Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool do not need to sell Philippe Coutinho to recoup the cash spent on their £75million swoop for Southampton centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
The Reds move to make Netherlands international Van Dijk the most expensive defender of all time was confirmed on Wednesday, drawing a line under one of the transfer sagas that dominated the close season at Anfield.
The other was Barcelona s ultimately fruitless pursuit of Brazil playmaker Coutinho, who has resumed his pivotal role at Liverpool and been in sublime while notching seven goals in December
As such, reports of Barca s interest have persisted but Klopp is adamant his move to secure Van Dijk will not affect the future of a player for whom the LaLiga leaders reportedly had a £115m bid turne…
While England might have landed themselves a 1-0 victory against Austria on Wednesday night, Gareth Southgate s side failed to lay down the marker that they would have been hoping for in the North East.
Electing to hand an extended break to last weekend s Champions League finalists, Bukayo Saka s first senior international goal 10 minutes after the restart was enough to come past a nervy night away from Wembley.
With neither Jordan Henderson nor Harry Maguire featuring, we have taken a look at five big talking points after Wednesday s meeting at the Riverside.
Plenty for Southgate to ponder
Although Southgate might have stated after Wednesday s victory that he was largely impressed with his side s first performance since the end of March, it didn t quite go as …
Steven Gerrard accepts Liverpool will miss wonderful footballer Philippe Coutinho after the Brazilian formally completed his dream move to Barcelona on Monday.
Liverpool were able to repel a series of offers for Coutinho in August, but the Premier League side allowed the playmaker to make the move to Camp Nou and become Barca s most expensive signing after the January transfer window opened.
Coutinho reportedly paid around £10million of his own money to help push through a deal reported to be worth up to £142million, setting a new record for a transfer involving a British club.
And Gerrard, who played with Coutinho towards the end of his own Anfield playing career, believes it will be difficult to replace the 25-year-old, who scored 41 Premier League goals for…
Tottenham hold the whip hand over Arsenal in their north London rivalry after four wins and two draws in their last six Premier League home games against the Gunners.
This season has seen Spurs make an early surge to the top of the table, while Arsenal are toiling in the bottom half ahead of Sunday s derby clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Elsewhere this weekend, Diogo Jota could face his former employers as Liverpool tackle Wolves at Anfield, while in-form Chelsea host Leeds United.
Manchester United will aim to set aside the disappointment of losing to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday as they visit West Ham, while Manchester City face Fulham.
Before the games get under way, test your expertise in this Opta-fuelled quiz. Check your answers below.
Cape Verde have named their 23-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, with coach Rui Aguas calling exclusively on overseas-based players.
The Portuguese made an initial 30-man selection last week, but has looked to maximise preparation time, becoming just the second coach to name his final cut, following in Algeria coach Christian Gourcuff s footsteps.
Thierry Graca, Jozimar Lima, Pecks, Stenio, Sita, Ricardo Gomes and Ze Luis are those to drop out of the Portuguese coach s plans.
Aguas will take his team to Portugal for a pre-tournament training camp, before heading to Equatorial Guinea.
Cape Verde are in Group B alongside Zambia, Tunisia and Democratic Republic of Congo.
The island nation made their AFCON debut last time out in 2013, reachin…
New Real Madrid signing Diego Lopez has hailed his return to the club as a dream .
The 31-year-old goalkeeper spent seven years at Real Madrid before moving to Villarreal in 2007, where he made over 200 appearances.
A move to Sevilla followed at the end of the 2011-12 season but Lopez has struggled for first-team football at the club, featuring in just eight La Liga matches this campaign.
With Real Madrid shot-stopper Iker Casillas sidelined for up to three months with a broken left hand, manager Jose Mourinho acted swiftly to secure the services of Lopez.
And Lopez was delighted to sign for the Spanish giants again.
It is a dream to return home, Lopez told EFE.
Today the deal has happened very fast and I am very happy to return to the place I consider my home.
For a Mad…
The biggest signing in the Bundesliga will spend the season on the bench.
Bayern Munich invested more than $105 million in new stars last season and the club-record outlay paid off when it swept the German league and cup titles. This season, Bayern did not spend a cent on new players. Perhaps GermanyÂ’s richest club could not afford any after the arrival of Jurgen Klinsmann as coach.
Klinsmann replaced Ottmar Hitzfeld, who left to coach SwitzerlandÂ’s national team. Klinsmann, who two years ago turned down the chance to coach the U.S. national team, left his southern California home and brought along an 11-member international support staff that includes Canadians, Americans and Brazilians.
He set up a new high-tech training centre, a chill…
Leandro Trossard played a starring role as Premier League leaders Arsenal restored their five-point lead at the summit with a 3-0 victory over Fulham.
The Belgium international claimed a hat-trick of assists at Craven Cottage, with Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all profiting.
Mikel Arteta s side subsequently became the first side in the history of English league football to win five successive away London derbies without conceding a single goal.
Arsenal, who welcomed Gabriel Jesus back from injury, also made it five straight Premier League victories in all as they took another step towards the title.
The Gunners thought they had taken the lead when Antonee Robinson put through his own net in the 16th minute, but the VAR ruled M…
Paris Saint-Germain have completed their second signing of the day, bringing in defender Thomas Meunier on a four-year-deal from Club Brugge.
The Ligue 1 champions had earlier announced the capture of midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak from Sevilla, and Meunier follows him in making the move to Parc des Princes, signing until the end of the 2019-20 season.
Right-back Meunier impressed at Euro 2016 for Belgium, who were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Wales on Friday.
The 24-year-old had been linked with Napoli, but it is PSG who have sealed his signature, having also brought in Hatem Ben Arfa in addition to recruiting Krychowiak.
Proud to announce my transfer to ! A new step, a new adventure!
— Thomas Meunier (@ThomMills)
I am ver…
Premier League target Lucas Alario said he watches every Barcelona game to learn from Luis Suarez as he looks to complete a move abroad.
The 23-year-old River Plate striker has been heavily linked with a move to Tottenham to work under fellow Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino, while Liverpool are also reportedly keeping tabs on him.
Alario has been in fine form since joining River from Colon in 2015, scoring a goal almost every second game for the Argentine giants.
The centre forward found the net in River s 3-0 aggregate win over Tigres UANL in the 2015 Copa Libertadores final, which sealed their spot in the Club World Cup later in the year.
It was there Alario was exposed to the genius of Barca striker Suarez, who scored a hat-trick as the Catalan s…