an all-English affair between Liverpool and Tottenham.
European football's governing body know the showpiece event of their club season has got potential for problems, with a huge number of fans descending on the Spanish capital from England.
The fear is many will travel without tickets, as each club will only get 17,000.
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A UEFA spokesman said: “We had already discussed security arrangements with the potential participating clubs ahead of the semi-finals and will further collaborate with the finalists on the matter until the final.”
There has also been uproar at Atletico Madrid's newly-built Wanda Metropolitano stadium having “obstructed view tickets”, but UEFA insist that will only affect 200 tickets in each allocation and that the blood-curdling term may not mean in a new ground what it does for older venues.
ENGLAND EXPECTS ABLE KANE
Gareth Southgate will name his squad for this summer's Nations League finals in Portugal next Thursday.
And the England boss is highly likely to include Harry Kane in an enlarged group — especially as the Tottenham striker now has a huge incentive to get back to fitness quickly so he can play in the Champions League Final on June 1.
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Southgate has been making fitness checks on Kane’s recovery from the ankle injury that's kept him out for the past month.
He now also faces a nightmare scenario with players from Liverpool and Tottenham - two of the clubs who provide the most Three Lions players - not reporting until just two days before the June 6 Nations League semi-final against the Netherlands.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino was less than impressed at being asked after his team’s dramatic win over Ajax on Wednesday whether Kane would be fit for the all-English final, presumably as he wanted to focus on the players who had just delivered such a superb result.
BBC commentator John Murray, one of the nicest guys in the business, asked the question and got a rude shock when Pochettino walked out in a huff.
