After years of searching for a capable heir to folk-hero Jamie Carragher and failing multiple times, Liverpool FC came close to a player capable of closing the gap left behind by the former Kop captain – Virgil van Dijk.
The Dutch international on what seems to be an eerie cycle of spending two years at every club he’s being since starting out at Eredivisie side Groningen could have sworn to have started silent preparations to move to Anfield.
The story started out as the Red Army fortified by the prospect of their qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, enhancing their ability to entice premium players to Anfield, got involved in a transfer rumour with the Southampton defender.
Yeah, that’s not a crime until you – Liverpool in this case – refuse to openly deny the rumour and allow it to linger on till the Saints management got pissed by the manner with which the Fenway Sports Group-owned club decided to go about the business.
For years, since the Reds fell into the low-quality pool of the Europa League, signing top players have been more of a nightmare. Read more »
The 2017 January Premier League transfer window started on the 1st of January and concluded in the 31st of that same month.
This is a very important period of time for clubs that are competing in any European League as manages have the chance to upgrade their respective squad by signing new players while releasing some of their own at the same time.
Leicester City was reinforced by the arrivals of OnyinyeNdidi and MollaWague. Pep Guardiola signed Gabriel Jesus after offloading £27 million in the Brazilian player. Almost all the other clubs that are currently competing in the Premier League signed a few players as well.
Liverpool is one of the few clubs that did not sign any new players, the only arrivals that made their way to Anfield were LazarkMarkovic and Adam Bogdan as they came back to Anfield because their respective loan deals with their former clubs had reached it’s end. Read more »
Liverpool goal scorer Sadio Mane said that his team was fortunate to snatch a late winner in the derby game against Everton.
He believes that Everton has played a great defensive game and that they were looking to get a draw from the match but Liverpool did not lose hope of winning the game.
He said that it is Liverpool’s fighting spirit that allowed them to score a late goal and win the match. However, he thinks that it was a deserved goal given that they were the only side that tried to win the game and that they were positive throughout the whole match.
Mane scored a goal late during the game when he connected with a rebound that came off the post following a fierce shot from Daniel Sturridge.
Sadio Mane said that he is happy to have scored a goal for the game and believed that this is only down to luck. He said that he was in the right place at the right moment and this allowed him to score an important goal for the team. Read more »
One of the greatest regrets for Steven Gerrard has been the inability to win the Premier League title despite a glittering career that saw him win a whole host of other trophies including the Champions League.
The closest Gerrard came to winning the title was in two seasons when the club finished as the runners up. Now, Liverpool are in a position to challenge for the title for the first time since the departure of Gerrard. Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs believes that the absence of the former Liverpool captain would actually be a blessing in disguise for the Merseyside outfit.
Gerrard is regarded as one of the greatest midfielders to have graced the Premier League since the turn of the millennium. However, Liverpool became so heavily concentrated on this one-star player that they forgot functioning as a team according to Giggs. The former United winger says that the absence of Gerrard means that the club has had an opportunity to replace the former England international with someone who would fit seamlessly into the team and not stand out. Read more »
Everton midfielder Gareth Barry is of the opinion that Ross Barkley can one day become like the Steven Gerrard of Everton but he needs to come up with performances on a more consistent basis.
Barkley is seen as one of the latest highly talented youngster from the famed Everton youth academy. Over the years, several top stars like Wayne Rooney have emerged from these stables. After having been linked with Chelsea and Manchester City in the last few years, Everton have been able to keepBarkley even without the European football.
After recently undergoing a managerial change to bring Ronald Koeman to Goodison Park, the club has spent substantial amount of money in order to aim for European qualification on a regular basis. As a youngster,Barkley will know that he will have to face a lot of disappointments as he gains experience. One of the latest has come in the form of being left out of the England squad by manager Sam Allardyce. Even thoughBarkley has started the season in sparkling form, he has missed out on the squad announced by the new manager. Forcing his way into the new manager’s thoughts will be extremely difficult, but Barry reckons that it is possible with consistent performances.
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Steven Gerrard has revealed that Roma forward Francesco Totti is the one player he has always wanted to play with.
Roma’s one club man Totti has been serving the club for more than 25 years, but he will represent to the club for one last season. He has announced his decision to retire from the game at the end of the 2016-17 season. He will take part in his final pre-season of his career and Gerrard has the possibility to celebrate this occasion by taking part in the friendly games. Roma are currently in the United States playing against the likes of Liverpool and Montreal Impact.
Gerrard also came close to being one of the few one club players in the world before he joined LA Galaxy on a two-year contract last summer. He had resisted the urge to join Chelsea back in 2005. Even though Totti has had opportunities and offers from different clubs across Europe, he resisted the chance to move even though it meant that he has won fewer titles in his career. The 39-year-old has made more than 750 appearances for Roma since making his debut in the 1992-93 season. However, he has managed to win only one league title in all these years. Read more »