The Reds were linked with a move for Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel in the summer amid speculation linking him with Everton, Chelsea and Juventus as well, and now the Mirror report that he will almost certainly be leaving Zenit St Petersburg in the summer, as their sporting director Maksim Mitrofanovic confirmed that they have already received an offer for his services:
“The club have no intention to extend Witsel’s deal. Witsel doesn’t want to leave us until the end of his deal [but] we have already had an offer.”
The combative holding midfielder would fit in well in the Jurgen Klopp set up and would add some much needed defensive bite into the midfield trio, a role that Jordan Henderson is having to adapt to in the absence of Emre Can. Strength in depth will be required if Liverpool do return to European football next season, and Witsel is exactly the kind of signing they need to make if they are to be successful in the coming seasons.
A former Anfield man has returned to the Premier League as Eduardo Macia joined Leicester City as head of recruitment following Steve Walsh’s move to Everton. The 42-year-old was a scout at Liverpool, brought to the club by compatriot Rafa Benitez, and was credited with the signings of Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano and Raheem Sterling, all of which resulted in huge profits when the players were sold and moved on from the club.
Released by Spanish club Real Betis in April, where he held a similar role to his new position at Leicester, and will now team up with Claudio Ranieri again, after the pair worked together twice before in Spain. The Spaniard will be expected to try to replicate some of the signings such as N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez which fired the Foxes to the title last season on a tiny budget. If he can replicate the work that he did at Liverpool under Benitez, such expectations may not be as wild as you may expect.
Amid all the excitement of the opening of the new Main Stand at Anfield as Leicester City rolled into town for the first home fixture of the season, there was some surprise amongst Reds fans to see that the goal nets had reverted from red to white. At the club’s peak, the nets were red, with some believing it psychologically put fear into opposition forwards. Roy Evans changed them to white, but Brendan Rodgers took them back to red again in 2012/13.
However, the Liverpool Echo have now discovered that they have gone back to white at the request of manager Jurgen Klopp, as the German believes that the white will be more visible in his players’ peripheral vision and will help their efforts to return to European football. Whilst it didn’t seem to harm the likes of Ian Rush and Luis Suarez, few will question the efficient logic of the former Dortmund gaffer.
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